Hey Everyone with stock rims:

How do you wash your cars in the winter? I went to a mechanical wash the other day and quickly became a member of the scratched rim club when the bozo attendant guided my L front rim right into the guide track. Just 1 scratch on one of the spokes and a small scuff on 2 others. I should have known better...what a ridiculous rim design!!! I'll never go through a mechanical wash again.

So.....my question is, for those of you who live in places where it gets cold...how are you washing your car? Do you take it to Self Service spray bays? If so, how do you get all the salt and crap out from the undercarriage?

 

Yes Radiohead rules

I will go to a self-service spray booth, however I will bring my own 5 gallon bucket of warm soapy water and my microfiber mitt. I only use the booth's water for inital wet down and final rinse. Don't use the brush for washing. It will scratch the hell out of your clearcoat. You can use it for the undercarriage, but not the paint.

Final rinse is key. I fill my bucket with the water from the wand and pour it slowly over the car. That way you reduce the beading on the car and I can get back in the car and warm my now frost-bitten fingers.

Then I can use a nice 100% cottom towel to finish. The Absorber I have is useless when it gets cold. The damn thing freezes.

 

I wash it the same way I do in the summer, in my driveway. The only difference is that I mix warm water in with the hose water in the bucket. Cold water doesn't clean too well, especially when it's cold out. After I rinse it I bring it into the garage and dry it the same way as in the summer.... leaf blower. No joke, blows the water right off in about 5 min., and gets it out of all of the hard to reach areas (door sills, etc). After that I throw some salt on the driveway to melt the now formed ice, go inside, have some hot chocolate and thaw out.... ......

 

Good advice NSXNEXT...by the way, if you're a Radiohead fan, go out and get "Strung out on OK Computer"....it's the entire OK Computer album in order...done by a STRING QUARTET!!!! It's amazing!!!!!

 

do we have a winter in so cal? :P

 

Yeah I forgot to do that last year. Almost had a heck of a lawsuit on my hands. :o

 

As much as you guys make fun of us in the Northeast, I couldn't imagine not having a winter. I love to ski too much. Yeah I know.."I can drive to XXX and see snow, but still come back to SoCal and see the honeys". Blah Blah Blah

 

I have one of those Manual power washer bays and I bring my own bucket with the Zaino soap and wash mit. I spray the hell out of the undercarrige, usually the sprayers are long enough to reach the middle of the underneath of the car. The tip is, or what I do, is go to the owners office and ask him if he can shut the garage doors for me. This allows for drying time. Or, I just drive it home and let it ice up, then pull it in the garage and let it sit untill the ice melts, then dry it.
I might buy a garage heater and warm up the garage to like 80 degrees then wash it in the garage. Hopefully, with it being 80 degrees, the water will just dry in the garage. Other wise I have to squeegeee it out and put some salt down.

 

u forgot to mention Park Ave Acura!!

 

you took the words right out of my mouth! beaches, mountains and deserts all w/i a 2 hour drive.

 

During the winter I go to a laser car wash....they use no brushes at all! they hand dry and everything too!

 

It's become VERY cold at nights here. With the temperature dropping to darn near 60 degrees it becomes hard to dry the car off. My technique consists of the following:

Wash it during the day.


-Aaron

 

I usually just wash my cars in the garage. Fortunately, there are floor drains on each side, so most of the water will go down the drains. I'll sometimes have to use a squiggy (sp?) to get the remaining water out.

If the cars are REALLY dirty; i.e. salt, etc. I'll taken them down the steet to a TOUCHLESS car wash to get the crap off, then take them back to the garage for the hand wash.

Now if I can just get my wife to let me buy my CL-S...

Eric

 

Smart ass..

 

LMAO!!

 

Did someone wreck from sheet ice in the street in front of your house :P

 

haa, here it can get down to -30 celsius, and as high as +15 in the winter. I will go find a self-serve wash and do it there, and for the car to dry.

 

No, my wife's best friend almost broke her hip when she slipped and fell on the driveway.

 

I was washing my TL last winter and the water kept freezing on my TL. It was 20 degrees outside! Talk about dedication (or is it stupidity?).