Wintertime blues...

[Justin A]

It's winter here in the frozen white north of NH. There's about 25-30" of snow on the ground, about 3" on my street...the carport was just shoveled yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks....
Needless to say, my car looks miserable. There's ice on the paint that hasn't melted off (in about 3 weeks), dirt and ice in the floormats, the trunk has snow in it (my fault- ski equipment)...it's terrible. We're finally going to have a few days where it's above freezing on sunday and monday, but then it's supposed to rain on monday evening.

How do my fellow snowmen deal with winter vs. the car? I can't wait to stop renting and buy a house with a heated garage. Then salt and sand will never plauge me again!

[Lydia]

Re: Wintertime blues...

Well lets see. Last Saturday I went riding in a tshirt and had to raise the visor of my helmet because it was getting stuffy. When I was washing my bike, the soap was drying on it because I was out in the sun (and I was starting to sweat). Then Monday morning when I got to work at 9, I looked in the back of my truck and saw a sheet of ice about 1/2 inch thick from the water that had been in my truck bed. Tuesday morning there was frost on the grass when I got up, and then this morning I was washing my truck and the soap was drying on it because it was warm in the sun. It's rough here in FL...

What part of NH are you from, anyways? I used to live up there so I know what the winters are like (although when I lived there I didn't drive so I never worried about the effects of the salt and sand on the car). I remember one winter where there was a blizzard, and we were without power for three days...talk about winter blues!

[Justin A]

Re: Wintertime blues...

I'm in Twin Mountain (motel town), it's at the intersection of Rt 3 and Rt 302, just west-northwest of Mt. Washington. It's all the way up to 24 degrees now! Supposed to be near 50 on sunday afternoon, with the rain.

[Lydia]

Re: Wintertime blues...

Ah! I know where you are now. I hiked Mount Washington once when I lived there (memory fails me as to whether we hiked up the whole thing, or whether we just did part...I was about 7 when I hiked it). Stood atop it many times (and almost got blown off once when I was little).

Are there any coin ops in the area that you can use until the weather warms up? That seemed to be the general consensus when someone posted a similar question on the old (new?) forum.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Wintertime blues...

I feel your pain up in the cold. Not to rub it in, I was detailing on my Mazda today. It was so nice I had to change shirts twice. It is great this time of year down here in Florida. Try to find the coin-op, so you can feel a little bit better about your car. Stay warm.

[Hoosker]

Re: Wintertime blues...

Justin,

You have to work on acceptance, lol. That's what I do, I was reading the forums otnight and thought, man, how great these guys can work on their cars all year round out West. I'm in NJ, and the same thing happens here (to a lesser extent).
You say you can;t wait for a heated garage, well I have one, but it doesn't help that much, between the water freezing up everywhere, and stuff always in the garage so its not convenient to use it, and, it's still cold as heck to be out there detailing for any lenght! I mean, I have a one car garage, I suppose if you had a shop size garage, then yeah, sign me up too!
Good Luck and hang in there Buddy, Springs coming!
*********************************

It's winter here in the frozen white north of NH. There's about 25-30" of snow on the ground, about 3" on my street...the carport was just shoveled yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks....
Needless to say, my car looks miserable. There's ice on the paint that hasn't melted off (in about 3 weeks), dirt and ice in the floormats, the trunk has snow in it (my fault- ski equipment)...it's terrible. We're finally going to have a few days where it's above freezing on sunday and monday, but then it's supposed to rain on monday evening.

How do my fellow snowmen deal with winter vs. the car? I can't wait to stop renting and buy a house with a heated garage. Then salt and sand will never plauge me again!

[CAShine]

Re: Wintertime blues...

I'm in NJ too and I can't wait to days that are above freezing and raining instead of snowing. I love to see the snow on the ground and how it transforms everything, but its killing me when I wanna do business and detail a car. Where there is a will, there is a way.

[Patman]

Re: Wintertime blues...

It's winter here in the frozen white north of NH. There's about 25-30" of snow on the ground

We don't get nearly as much snow as you, in fact we had our biggest winter storm in almost ten years here last weekend, 10" fell in 24 hours. That's a pretty small storm compared to what a lot of you guys are used to, I'm sure! We usually only get an inch or two of snow a week here, sometimes we'll even go 2-3 weeks with nothing more than just flurries.

But even still, winter here really brings me down because even though we don't get a lot of snow, they still put down a lot of road salt, so my car stays pretty messy looking for 95% of the winter months here.

The one thing I do which really helps me out (both from my mental state and in the preservation of my car's finish) is that every Saturday morning I take my Corvette to a local detail shop and for $15 they do a complete handwash. They use all Meguiar's products there, and use fresh washmitts and fresh cotton towels on every car. Even if the roads are not perfectly clean I still keep my appointment to get my car cleaned, as it's nice to see it looking perfectly spotless, even if just for a short while. Sometimes if they aren't too busy and the roads are really messy, I'll hang around inside the shop and talk with the guys a little longer so that I can see my car clean for a little bit longer than usual.

It also helps out when we get a few days here and there in the winter when it might hit 50 or even 60 degrees. Those days are great for getting a fresh coat of sealant on the car.

[dietoremain]

Re: Wintertime blues...

I hear ya im here in california and its not as nasty as your prob. But my poor truck hasnt been washed in like 10 days. its been rained on twice, windy weather the past few days (right after rain) made some nice dirt spots and i've been busy! And now its really bright out so i dont awnna wash it i gotta wait till its shady out. Oh well. its frustrating!

[Skuz]

Re: Wintertime blues...

I think we have received about 2' of snow here since November. Roads are awfully dirty with abrasives, and it's gonna be worse tomorrow with some of the snow melting (high of 10C ! WTF ???) and then freezing again Monday.

I usually go visit my parents on weekends and while I'm there, I clean my car (and theirs) using their garage, but it would be useless to clean any car these days.

[rqk]

Re: Wintertime blues...

Take advantage of those above freezing days. Here in the Chicago area I had to convince myself to wash the car today even though there was like a 100% chance of rain later in the day, then getting very cold and snow. I just new getting the road salt off the car and the brake dust off the wheels was going to be worth it. Sure enough, a few hours later it started to rain, but leaving the car dirty until then next above freezing day (on a non-work day) wasn't an option.

So get prepared to wash your car Sunday or Monday

[cm2005300]

Re: Wintertime blues...

Yea What I Do Is Whenever I Know There Is SalT On My Car Usually Aorund 1 Time A Week I Go And If Its Below Freezing Just Rinse It Or If Its Above Ill Wash It Both @ The Coin Op Better To Get The Old Layer Of Salt Off Rather Than Keep It N There And Then Let A New Layer Settle On Top Of It Just Keep Going With The Washes And When Spring Comes Youll Have Alot Less Work To Do

[Joe's detailing]

Re: Wintertime blues...

Think of the snow as (Vacation time)..
Soon it will pass, then spring will come and back to the same 'O'' grind doing detailing ... I love winter...