cold weather care for your car

[chrisalvarez]

ok i am enjoying cleaning my vehichles in the summer especially now that ive been to the meguiars site and have learned the right way to do things but i live in the midwest where snow and ice are inevitable so what do you suggest in the winter? I have lived in the midwest all my life and know all to well how important it is to wash off the salt from plow trucks when you get a chance but does anyone have any additional advice thanks.

[wifpd4]

Re: cold weather care for your car

Hi Chris, If you have a heated garage that is half the battle. Several of the folks here on MOL will explain the use of no rinse products. I'll try to describe what I've done with moderate to horrible success.

A screw lid 5 gallon bucket is most useful and having a car wash nearby that allows bucket washing is convenient. A car wash with heated bays is a pretty rare find.

I carry the screw lid bucket and a jug of Meguiar's Gold Class or Ultimate Wash and Wax. If it is really cold, I fill the bucket at home with hot water and add the soap at the car wash. I high pressure rinse the car to get off most of the salt, ice and muck. Then I hand wash the car with my bucket (with a grit guard) of soap and high pressure rinse again and dry using Ultimate Quik Wax.

This works moderately well until the car washes shut down because it is too cold. This is where car washes with heat wash bays are nice. I have heated my garage with a portable propane heater for waxing, but this is dangerous for many reasons.

Getting the salt off the car is probably the #1 priority.

[STRIFE]

Re: cold weather care for your car

I've been dreading washing in the colder winter months.....thought about getting a Montana boars hair brush...so I don't have to dip my hands into a freakin cold bucket of suds.
Pretty pricey piece of equipment.....for the areas a Montana brush cannot get at, I can get at with a small boars hair brush. Another option would be using ONR inside my garage

http://www.autogeek.net/boar-s-hair.html

http://www.autogeek.net/lug-nut-brush.html

[chrisalvarez]

Re: cold weather care for your car

thanks for replying guys. my garage is not heated but taking the bucket to the car wash is a good idea i will have to try that lol. And i notice you guys live in places just as cold as the winters here in nebraska/iowa but how bout when it gets really cold like sub-zero do you just give it one last good wash and wax when temps are still in like the 40s and wait til your'e able to go to the car wash again when it heats up a little?

[jfelbab]

Re: cold weather care for your car

We get our share of lousy winter weather here in WI. Damn, it's almost September and winter is just a few months away. Our area uses a lot of salt and chemical ice melters on the roads and often mix in sand and gravel. This stuff makes cars rust, especially the undercarriage and non-protected metals. Drive the freeway and you wind up with a lot of this mix on your paint. I am a firm believer that using a touch-less car wash in this environment is better than leaving it sit on the car. I'm getting to old to be out trying to hand wash a car in below freezing temperatures.

I typically do a late fall (October/November) detail. I apply two coats of Synthetic Sealant (M21) a day apart and on the third day I apply a coat of Professional Paste Wax (M16) as a topper. I don't have a heated garage either so I run the cars through a touch-less wash on the warmer days and scoot home where I do a final cleaning with Synthetic Spray Detailer (M135 a.k.a. UQD) and then apply a coat of Synthetic X-Press Spray Wax (M156 a.k.a. UQW). This approach seems to leave the car still beading well come spring.

I'm dreading another winter season.

[chrisalvarez]

Re: cold weather care for your car

thanks for the advice. yeah its getting close thats why i thought i would ask cuz every winter is the same with all the grime and salt and gravel. i think i will also try the waterless carwash stuff too. also i have a black car so that makes it even a little tougher. i also have a silver suv and that doesnt seem to get as filthy but i will try a few different things out and post what kind of results good or bad

[Buck91]

Re: cold weather care for your car

Last winter I was spoiled. At work we had a indoor vehicle wash bay as well as limited indoor parking, I would just come in early once or twice a week and do a quick scrub down with extra soapy water (UW&W) and a big soft wash brush and then park inside until she dried- this was on the '96 GT. This year I do not foresee that luxury. The plan is either a pay'n'spray with my own soap and sponge on warmer days or a touchless just to bust down some of the salt. I really want to find somewhere which offers some type of underbody flush without the rest of the wash process being too hard on the paint, though.

[Bjkearns]

Re: cold weather care for your car

ugh, I dont know how you guys deal with that weather

[BillE]

Re: cold weather care for your car

ugh, I dont know how you guys deal with that weather

There IS a LOT of swearing involved! LOL

Bill

[jfelbab]

Re: cold weather care for your car

Winter is a miserable time for those of us who love impeccably clean and shiny cars, and for those of us who dread going out in below freezing weather to attempt to keep our cars from biodegrading from the salt. Not to mention the white-knuckle driving experience on icy and snow covered roads where you can only guess where the centerline or shoulders are. You haven't really lived until you are driving down the freeway after a county salter has been by and listening to the salt pinging off your paint. Hard to be CarCrazy here in the winter. We really celebrate the coming of spring and the return to only dealing with lots of rain.

The question is not how we deal with it but why do we deal with it? I think it's partly that we are territorial and tend to not stray far from where we came from. Or. maybe it is that the cold has frozen part of our brain, the part that thinks logically. LOL

To all my fellow snow belt friends, time to start thinking about beginning your winter prep, and don't forget to change the oil in your snow blower.

Seen this?
Get Ready for a Wet, Wild Winter in 2012! | Farmers' Almanac

For the winter of 2011–12, the Farmers’ Almanac is forecasting “clime and punishment,” a season of unusually cold and stormy weather. For some parts of the country, that means a frigid climate; while for others, it will mean lots of rain and snow.

Source: http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weathe...nter-forecast/

[wifpd4]

Re: cold weather care for your car

Jim, Jim, Jim, let me enjoy Fall!!!

I washed and waxed and it only rained ONCE in the last 7 days! Life is good. I love Fall.

The snow blower can sit awhile longer.

[chrisalvarez]

Re: cold weather care for your car

lol i hear that. the only thing i enjoy about my car in winter is the heated leather seats and my all wheel drive. i guess i'll just have to do whatever i can whenever i can to keep the car somewhat cleaned off until spring i just wish there were something heavier duty to repel snow, ice, sand and salt for us in the midwest and east coast. the only other thing i can think of is even when its bitterly cold out trying to wax in my the garage heated, or not its worth a shot.

[BillyJack]

Re: cold weather care for your car

The past two winters were the first I ever endured here in PA without the after-hours access to the detail bays at the dealership where I work, so I had to devise a survival plan for my winter daily driver. First of all, look into Optimum No-Rinse. You can wash a car using less than a gallon of water, so you don't have to deal with a damp garage. As late in the fall as possible, I did a two coat wax job using the most durable stuff I had. When a weekend came around that was a little milder than normal, in the garage it came for an ONR wash. If it was really covered with salt and dirt, I'd blow off the heavy stuff in the driveway with my pressure washer before pulling it in the garage. A quick pass with NXT, which IMO is my most user friendly cold-weather wax, gave a little extra boost through January and February. I still had beading into April, when the weather moderated.

Bill

[Joenok]

Re: cold weather care for your car

Last 6-7 yrs I

[Joenok]

Re: cold weather care for your car

Last 6-7 yrs I have been using #21/#21 2,0, both for my cars and customer cars.
This year, i was thinking about trying Ultimate Wax for my own car.

I love the winter, but detailing cars is harder. I work out of a heated garage, but I have to wash all cars outside. I have found out that it is
doable as long as temperatures are above 20 deg fahrenheit. Below this, everything freezes as soon as the mitt passes over, no matter how hot the water is.
Indoor wash space wanted