Hi everyone,

For those of you that are in cold winter climates, such as Chicago like me... How do you care for your car during these winter months where you'd get frostbite if you wash your car by hand, haha. With winter approaching fairly quickly, I'm worried about how I'm going to wash my car? I've thought about going to one of those pay & wash yourself places, but bring my own sponge so I don't have to use that broom-brush they have.

Any other suggestions? What do you guys do?

Thanks!

 

http://www.fullydetailed.com/winter.html

heres a little write up for winter prep.

 

I try to find touchless car washes, there is no other alternative, unless I had an underground garage. @ the touchless I try and find places where they have underbody spray to get the crap off your underside. That's about it really and not much we can do really when the temps hover around 0 to -10 daily for 2 months.

lusid

 

The Husky liners is an excellent choice for winter months. It make disposle of interior contaminants, a heck of a lot easier.
The spray and wash places are great as well, for removing salt build up. get the majority off, and if you have a heated garage, Optimum NRWS is a priority. Then add additional protection after every wash.
I cant express enough, now, the importance of pre winter care. Its not necessary to polish (although a paint cleaning would be nice for proper adhesion) this time of year, but a few coats of synthetic protection is mandatory. Then maintaining that throughout the winter with a spray wax, as washes become available.

 

pretty much.. what pat said.. it gets real tough when it gets ridiculously cold. But if you prepare for the months ahead, the paint will thank you. hah

 

Thanks everyone for your replies!

Pat - what exactly is "synthetic protection"? ....Sorry I'm new to all of this!

 

I'll tell ya .. the paper is the last thing I'd do .. just asking for water retention .. mildew and ink transfer ...

 

Steve9207-

Synthetic Protection - in a nutshell is a new wax. Made of synthetic compounds that last longer in durability. That's really it.

Got the info from the link below.


http://autopia.org/forum/guide-detai...-your-car.html

 

As above winter prep is the key ... I go a little over board past the 4 layers of sealants etc ..

1) Off go the summer wheels .. on with the winters.
2) Mud flaps added when wheels changed. ( I also add tape under the mud flaps so they don't mar the paint.
3) I tape over my rocker panels with good quality electreical tape to reduce sand blasting. Add a strip of tape to the wheel well edges to prevent rock chips there.
4) Tape over the mirror backs to prevent chips.
5) I put the bra on and before I do that I put tape under it on the the known rub spots. The bra is not left on all winter .. its removed ocassionally for a day or 2 and I bring it in to vac the back of it and dry it . This is done when we have the odd warm spell.

Because of our climate up here they use a lot of salt, sand & chemicals on the roads and my customers used to get all freaky and go to the washes and use the brushes or the spinning ones . Both damage the paint a lot and in the spring its a horror show trying to correct the paint.

What I have recommended, and do myself, is once a week go to the spray wash and spray off as much of the crud as you can .. then leave it alone. If you get a good warmish day do a proper hand wash at home. Since they have been doing this the work for me is easier and less $$ for them. Doing this removes the majority of the chemicals and reduces the marring dramatically.


Last winter mine was hand washed no more than 1/2 doz times between Nov & mid march.

Occasionally I'll take my own bucket, water, soap and mitts and go to the spray wash at 7 AM or so and spray off the car and hand wash it . I seldom dry it because any time your using a pressure spray to rinse your blasting hidden grit up on the surface and the drying towel will marr it.

A little over board but hey .. it pays off ... I been using the tape trick for years. After on winters driving you "will" know where you should have applied it.

 

The wax on / wax off link on my web page has some good info on it too.

 

Hey everyone, thanks again so much for all these tips. This is really going to help me. Also, I've made the decision today to buy a UDM. So, I'm watching Pat's eBay auction closely...if that doesn't work out, I'm going to start searching. But, I washed my car tonight (it's like 50 degrees in Chicago). I was pretty frickin cold, haha. So, I figured I better get this UDM and get the winter prep done ASAP before it's too late and I don't wanna be out in that cold.

 

I did the winter prep sealant tonight, was hard because I had one 250W light, and an overhead florescent light on top. So I couldn't see exactly all the sealant in some spots. Regardless, I still have a few trouble spots but we'll see how this turns out.

