Winter Car Washing?

M

mx5

New member
What do all of the northeners do in the winter to take car of their vehicle? I do not have access to a heated garage(other than a portable electric heater) and can't wax too often and must have my car washed at cloth car wash. Even though it is cloth they still scrub a brush over it before it goes through. Try and wash your salt coated car in 20 degree weather at a do-it-yourself place. Great if you like frostbite. I usually will try and put a good coat of wax on it whenever it is around 45 degrees but now that I am using Klasse I probably won't need to this winter.
 
Put on a sealent like klasse or zaino, Meguiars #20 ect, before winter. One "good"coat of wax isnt going to hold up multiple months in salt, dirt, snow ect. Also, when it gets cold, try to QD your car often so it doesn't get to dirty. When you get a warm spell like 50, then wash away.
 
I've been known to be the only person at a self serve "blast 'o matic" (as Brad refers to it ) wash in the winter, and have the water freeze on contact. Yeah, I probably could freeze to death but at least I'm driving a clean car!! Also, I had a theory that if there was a layer of ice on my paint then the salt wouldn't stick to it, thus making things easier for the paint.
 
I would not want to try QDing in the winter with all the salt on the car. After they initially salt the roads in the winter, everytime you drive your car you are getting salt on your car from the road spray, even if they salted a week ago. Michigan loves to coat their roads with salt in the winter. I guess that is why noone really takes care of their daily driver up here in Michigan. Winters kill all the nice work you did in the summer. I am one of the few I guess.
 
I used to wash the car with warm tap water. I made a "Y" hose attachment and hooked up to the washing machine hot-cold faucets in the basemant. I regulated the water temp so it was tempid and easily washed the car pretty much as normal. Worked great.



When it's real cold I sometimes turned the driveway into a skating rink. Luckily I have usually had a Audi Quattro.
 
I had a coat of ice all over my car one time also after hitting the blast-o-matic. People were looking at me and laughing when I was driving. They knew what an idiot I was. At least a lot of the drive through car washes around here now offer wind tunnel car drying so no dirty towels are touching the car, and the car wash guy doesn't have to stand out there with icicles on his face. I once saw that. A young kid was drying cars as they came out of the car wash. He had some ice on his hair. It was the saddest thing. I gave him a good tip. The next year that same car wash added the wind tunnel dryer system.
 
I have a very good friend who owns several car washes in town. The are all the high pressure variety. His father holds the patent on a deionized water rinse process used by hundreds of car washes now, and Dole pineapple in Hawaii. Anyway, this poor guy works his behind off every winter keeping the place running right. I have helped him a few times as a favor. It is miserable at times. They have many special systems such as bay floor heaters (liquid runs through hoses under the concrete), extra powerful water heaters, and more. I use their facilities in the winter whenever I get a bunch of grime on my car, and then drive on the highway right away to dry it. Works pretty good for me in the winter. I only use the rinse, not the wash. They are the only place I know of that heats the rinse water.
 
I also tried the drive away and let the wind dry it. It froze nearly instantly. Maybe the brand new blast-o-matic by me has heated rinse water. I will have to see. I have heard the drive through cloth washes have problems with rocks and pebbles getting stuck in the cloth and then scraping up your car. Michigan does use salt that seems to have small rocks in it so I could see this as being true.
 
as a native michigander, I can empathize about the blast-o-matic experiences. Several times I have experienced almost not being able to get into my car because the water froze over the door making it almost impossible to get them open. Even if the water is warm (at best) it is still a tough proposition to keep the water from freezing on you.



Maybe we can buy a car bubble and try and drive around in it...:D
 
At least the kids will have fun jumping around on the air bag. I wonder if that other thing is air-tight?
 
I still prefer the self serve spray setup and simply wait for a day where the temp is above freezing and let the car sit in the sun before you drive away... if you can.



I had documented a whole procedure that I thought worked pretty well. Guess it got archived away somewhere.



Using the automatic car wash in the winter is a real scary proposition, IMO. Way too much opportunity for scratching with all the crap that sits on the paint. The thought of recycled water rinsing thru every nook + cranny of my car doesn't excite me too much either. :(
 
Since I have a propensity to catch colds, I have adopted the following rule:



50 or above, I wash it myself

below 50, I take it to a car wash (That is, until I open mine. :D)
 
We have gone weeks here in Michigan without temps above freezing. That is too long for salt and calcium chloride to sit on your paint. That has to be worse than reused water. Some drive through places advertise that they use fresh but who knows.
 
Had one once. It wound up having so many repairs actually in the long run it wasn't worth it. It was a five year old used dodge shadow. It was previously a used lease that wasn't taken care of. Besides with the economy going down hill I do not want to spend my money on anything that I don't really need. I guess I will just live with the bad winters hitting my car.
 
If the sun is out and It is above freezing I wash. Sometimes the water freezes on the car, and sometimes my hands turn red and numb, and other times the hose freezes up. Most of the time, my driveway turns into an ice rink, so be careful! If I really can't standthe car it and it still very cold, I hook the hose up to my hot water heater or use hot water in a 5 gallon pail to do the best job I can. WINTER SUCKS! If anything, at least do the wheels.
 
Ahhhh, the Sanctuary. Yea, I'll keep my cars warm and clean. I will wash and quick detail in my 60 degree garage. No wait, I think I want it warmer. 70 degrees will be nice. That way I can just wear my favorite detailing T-shirt. And look! I can turn on the Rams football game on the TV to keep me entertained while I drink my iced tea. Oooo, they like that warm water flowing over their fenders. Yea, my cars will be perfect, at least before they go to sleep each night.





:p Hee hee, just had to do it!
 
Winter sucks in the Ohio snow belt (at least on the car it does). I end up half washing my car (washing the parts that are dirty) I will fill up a water jug with warm water from my bathtub. Then go into the garage with the old two bucket method. It works quite well and if you're worried about the water in the garage, it flows out and the rest dries up pretty quickely cause the air is drier in the winter.
 
If it's above freezing I get out there and wash the car with warm water and try to dry it off real fast. Winter is Chicago is a real drag.



Brad you got it made.
 
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