car wash in winter??
- Thread starter KENNYJG
- Start date
GregCavi
Pinnacle Detailing Owner
I woudl do a little research on QEW. "quick easy wash" by protect all. This wash doesnt require a hose its just wash solution with mitt directly on paint, scary I know but it really works. Do alot of research to see what everyone is using, you will need alot of high quality mitts, and a heated garage woudl be great! What you can do prior to the QEW is go to a car wash and just use the wash wand to spray a majority of the salt and gunk off then drive home and do the qew.
Greg
Greg
Any DIY or touchless wash I have ever used left quite a lot of dirt and road film on the vehicle. Enough that I wouldn't want to run a drying towel over it.
Another concern is recycled water. Some wash places use it for economics, but some cities require it.
If you can find a place that uses fresh water, you can do it there and then remove the remaing dirt/film with Poorboy's Spray & Wipe. I've been doing that for 2 or 3 years now with pretty good luck. You do need a place that can be heated to at least 40 or 50 degrees for the S&W to work good, at least IMO.
My garage isn't heated, but I have a 90,000 BTU kerosene torpedo style heater that raises the temperature by 20 to 40 degrees in about 10 or 15 minutes.
Charles
Another concern is recycled water. Some wash places use it for economics, but some cities require it.
If you can find a place that uses fresh water, you can do it there and then remove the remaing dirt/film with Poorboy's Spray & Wipe. I've been doing that for 2 or 3 years now with pretty good luck. You do need a place that can be heated to at least 40 or 50 degrees for the S&W to work good, at least IMO.
My garage isn't heated, but I have a 90,000 BTU kerosene torpedo style heater that raises the temperature by 20 to 40 degrees in about 10 or 15 minutes.
Charles
Mikeyc
TheDetailingHandBook.com
Personally, I would love to try QEW myself. However, I don't have anyplace warm enough to use it during the winter. I really have no interest in getting my hands wet when it's 10*F out even with rubber gloves on it's still terribly cold. So, I just go to a touchless wash. I don't towel it off afterward. I just air dry because the wash doesn't get all the dirt off. I have so much wax on the car the water just slides right off anyway at least for the first month or so.GregCavi said:
Luster
COMPULSIVELY ANAL
Mikeyc said:
I use warm water for both the QEW water and the rinse water. It stays pretty warm for the 20 minutes that it takes to wash the car. And QEW gets the car MUCH cleaner than a self-service car wash.
Typical winter temps here range from lows 10's to 20's. Highs 20's to 30's.
I do have a garage, but if the sun is shining and it's cold, I usually wash outside.
rabbi
The Whaler Loves Detail City
I wash mine with a wand until the temps. go above 40 then I hand wash it.
playloud
New member
What's all this talk about changing how you wash your car because of Winter? Why change a thing just because of what month it is?
(Spoken like a true Southern California Punk)
70 degrees today.
(Spoken like a true Southern California Punk)
70 degrees today.
hammondc
Damned pollen!!!
can anyone recommend (ouch, I know) a brush, sponge, mit 'on a stick' that works well in the winter?
Luster
COMPULSIVELY ANAL
OXO Wash Brush
I have one of these... absolutely will not scratch. Use plenty of water/QEW and gently rub on the car surface. I've used it on black vehicles, and no scratching. Nice soft, tapered fibers.
This one might be better for winter....
OXO Wash Brush (long handle)
While I'm not going to recommend it, the Enterprise Car Rental place near me uses a Boar's hair brush on a handle with Car-Brite products.hammondc said:
The employees, both male and female wash the vehicles in dress clothes using the brush, rinse it with a hose, wipe the windows with a water blade and they are finished with the exterior. No wiping down of the paint at all.
The vehicles look surprisingly good. Not great, but passable for normal folks Not nearly as swirled as I would have expected.
If you have an Enterprise rental near you, it might be worth your time to stop and see their process and results.
Charles
I got my QEW in yesterday and used it today on the cars I did. I loved it. Don't know why it works but it did. I've thought about using warm water when it was at or below freezing. My concern is shocking the glass and cracking it. Next would be heating the water while I'm out. Large aquarium heater might heat a gallon or two while I vacuum. Other idea was to wrap my generator muffler in copper tubing and put quick connect on it for my hose. Should be enough to heat the water up.
