Washing and detailing in colder weather?

I

imported_RedlineIRL

New member
I was wondering for those that don't have access to a garage, or a nice sized indoor warehouse with hot and cold water access, what do you do to keep warm and still ensure a good wash without doing a half arsed job? I know that ONR is probably the best thing to use in colder weather, but at this point my car is way too dirty to where I'd feelcomfortable using ONR. Coin ops are out of the question, since I have always done hand washing. Plus they don't use warm water and the bays are usually nasty anyways.



Whats the best thing to use clothing wise? What about protection of your hands? Is there any kind of gloves out there that can be waterproof, yet not interfere with washing?



I'd love to be in South Florida or So Cal right about now, for those of you that live there I am envoius. While We don't have the brutal cold of the northeast and midwest, lately here in the southeast it has been getting in the low 30s and high 20s in the evenings. Factor in the 80%+ humidity and the result is damp chilling cold. I know that the vehicle surface will probably be cooler than the outside temperature, but what is a minimum temperature for hand washing to ensure than no harm is done to the finish to the vehicle?
 
I installed a hot/cold water mix valve on my outdoor water faucet. I simple add in hot water as the weather gets colder. It is cheap and really works well. I keep my hose on a roll-cart so it stays inside and safe from freezing.
 
i have hot water to my faucet like brad. but if thats not an option i would use the coin op to spray the heavy stuff off then drive home and use onr made with warm/hot water.
 
tdekany said:
Use hot water to wash the car. Rinse the car off well, better to use a pressure washer if you have one. Hose is fine. It works.
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Using hot water is not a problem. The only thing that concerns me is when working from the top to the bottom when washing is that water on top surfaces freezing up. I could dump warm to hot water on these surfaces if they freeze I guess, but in actualatiy is that really a good idea for the finish to be dumping hot water on a surface that is at freezing temperatures or below? Once the sun sets the temperatures drop quick here, and I can't really do it in full sunlight since I have no shaded areas to wash.



pwaug said:
Neoprene Gloves - Neoprene Waterproof Gloves - Duluth Trading Company

I've been using these neoprene gloves in the winter for washing cars the past few years and they work great--like a diving suit for your hands--not big and bulky so they allow dexterity.
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They almost look like a textured rubber glove on the outside, is that so with them? Are they machine washable? I may have to get me a pair of them



wascallyrabbit said:
i have hot water to my faucet like brad. but if thats not an option i would use the coin op to spray the heavy stuff off then drive home and use onr made with warm/hot water.
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I may just have to do that then if a decent day doesn't come soon. It'll suck doing it outside, but if thats what I have to do
 
I didn't realize you were asking about below freezing. That is another topic. Above freezing, the hot water method works fine. Below freezing - don't wash your car.
 
RedlineIRL said:
They almost look like a textured rubber glove on the outside, is that so with them? Are they machine washable? I may have to get me a pair of them
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They are thicker than a rubber glove--it is the same neoprene as used in Scuba Diving suits. Never had to wash them.
 
I pretty much shut down from November through March. I haven't found much of anything to really make things easier to get things done in the cold. Scuba gloves make it easier to wash with, but that's about it. If it is below 50 degrees then things just seem to take twice as long due to water not drying, polishes not breaking down and just smearing everywhere, waxes and sealants don't seem to dry... Everything just turns into a streaky horrible mess. If you don't have a heated garage or shop to work in then it pretty much just kills the mobile detailers this time of year around here. It's just too hard to do when your products are frozen before you get done and your rinse water freezes before you can dry it.
 
Washing a car in the winter can be a real "challenge", especially if you live in the upper Midwest like I do (next to the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field). The biggest "problem" I've had is the weather itself and how you can go from a 38°F afternoon to 20°F in less than 15 minutes when a predicted coldfront moves through sooner than expected. I've had this happen to me on a few occassions and ended up with frozen mess that, fortunately, I could move into a garage and de-ice with hot water. Call me stupid or an obsessive-compulsive detailer just trying to keep my cars clean. (My wife would say I'm "cheap" trying to save $8 instead of going to the touchless car wash!)



