Washing your car in the winter - what to do?
I hope this isn't a dumb question - but how do I keep the exterior of my car clean when it's below freezing? I know I can drive to the do-it-yourself car wash and spray the underside of the car to remove road salt, etc - but what about washing or waxing? How cold is too cold to wash or wax? If it's below freezing, do I just wait for a day when it's above 32F to wash my car? thanks
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This is how i do it. Ill hose it down (hook up hot water from inside house) wash it as fast as possible then pull it into the garage. Turn on the torpedo heater we have and that keeps it from freezing up.
Or another way. Do section by section (way i do it anyways in the summer. Do the hood roof and front windshield. Dry that. Then do the one side dry that etc.
Also i wouldnt wax when its below 50 or 60.
Good luck and stay warm (i know how you feel it gets cold here in indiana)
Ryan
The problem is trapped water that you didn't dry off...sometimes if your door weather seals aren't too good your doors will freeze shut because it leaked in between the door and the seals.
What you could do is drive the car around a bit after washing it, that should blow off or melt off trapped water.
ANother good idea when your done take an air compressor and blow out the water from various places that hide water
A tip for winter washing if you don't have RKE is to spray the key hole with silicone to avoid a lock out.
check out
http://www.picturetrail.com/ryanbab
I have some winter photos. We got zapped with a blizzard last winter drfits were 24-36" high
The best winter washing tool I ever bought is the California Water Blade. Even in mild weather, 40-50 deg, your hands will go numb trying to use a chamois.
As for waxing, it's OK down to 40-45, just takes a lot longer to dry. Below 40, forget it. Best thing to do is get several coats on in the fall and hope they last.
The good news is, the lines at the car wash are really, really short.:)
If no garage, take a trip to Florida or California to get the grime and salt off.
No salt is used here, but lots of gravel, so we get nicks instead of rust. In most cities they're using a liquid, potassium chloride, IIRC. Supposedly safe, but very difficult to wash the film off the car.
If it's not so cold that I can see my breath, I hand wash. Otherwise, I'm hoping that whatever I spray on my car at the coin-op is at least better than whatever crap is already stuck to it.
When I lived in Chicago I searched around for a coin-op that I liked. I found one that did a good job in filtering and used it exclusively. I did this for five years.
Now living in Georgia, I still have to use a coin-op. My county has been on water restriction for over a year and my apt. complex has shut off the car wash stalls. It's either go to a car wash or find a coin-op.
I think the fear of unfiltered water is a bit unfounded. Driving all winter without washing your car is a terrible idea, IMO. The last thing I'd want is road salt, dirt, grease, and tar sitting on my paint for weeks at a time.
Final point - Hot water is not gonna hurt your car. Most coin-op's use water heaters to help melt ice and snow while washing. But it's not like the heaters are operating at 200 deg. Carnauba wax melts at about 180 deg. but the coin-op's are running at 100 deg or so. Don't worry about it.
Cheers Pat.
None of the DIY hand wand places I have ever encountered recycled their water. Once went to a big mechanised car wash in S. Mpls and before I got in line went inside. The guy inside assured me they filtered the salt out of the water they recycled. Told him if he can do that we can get real rich quick. He really believed they were filtering out the salt.
http://www.odisfiltering.com/products_multiflow.htm
Its nuts right now (im in NW indiana)
Its in the high 60's this wk very wierd.
Cant wait for snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I moved to Chicago from So Cal, where the weather is the same almost every day. What drove me nuts about Chicago weather was that it would change so quickly and frequently. I'd wash my car and it would be raining, hailing, then steaming within a 20 minute period. That drove me crazy.
Atlanta has a very nice balance of weather. Not the consistency like L.A. but beautiful 4 seasons. We get ice storms and flurries. But NO ROAD SALT. Thank God.
- - Bret - -
shoveling is alright. Lately i have been pulling out the snow blower
There were a couple of nice cars but that was about it.
dave