car washing in winter ?

[WhiteCamaro88]

i have a couple of different options theres a touchless wash and theres a hand wash with chenille wash mits i dunno which would create more swirls but its nothing i cant fix in the spring. also im hearing about QEW any1 explain wat this washin technique means i here if done right you will not scratch ??

[Murr1525]

Do you have any of the Do-It-Yourself Coin-Op kind of ones?

[Jeff Smith]

Re: car washing in winter ?

Originally posted by WhiteCamaro88
i have a couple of different options theres a touchless wash and theres a hand wash with chenille wash mits i dunno which would create more swirls but its nothing i cant fix in the spring. also im hearing about QEW any1 explain wat this washin technique means i here if done right you will not scratch ??

I am still trying to settle into a winter routine myself. For me, I have reach the conclusion that anything I do will be weather dependant.

For example. It just snowed a couple nights ago. My truck was cleaned & waxed the day before. After the snow stopped and after the majority of the roads were clear I stopped by the local coin op and just used the High Pressure wand on rinse to mainly get the snow off the vehicle. I did not dry or touch it otherwise. I also stood back as far as possible to just let enough force hit the finish to remove the snow. That is where it is at right now.

Snow is forecasted again tomorrow night so there is no sense in my doing anything much. Good time to knock out some interior stuff.

My plan, as much as I hate it. Is to pretty much let my finish go. Even after all the snow melts off there is usually still oodles of salt dust everywhere. That stuff is going to get all over my finish and the nightly frosts are likely to "adhese", for lack of a better term, that stuff to my finish.

My tentative plan is to watch the extended forecasts and watch for a window where there is no snow forecasted for 7-10 days. When I can get lucky and fall into a window like this, then I will do up a full hand wash and maybe even some minor polishing and waxing as needed.

I think that dry salt is doing less harm to my finish just sitting there as opposed to me doing some half baked attempt at removal. The high pressure rinse isn't doing me any good either but I am only doing that when I stll have lots of snow on the truck to remove it. I figure that is a little better than my moving it around with some brush or scraper. Plus it at least lets me clear my windows a bit. Possiby even to the point I can actually clean them as needed.

I have already spoken to the guy the owns the local coin-op wash and asked if I could bucket wash there. He said yes, as long as nobody is waiting for a booth. So when I do go to bucket wash, I will fill up 4 of my Grit Guard Buckets here at the house with hot water. Put the lids on and head to the coin op and wash. Using all my gear but only using their pressure wand for the inital soak and rinses. I'll use my soap, mits brushes etc.

[WhiteCamaro88]

if theres a decent detailer who doesnt charge an arm and a leg a hand wash during cold temps might be a good idea then no siwrls or damage to correct in spring

[Jeff Smith]

Originally posted by WhiteCamaro88
if theres a decent detailer who doesnt charge an arm and a leg a hand wash during cold temps might be a good idea then no siwrls or damage to correct in spring

Speaking for myself, my plan is to do the best I can myself. I have nothing against any Pro Detailer. I have great respect for them, especially the ones who contribute in this fourm. But I tend to draw some of my local detailers attention to my truck and sometimes when they offer up the compliments, we strike up a discussion and I soon realize that most of them have limited skills in that they can likely do up a decent wash and wax, shine the tires, trim and clean the windows and vacuum.

I usually loose them somewhere along the way when I get into talking about cleaners and polishes. Had one actually tell me that all polishes were junk. If I ever meet a detailer that strikes me as actually having done some research, I will keep his business card around. But I can't say at this point that I have meet one locally who has really impressed me. I hope I do meet a few so I can have a decent face to face discussion and might learn something.

[TKDDAD]

Sounds like a great market to start a real "professional" detailing service...