darrinb

Its gonna start to snow here very soon so i cant wash my car at home, and i will never ever take my car to a car wash that hits your car and uses brushes, i hate how it fuckin snows over here.

I was just wondering what some of you guys w/ snowy winters in your area do to keep your car clean. Shawn, Scooter, Nicky, i know it snows by where you guys live, what do yall do??

threetwoseeL

thank god my appartment building has a heated garage with a hose. i'll just rinse my baby every time i come in to get rid of salt and shit

Beason

very quickly, but it doesnt get to cold here in the south.

Shawn S

For the last two years I have been going to one of those “Touch-Free” car wash places that use just soap and high pressure water to clean the car.
Your car sits in one position and the machine goes around it with the spray nozzles.
There is a blow dryer you drive under on the way out and I carry an “absorber” to clean up what it misses.
I do think the detergent is kind of harsh and probably strips any wax you have on there after a few times through.
Usually when I wax for the first time in the spring after frequenting these places it feels like the car is stripped clean of polish.
You don’t really have to worry about getting your RIMS scratched because there is only ONE tire guide for a single front wheel.
As long as you “hit it” on the INSIDE edge of the wheel you should be OK.
I have a set of 16” TL Rims with snow tires for the winter so it doesn’t matter too much for me.

This year though I might go about it differently.
One of my friends who lives nearby by has a HEATED 2-car garage and he says I have an open invitation to come over there and wash the car whenever I need to.
He has a big 220-Volt electric heater with a fan that can turn a 10-degree garage into an 80-degree sauna in about a 15-minutes.
He’s not too far away so I may do that this year.
Plus, I recently converted him over to ZAINO so he now has all the proper tools, rags and different products to properly care for the car.

Since I finally got the cement floor poured in my detached oversized (24 x 30) garage, I may rig up some insulation and a heater in there for NEXT years winter season.

Shawn S

jjm202

Got Acura TLC? Fortunately the place I bought my CL is just a stone throw away from work. So I drop it off over lunch and have them wash it for me, free of charge and as often as I want. Your dealership should do the same.

jjm

joeshmoe

Those touch-free car washes are pretty good for getting the road grim, sand and salt from the winter off of your car. Maybe about once a month in the winter, depending on how bad the roads are. You'll have to reapply th epolish in the spring anyway. DON'T GET THE WAX!!! Most of them have that blue coral crap that will mess up you existing polish.

darrinb

shawn, doesnt that blower that goes over your car at the end of the touchless wash scrape our rear spoilers??

Shawn S

The one I go to NOTHING touches the car at all.
The outlets are about 6FT in the air and have motorized nozzles that rotate as you drive under them.
There is a digital countdown timer display that counts down something like 90-seconds and you pace yourself as you pull out to get the entire car dry.

Shawn S

gsrblack

Acura TLC covers car washes whenever you want? That's a first!

Nicky Pass

I go to those "do it yourself" quarter fed washers....there is one 2 blocks from my house....I bring my own wash mit rinse.....soap with the mit.....then rinse( with the car running and the heat on full blast) then I drive home, let the ice melt and dry it! I;m trying to talk my dad in to getting a garage heater for this winter, then I could do it all at my houe.....we'll see what happens!!!!

einsatz

Funny about this thread I was going to do a search for the same topic...
I plan on doing the same thing as Nicky but I dunno about washing/drying.
If it's 20 deg. outside, you spray the car and by the time you're going to run the mit with soap over you've got a glaze of ice over the car... what then?
Wish I had a house with a garage right about now...

Nicky Pass

If the car is running for a while and the heat is on....you should be okay. Otherwise....I let the ice melt in the garage and dry it later on.

caddyman

I use lukewarm water for the soaping and just wash it off, so long as it is 33 degres outside.

neoprufrok

A few comments from a former MN resident:

1) Try to avoid using any machine wash place. They often recycle the water and as Shawn S said, they have very harsh detergents that will strip anything you have on there. Furthermore, there is little regulation as to the filters they use to keep dirt/sand out of the water.

2) Avoid Acura. Nobody there knows how to detail cars. They likely use non 100% cotton towels. That's how all the spiderwebbing and swirls get in there. In fact, despite my wishes for them not to do so, they washed my car before I got it, and guess what - - tons of swirls spiderwebs with just one wash and "detail." Surprising for a luxury car brand to do this. BMW and Porsche both use high quality detailing people who know the little things that keep those car a little less spiderwebbed and swirled.

3) If you can wash in a heated garage, but make sure not to use hot water in a heated garage, or your windows will crack when you step outside.

4) If you can't, wash in a coin op. That's what I did. I got in my snowsuit, went there and washed for 2 hours. Pissed the people behind me off (I brought my own buckets and soap), but it worked.

And as others have said, don't wash below freezing. It safer on your finish/glass/locks if you just "go dirty" for awhile.

Hope this helps!

darrinb

do you think the do it your self 25 cent places use recycled water, i hope those power washers arent swirling my paint

neoprufrok

I would ask the manager of the shop. That's what I did. Furthermore, if you bring a bucket (I bring two - one to put rinse water in and one for the actual car soap - it keeps swirling at a minimum), spray some water in the bucket and look at it. If there is any turbidity, graininess etc, it would be bad.

However, I have yet to hear about coin ops having recycled water.

AzN Retribution

Easiest way to clean your car in the winter... IMHO is
Protect-All Quick and Easy watch.

go to protectall.com and find your local retailer..
a trailerworld or holiday world or something similar.
basically what you do is put in a cap full of this stuff
along with 2 quarts of water.

No rinsing needed. just use a chenille mitt, a microfiber mitt or sheepskin mitt or a sea sponge and wash your car a section at a time then dry it with a nice towel or microfiber.
doesnt scratch perfectly safe
and autopian tested

It may seem a little expensive at 7.99 or 8.99 but thats just as much as any premium car shampoo and it works without a hose! no residue or water spots its great. Seriously i know it sounds fishy and like it would scratch and it looks like its just colored water. but it isn't and it doesn't, it doesnt even cause swirls.(as long as you have the common sense to put the mitt/sponge back in the bucket when it gets dirt to rinse out the dirt)

it works great on Polymer, Acrylic or Carnauba and doesnt make it wear out any quicker either. It has actually made my S100 layer last longer

neoprufrok

Azn: what do you have on your car?

I feel like I should try this but I wonder how it would work with Zaino. Maybe I should do a search on the autopia versions huh?