That brings up two other "issues" kind of related to winter detailing:

1) What to use in door locks to keep them from freezing. I use Tri-Flow® with Teflon made by Thomson and Formby of Memphis, TN. It seems to work really well, even in extreme sub-zero weather. It's a little pricey and hard to find. Mine came from a regional farm supply store (Fleet-Farm) many years ago (It says ©1988 on the can) and I have seen it in hardware stores.





2) What to use on your chapped hands. If you work with water in the winter your hands WILL get chapped. I've used Neutrogena® Hand Creme Norwegian formula, supposedly designed for Norwegian fisherman. Again a pricey item, but it does work extremely well on severly chapped hands. The other hand creame I've used is Curel® Ultra Healing. I was a Vasoline Intensive-Care person before, but the Curel to me seems better, although more expensive.



Hope I haven't hi-jacked this thread with these other issues.
 
FWIW, From another Badger, I've been going the Touchless route for a few years now. The one nearby my home does not use recycled water and has not removed my LSP. I run it through and take it home to my non-heated garage where I use a couple quartz heaters and wipe the cars down with UQD (M135) and follow with UQW (D156). The Quartz heaters keeps the paint just warm enough to make this work pretty well and it also keeps me just warm enough so as not to be in misery. LOL I have not had any issues with locks and while I've also got an old bottle of TriFlon™ from back in the 80's ;), I haven't found I needed it to keep my locks from freezing. I do use Meg's M39 to keep my rubber seals cleaned conditioned so they don't freeze.



Living in WI in the winter and trying to keep your car clean is a full time job. If you don't routinely get the salt and sand off the paint it will cause your vehicle to rust and biodegrade in a few short years. For all you southerners, don't come here in the winter if you value your car, LOL.



I also negotiated a season deal with the owner of the Touchless wash here. I bought 16 Deluxe wash codes for $50. Quite a savings over the usual $8 a pop.
 
jfelbab said:
..I also negotiated a season deal with the owner of the Touchless wash here. I bought 16 Deluxe wash codes for $50. Quite a savings over the usual $8 a pop.
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Hey, that was a great idea! Never know until you try, huh?
 
The touchless suggestion sounds good :)



I have an additional comment: Regardless of how you wash the car, please resist the temptation to add a booster or QD. I know, sometimes the weather is decently nice that we feel washing the car is not enough, so we add quick detailer or a booster. I say "don't do it". Very likely, you already picked a tough LSP for winter protection (Collinite 476S, 845IW, or Finish Kare FK1000p) These tough LSPs not only protect better and last longer, they are also much better at shedding dirt and crud. Adding a booster or QD will change the properties of the LSP, and the "almost washes itself" becomes a "stuff sticks again to the paint". I made this mistake last year, and I won't do it this year.



If you are willing to put something on the paint, make the effort and add another coat of the tough LSP... otherwise, resist the temptation of the booster route ;)





Alex
 
AlexRuiz said:
The touchless suggestion sounds good :)



I have an additional comment: Regardless of how you wash the car, please resist the temptation to add a booster or QD. ...
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If I'm doing a touchless, then I don't QD lest I rub some residual dirt into the paint. But when I do my regular washes I *always* use a leaves-stuff-behind QD while drying. Zero issues with dirt-shedding with FK QDs on sealants and Griot's SpeedShine on waxes; these QDs seem to enhance, rather than merely change, the LSPs I use them on.
 
Guys, you can buy good quality rubber gloves at a place like Home Depot for a few dollars. These are a bit thicker than traditional dish washing gloves, sometimes you can find them with a fleece lining which doesn't add much to the overall thickness. Dexterity is very good. They do an excellent job for a quick-ee cold weather wash and give good protection to your skin.



When cost is no object, you go for the Sealskinz (fishing) gloves. They are unique and work really well for extended exposure:



SEALSKINZ® WATERPROOF BREATHABLE GLOVES - SoldierCity
 
Well I always foam cannon and pressure wash first. But I still do the two bucket method, and thats where you get cold. I just wear warm clothes/jacket, then I wear mitts under thin rubber gloves. They go mid from wrist to elbow and are like $10 at Lowes. I just use them to keep the water off me.



At my house I just use hot water from my house to keep my hands warm but I am not sure with your temps. I would try the gloves and just wash your car then dry, just keep spraying the car to prevent freezing.
 
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