How do you guy's wash your car in winter?
 

Just curious as to how you guys keep your cars clean in the winter, specifically Michigan winter which is the worst I have ever seen. I usually hand wash my cars in the summer but the pipes freeze up in the winter. Also, there is no way i'm taking my new baby to a car wash and getting it all scratched up. Is a touchless car wash a viable option or are those bad as well? More importantly, I have no idea how to wash the under carriage of the car, which gets the most abuse in Michigan winter's with all the salt.

Touchless car wassh. Find one with undercarriage spray. Most of them around here spray the underside.

Otherwise combination of touchless and then going to the bay car washes and using the pressure washed to spray the underside.

Carwash

WELCOME to ...... The Forum, there, lupindub ......... :party0030:

How do I wash my FR-S in the winter ........ I don't ....... ;)



humfrz

Thanks for the warm welcome. I think not washing your car for the WHOLE winter is a bad idea, at least in the long run. Ya'll gonna have some rusty arse cars in a couple years.

As said above, touch less is probably your best bet unless you wanna get out and get minor frostbite using the spray down stations. My lazy ass wants no parts of that so touch less 2-3 times a week is my routine.

Typically just hose the chunks off every now and then. And as soon as I do, it rains again. We don't use nasty chemicals here, so I'm not really worried about corrosion. I washed it once this past winter after my niece gave me crap about how dirty it was. Do NOT use any sort of car wash that physically touches the paint or your life will suck.

Start with an icepick?


http://icons.wunderground.com/data/w...unrise/168.jpg

Just want to let you know that touchless = recycled sand blast water.


In the winter unless you have a warehouse you can run from filtered recycled water.

Washing a car here in Phoenix in the winter is easy, but in the summer it's the same theory as most of the rest of the world in the winter...I don't want to be out in 112 degrees of blazing sun in the driveway washing my car, so I'd like to be able to stay in the garage. Still 112 degrees, but no blazing sun. I've read enough good things about Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine to have bought some and am planning to try it out tomorrow. Hoping I can give it the thumbs up.

Here in Wisconsin I do it in the heated underground garage. I haven't lived here long, but I have no idea how people can live in a place like this without a heated garage or underground parking of some sort. If you don't have a garage, make friends with someone who lives in an apartment or condo with underground parking and wash it there - I've never seen one without a hose (hot and cold water too!)

With underground, I can wear a t-shirt and board shorts while it's -40 outside with 80 degree water.

Washing the car is the last thing I want to do when it's freezing out. But if you have a garage, try the no rinse route.

how to wash your fr-s/brz in the winter
Step 1. Park it in the garage
Step 2. Bring out 1989 civic LX/beater car

Not sure where you got your information that they re-use "Sand blasting water"

Yes it's true that car washes "recycle and reuse" some of the water. However most places also filter it first. Is it 100% fool proof? No probably not, however in the cold winter, its better than NOT washing your car at all.

It's not going to destroy your paint. May it cause swirls and fine scratches? Yeah probably just like washing with a shitty dirty wash mit. Lets be honest though, if you're driving in the winter you're fucked already. If you paint correct your car and drive it in the winter, you should full on understand that you're goign to have to give it a light polish as soon as the snow melts anyways. If you don't paint correct your car, then i doubt you care anyways.

Honestly, I would rather have a slightly scratched car then a rusty car. If you don't wash the salt and crud off the under carriage of your car, it will rust.

Up here we have a touchless wash without rails and have a 90 day wash pass that they promo during the winter. Washed my car about 30 times and it's the same condition as before.

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I don't. If there's any salt or ice on the road it stays under a car cover until the coast is clear. If for some reason I do drive I use a tons of microfiber cloths and IBIZ Waterless Wash & Wax and whatever cheap detailer sprays I can find then put the cover back on.

What is this "washing" you speak of?

Really no point if you live in the rustbelt. Good news is that dirty paint does not affect the way the car handles.:burnrubber:

This^^^^^^^
Got a 3 month pass for about $100. Washed it at least once a week and sometimes more.
Don't think my paint is any worse off than somebody baking it in the desert sun, driving on gravel roads, living where there is smog, driving where there is ocean spray or any other regional conditions you can come up with.
You live where they salt the roads then you wash it how ever you can or you pay the price.
Besides it is a freakn' car not the precious crown jewels of Lower Slobovia.

True, I was figuring people stored their low riding RWD cars, where as the winter cars come out and get salted on.

Only the cowards do.
It is just a car and is designed to be driven in the winter as much as the summer.

And you can drift much better in the snow!

Wish we had snow down here in my neck of the non-existant woods.

When I was single I use to take my M3 and Mustang thru the winters. I now being older it doesn't make sense to take unnecessary risk to other if i can afford other option.

I doubt that you are older than me (possible but not likely).
I drove RWD cars through winters for 30 years before FWD/AWD came around so don't have the fear that some seem to.

Get one of these, just washed mine for the first time with it and it was excellent. Steam cleaning doesnt require chemicals and uses very little water, better than getting wet in the cold too

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/s...UdCdY&usqp=CAY
(this particular one is what I have, a Mculloch MC1385)

I have this theory...If I never wash the car, I wont get swirl marks in the paint. Right?:D

It's not like this car handles poorly in the winter. I drove it this past winter and things never got squirrelly with the exception of some wheel spin coming from a full stop

Also in Phoenix, and I will never stop praising the Optimum No Rinse! Been using it for about the last 1-1.5 years, and it's wonderful being able to wash the car in the garage!

I got lazy yesterday and didn't do it. What's your wash method?

But then the one time you or anyone rubs up against it, scratches from all the dirt caked on. lol. Good theory though.

I put warm water in 2 buckets (one for clean water only and one for dirty water--always wring the water out of the wash mitt into the dirty bucket).
Put a bit of the No Rinse in each bucket, then a quick, gentle wash on one body part at a time. I dry each body part after I wash it using a waffle towel, and repeat :) Super easy!

And it hides all lil scratches if there's a thin enough layer of dust. ;) :P
I tell myself this since we can't wash our cars in vancouver because of strict water restrictions since it barely rained here since May...

As long as my red paint still shines in the sunlight...it's all goooood! :bellyroll: