Winter hot water washing

[6043ron]

Ok, so it's wintertime again and all that road salt and snow and ice is building up in my fenderwells and on my roof. Can I use warm to hot water to blast most of the snow and ice away in the wheelwells and down the sides of my new truck ? What about the ice on the roof, can I melt it off with warm to hot water so I can at least wash the truck and not all the crud on it ?

My concerns would be : what does it do to the Meguire's Ultimate wax I have on it now ? Will it do anything to the paint (clearcoat) which I believe it tninner than cheesecloth these days.

Anybody have any experience on this ? Help appreciated and thanks to all !!

[Blueline]

Re: Winter hot water washing

Just my personal opinion, but I don't think the combination of hot water and cold metal is good. Expansion and contraction. I never wash my cars in the winter, (wax is not washed off) and both black vehicles turn white with salt. Salt is not going to hurt painted metal, and the unpainted undercarriage is rust proof sprayed every year, My old 2006 will look great as it always does, when I wash and wax it in the spring. For an eight year old car, never washed in the winter months, it pretty much looks new. My other car, IS new, and is currently white with salt.The salt doesn't bother me and is not going to hurt the cars...it just looks like **** and part of living in the north.

Wow...C rap is censored?????

[wifpd4]

Re: Winter hot water washing

I would never go from icy cold to hot. Hearing stories of glass cracking would prevent me from using hot water on icy cold car. Just remember even cold water is warmer than ice and snow. Now what I used to do before I started renting a heated space, was to buy a couple of screw lid 5-gallon buckets and take hot water from home to the car wash. Rinse the car with the car wash's cold water and then mix up some Gold Class Shampoo with my, by then warm, water and hand wash the car.

I do wash often in the winter, but not so much to melt the snow and ice. Rather to keep our cars looking nice and reducing the corrosive effect of the many kinds of rock salt, salt brine and whatever de-icer is the flavor of the day. During a salt shortage a few years back a vegetable beet product was used and even Tones Spices donated garlic salt to some locations. So you'd get a nice pink color and an Italian food smell.

Keeping wheel wells clear is important, if the ice builds up enough it can wear on the tires.

Even Ultimate Wax, my favorite wax, cannot hold up for a long time to snow, ice, salt and repeated washing.

[Blueline]

Re: Winter hot water washing

Keeping wheel wells clear is important, if the ice builds up enough it can wear on the tires.

Ice is one of the most slippery compounds in the natural world. It is basically frictionless, and thereby will not "wear on the tires". What little friction there is will create enough heat to melt the ice clear of the tire within a few revolutions of the wheel. Ice in the wheel wells looks ugly, will make a thump when it falls off, but it is not going to wear your tires out. LOL

[6043ron]

Re: Winter hot water washing

So you believe that salt and calcium has absolutely no effect on the breakdown of any wax ?

[6043ron]

Re: Winter hot water washing

[QUOTE=6043ron;557582] Blueline : So you believe that salt and calcium has absolutely no effect on the breakdown of any wax ? and [/Salt is not going to hurt painted metal] I dunno about that, look at the Titanic. Yea, it's been there longer than my truck will ever be but read below. I believe salt it not good to have on your car.

Wifpd4: Quote: "I do wash often in the winter, but not so much to melt the snow and ice" Ok, so what do you do with all that snow packed in your wheel wells ? Ice build up on the bumpers and wherever else ? Do you just skip over that part when washing ? I want that garbage out of there. Don't you see all the vehicles running around with rust holes and cancer tumers all around the wheel wells on the fenders ? I always say to myself "There's a guy that don't never wash his wheels, he just lets the salt and water lay on top of that lip." I have always washed under my wheel wells and have never had rust on my purchased new 99 Suburban of 14 1/2 years.....not even a pimple. So I know it's important to get all that stuff out of there.

[wifpd4]

Re: Winter hot water washing

I have seen build up in a wheel well destroy a tire. Another problem with ice/snow in wheel wells it can limit the travel of your suspension and in some cases affect steering. If I don't get my car washed right away, I do have a long handled ice scraper I use to keep wheel wells clear.

There is a building in town within which I rent space to detail cars as a hobby. The building was a car dealership many years ago and has an area used as a wash bay. I keep a high pressure washer there. When I purchased this washer, I also purchased an undercarriage attachment. It's a long handled, rolling, rotating, two-headed upward pointed, high pressure washer. When I wash summer or winter, I use the undercarriage sprayer.

If I use a coin-operated car wash, I prefer the undercarriage and wheel spraying, touchless type of wash.

http://www.autobytel.com/car-ownership/maintenance-repair/protecting-your-car-from-road-salt-107174/1/

[BillyJack]

Re: Winter hot water washing

I've always had my DD's parked outside in PA, so winter washing of a salt, snow and ice encrusted car is routine for me. I'll always use warm water when available and it's never compromised my wax protection. For the past 5 years or so, it's almost always with a rinseless product, ONR, DG or Meguiar's. I'll first blast the wheelwells and wheels, then rinse the car with warm water (not super-hot) and hose nozzle pressure, melting any residual ice or snow. I'll also mix my rinseless with warm water. Lately, my favorite wash media has been the Meguiar's Microfiber Wash Mitt. It's super-soft, holds as much solution as I want and most important, it seems to release dirt in the bucket better than any other media I've tried.

Bill

[Eldorado2k]

The mitt is so soft that I have to put it away in a drawer.. Or else my cat will try to sleep or nead on it. Lol.

[exploreco]

Re: Winter hot water washing

The mitt is so soft that I have to put it away in a drawer.. Or else my cat will try to sleep or nead on it. Lol.

LOL, so that is where she gets her inspiration from. And countless hours watching you of course

[Eldorado2k]

I think she thinks the mitt is her mom! Lmao. She purrs and just about drools when she finds it. I should just let her have it and buy another.

[JeremyD]

Re: Winter hot water washing

That's a cracked windshield waiting to happen. The rapid temp/expansion change is too stressful on glass. Never thaw ice off your windshield either with hot water.

[tguil]

Re: Winter hot water washing

When the temperature gets above freezing or close to it, I'll use the coin-op followed by a rinseless wash. My rinseless wash is always warm soft water. In my younger days, I'd use the coin-op when the temperature was in the twenties.

My question to those of you who have responded to the OP. Have you personally experienced any damage by using hot water on a cold car? How about those folks who take their cars through the automatic carwash when the temperature is in the teens or low twenties? I have never personally seen a car damaged in this way and I have been a "car nut" for over for over 55 years.

IMO...get the winter crud off whenever you can.

[JeremyD]

I have not seen it. But have heard of people that has broke their windshield from thawing ice off there windshield with hot water.

[Jeepster04]

Re: Winter hot water washing

Wash my jeeps with hot water since I've been detailing. When I say not, I can comfortably put my hand in the water.

Can't imagine not washing my jeeps in the winter. I probably wash them more in the winter than the summer.