Also, if and when you get the UDM, I suggest you order "red" pads so you can get the sealant on the car using that pad. Red is good for sealants because it has no "cutting" abilities, just application purposes.

GL

 

50??? crap in winter I'll wash it in front of the house in the mid 30's low 40's I dry it and do door edges.

We need to toughen you up a bit .. make you into a detailer.

 

With his shirt off!!

 

I did that once .. 3 of the neighbors moved out ... one had a coronary from laughing .. This is CanaDUH you know ..

 

Ain't nuthin wrong with that!

I've known folks who done 'bout 7 of 'em layers.

You have that much sealant on, then all you have to do is spray wax (WAUD or UPPS) after every wash, make sure you wash indoors. You do this and you'll make it thru winter still shinin' good....

 

Actually last winter I was up around 11 layers .. but even with 4 and proper winter wash it still shines and beads. I'm not a fan of the topper sprays .. I doubt they offer much more than first rain protection. And the more things you rub on your car in winter the more your opening yourself to swirling.

 

Oh, trust me - I've washed past cars before when it was so cold that the water would just turn to ice before you could dry it, haha. I was just saying that even being 50, that water sure makes the cold get to you pretty quick! And it also reminds me of what I'm not looking forward to in the upcoming months

Steve

 

what do you suggest to avoid calcium buildup on the carpets?
how do you protect them?

 

I use a winter matt .. Kraco brand I think .. Matter of fact I run them year round. This set I bought in 93 .. pix is in my 03 Passat.

 

do you treat the carpet at all?
winters get messy do you do anything other than winter mats?
i've been using winter mats as well, i ordered the OEM ones for this car. and still i dont feel its enough protection.

 

I put my nice car in the garage and drive around in a 93 Civic that I got for a thousand bucks for 3 or 4 months. :-)

Saves mileage on the TSX, and keeps it from rusting out (Michigan road salt FTL)

 

No I don't .. I just bang my feet together getting in and these mats hold a fair amount so I just dump them regularly.

 

you can still wash your car in the winter...i would prefer 40+degrees, and what i do is fill my soap bucket up with hot water, that keeps my hands from freezing and helps the car "melt" down a bit...after the rinse, i fill up a bucket with clean hot water and stick my chamios in that bucket and i keep going back and fourth to the hot water with my chamios and wring it out...it helps a lot...ofcourse, now i live in dallas and dont have the really long cold spells...

 

i get two buckets of hot water, one with soap (Zaino). Spritz down the car while in the garage, wash one panel at a time with the wash mit then rinse in the clean water bucket. wipe down with mf towel and done. i guess it's similar to the No Rinse product sold, and it works for me. don't think i'd want to do it with a black car, but seems fine with silver.

 

i used to do the same thing years ago, works great...i dont really have the cold weather problems like some folks in colder places, but if i lived up north again, i would do this with my car....

 

good advice here cause right now i can't wash my car until at least tues or wed due to snow and the bitter temps -5F the last 2 days.

 

Hey I'm in IL too (hence the reason I started this thread), it's been terribly cold the past two days here, huh? I went to wash my Mom's Honda Pilot today (with Optimum's NRWS in the garage as I usually do with my TL). Well, it must have just been too cold today. Even in the garage, with the door shut, and this little heater on (it doesn't do much, but it's something), the water would freeze by the time I grabbed the towel to dry it off. I would seriously do one door panel at a time, and quickly reach for the WW towel - by the time I got to the lower part of the door panel, it was frozen!!!

 

too cold for my blood, i'd have waited a few days. did mine yesterday (it was 38 degrees) and we are looking at a week of subfreezing temps so no worry of road sludge...finally a clean car for more than a day.

 

NRWS doesnt work when temps are at -15 to -10 LOL

Nothing works at those temps. I try to wash above freezing but I havent seen those temps in weeks.

 

Hey, any NYC members out here know of spray and wash locations in the local area? The only one I know of is at the Amoco/BP gas station on the NJ entrance of the Holland tunnel. Not worth it to drive there (20 miles RT) and pay for the car wash + toll. I need a car wash bad. I live in an apartment building too so I can't even hose it down.