fall is here and its gonna get colder out and i was wondering if you guys still wash your cars by yourself out in the cold... if not, do u take it to a car wash? there are plenty of car wash places here but i havent found one that is touchless... i dunno if i like that idea of those huge wiper things slamming against my car.

 

I just washed my car myself yesterday and it was a little chilly. I have a lot of touchless car wash around here but I don't recommend it, when you go into the middle, you have to put your wheels between these two bars and you might ruin your nice rims.

I heard there is a garage wash it yourself place in my city, I'm gonna do some research on that.

 

I take mine to one of the do-it-yourself pressure washes. This helps because you can get the under carriage cleaned off from all of the salt. Once your done, make sure you wipe down the inside of the doors and hatch. This way, they wont freeze shut. I try to do this on days where its atleast 40 degrees outside, and sunny.

 

i wash it outside in the winter here as long as the sun is out. It never really gets cold enough here for it to bother me wearing shorts and a tshirt outside.

 

"there are plenty of car wash places here but i havent found one that is touchless... i dunno if i like that idea of those huge wiper things slamming against my car."
I do not blame you one bit and I will NEVER use one of those kind.

With that said, I never hand wash my car.
I pay a monthly subscription for each of my cars for unlimited washes at a new place that opened.

I am lucky in that we have had a 'high end' car wash near my house for years and now that brand new one has opened.

By high end, I mean that they are not those automatic drive through types you find at a gas station.
I am referring to those businesses that only wash cars and are the touchless type where the 'attendent' drives it through and then they converge on it with new,clean cloths for hand drying.


I love doing the zaino 'thing' on my cars but I hate washing a car.
I don't have a choice anyway, though.
I live on well water. I have 2 spigots where one is the treated water and the other is raw right from the well.

The treated one leaves awful spots on the car because of the high dissolved solid content due to the salt type conditoner used to remove iron as well as the mineral bed contraption it runs through to bring the PH down to 7.

The raw one will literally leave dark stains on the car over time because it is full of Iron which oxidizes when it hits the air.

I had to have part of my house painted (and it has siding) because the sprinkler water from that raw feed was splashing against the house and NOTHING would take it off that would not also ruin the finish on the siding.


So yes, I do a car wash all year long.

 

If you don't want to do it yourself then take it to a hand-wash place. Those machines never clean right. You can tell how good a place is by what kind of cars are parked out front.

 

I have a huge heated garage at work i can use to wash cars in the winter. Only problem is i can only use it on sundays. I try to avoid auto car washes cause i just dont trust them.

 

whats a zaino?

 

"whats a zaino?"

GASP!

 

i wash my car every week during the winter...just fill a bucket with steaming hot water and it'll be fine....

 

thats exactly what i do, it snows maybe once or twice a year here. and you will see me out washing my car

 

When the weather is about 50 degrees plus, I hand wash the car. A bucket of warm water and rubber acid gloves (you can get a pair at Home Depot for about $7).

Colder than 50 degrees then I go to the do-it-yourself pressure wash. I do the normal soap and rinse, but do no dry with a towel. Here’s were I think drivers harm the finish. The surface is dirty, and rubbing it with a towel is like rubbing sandpaper into the paint. Happy washing.

 

imo, handwashing is the only way to go. if you go to the spray wash, its wasting your money, the only time i go to one is to get the loose bugs off and dust. i dont even use the soap. i go spray it off then home to wash it

 

good pre winter clay bar polish & wax (durable polymer & sturdy carnuba)
wash and/or detail spray when above 50
pressure wash, mf towel dry and spray wax to maintain during winter above 40
I hate winter....that why I have a jeep beater....

 

Take it to a car wash. It's just a fukin car man.. It depreciates daily.

 

It drops to -40 up here, so we've got indoor DIY car washes. Touchless doesn't seem to do a very good job...

 

hey iheartz, remember when we had the ice storm in february or march this year, well i had the bright idea to wash my car that day. It was about 25deg F that day. I washed my car as i usually do, with my pressure washer except i used a bucket with water as hot as i could stand it. While i was washing down the car with the sponge, the water would actually start freezing before i had time to rinse it down. I pulled it in my garage as soon as i was done washing to dry it.
Other option would be to wash in my garage :-)

 

*GASP* blasphemy!

 

I wish my area had a monthly subscription to car washes... I'd wash my car daily.

 

When I boughtg my car, I got a years subscription to the wash tub. I know some people are down on these types of car washes but the one by my house does a terrific job. They even dry off the door seals and open the hatch and dry off the inside of where the hatch closes. I get my car washed when ever it gets dirty.