Luster
COMPULSIVELY ANAL
If you get your warm water from the inside tap, it should stay pretty warm for the 20 minutes that it takes to wash the car, with no attempt to re-warm.
budman3
Detail time!
I drove to a clients house about 15 minutes away when the temps were in the teens, unloaded, turned a small heater on and then began the QEW wash and the water was still steaming. I used hot hot water because I knew of the freezing drive but it works fine.
Go buy yourself a pair of dishwashing gloves.Mikeyc said:
I have a friend with an office that has a hose in the basement garage so we can wash our cars through the winter. Unfortunately, the water is really cold. I picked up a pair of dishwashing gloves and can't feel the cold water anymore.
---Eric
Today it was 30 when I started and around 40 when I finished for the day. I wear a glove when washing (I move slow in the cold so don't need to wash with both hands lol) but for drying I take off the glove. I've found that after 5 or 10 minutes I can't feel the cold even without gloves. Course numb isn't for everyone.
A couple quick suggestions:
Visit the local wand wash to knock off the chunks of snow & ice, keep the nozzle at least 2 - 3 feet from the paint & don't aim directly at the car, keep the spray moving at an angle. When standing by the LF tire, do the left side door, when standing by the left side door do the left read quarter & so on.
At the wand wash, choose the rinse cycle only. Don't go for the detergent (too harsh) & don't opt for the "hot wax" ..... no explanation needed.
If you can, find out if the wand wash facility uses fresh water or recycled water. If it's recycled, look for another facility.
If you keep your hose in the basement (meaning you may have to drag it through part of the house to get to the garage) simply screw the male & female ends of the hose together to eliminate dripping water in the house during the walk-through.
Buy some of the cheap $1 yellow dish washing gloves & use 'em when you're hand washing outside if the outside temp permits. Use warm (not hot) water in the wash bucket & hotter water in the rinse bucket and your hands will not suffer.
Visit the local wand wash to knock off the chunks of snow & ice, keep the nozzle at least 2 - 3 feet from the paint & don't aim directly at the car, keep the spray moving at an angle. When standing by the LF tire, do the left side door, when standing by the left side door do the left read quarter & so on.
At the wand wash, choose the rinse cycle only. Don't go for the detergent (too harsh) & don't opt for the "hot wax" ..... no explanation needed.
If you can, find out if the wand wash facility uses fresh water or recycled water. If it's recycled, look for another facility.
If you keep your hose in the basement (meaning you may have to drag it through part of the house to get to the garage) simply screw the male & female ends of the hose together to eliminate dripping water in the house during the walk-through.
Buy some of the cheap $1 yellow dish washing gloves & use 'em when you're hand washing outside if the outside temp permits. Use warm (not hot) water in the wash bucket & hotter water in the rinse bucket and your hands will not suffer.
delzo
Shiny cars are happy cars
Ha! Being from south of Houston I never really thought about it being a problem to wash a vehicle in the winter. I just used my sheep-skin mitt with a bucket of warm water and got after it.
but,,,,
after my trip to Missouri, Christmas before last,,, I now know what NOT to do!
The touch-less laser wash for $5 seemed like a deal. It was still open even though the temps were in the single digits. The thing went through it's cycles and I was a bit concerned that some of the pink foam soap was still showing behind the air deflector on the sun-roof. How strange. Gee,,, the back side of the mirrors are pink too. I pulled out of the stall and could not get out of the vehicle. After much work I got out a rear door of my MDX and was horrified to see a 1/2" pink coating on EVERYTHING! Tires, wheels, everything. It froze before the rinse cycle came on. It took $3 more with the wand just to melt the pink ice off the SUV so I could leave.
Never again!
but,,,,
after my trip to Missouri, Christmas before last,,, I now know what NOT to do!
The touch-less laser wash for $5 seemed like a deal. It was still open even though the temps were in the single digits. The thing went through it's cycles and I was a bit concerned that some of the pink foam soap was still showing behind the air deflector on the sun-roof. How strange. Gee,,, the back side of the mirrors are pink too. I pulled out of the stall and could not get out of the vehicle. After much work I got out a rear door of my MDX and was horrified to see a 1/2" pink coating on EVERYTHING! Tires, wheels, everything. It froze before the rinse cycle came on. It took $3 more with the wand just to melt the pink ice off the SUV so I could leave.
Never again!
