Detailing in Winter: Issues with water availablity...

Z

zainoshine

Don't forget the pedals!
Hello,



I'm ready to take the plunge and buy quite a few more products to start my business off small, just family and friends. Since it is November (tomorrow) and frost is around the corner, I was thinking logically and am exploring the options and issues involved with water in the winter. I'm assuming since, this is Wisconsin, most people, like myself, remove the hoses around the house to avoid pipes freezing. That causes a problem since I won't have water outside, and most people are not comfortable with lots of water on their garage floor. So, if anyone on here (mobile detailers) or anyone with experience or ideas about winter, please post your responses soon! I was maybe thinking QEW, but that requires a first rinse if the car is excessively dirty. I'll probably be able to work through mid-November, but you never know around here.

So do any of you have any ideas about what I can do?



Thanks, this forum rocks!



Carl
 
try washing with QEW. you only 2 or 3 gallons of water usually and you can just go inside and fill up your two buckets and not worry about hoses.



Vernon
 
Well, I guess I've kind of come to the conclusion that since I'd be mobile, it really is impossible for me to do vehicles in the winter. Maybe this Spring I'll be able to start...oh well. Kind of disappointing, I really am pumped. Does anyone have any ideas still? What can I do for winter with dirty vehicles?



Carl
 
i don't understand what else you could do besides using QEW. besides using a hose and car soap, what else could you do? what are you hoping people will tell you?



Vernon
 
Well the thing is that when I'm at the clients house in winter, there IS NO hose....and going outside is not an option. So the entire process must be done without a hose, and my concern is that if there is excessive dirt, salt, and snow, that I can't just go straight to QEW.....oh well.



Carl



P.S. Maybe I could use a tent with sidewalls and a space heater :D
 
Carl - I would not recommend attempting to detail cars in the winter. You can read my thread about washing the car in winter, but I wouldn't recommend doing a full detail in the winter. It's just too cold.

Besides, people probably wouldn't be very interested in having their vehicles detailed in the cold months...they would get dirty too fast and the owners would probably prefer not to go to the car wash every 2 days to keep the car looking decent.



I wash and wax my car in the winter but that's it. I always have it well-protected before winter, and redo the whole deal in the spring. In the time between, I just wait for a warm day (>32F) to wax the car. I also utilize the heat from the engine bay and cabin to warm the garage up a bit more. To get all the salt/mud off, I just use a bunch of MFs and warm soapy water to wash the car one section at a time, and dry it off before freezing is possible. Last winter while washing the car in the garage at about 15 degrees, I had to keep the section size down to about half the spoiler, otherwise the water would freeze too quickly, even with pretty warm water.
 
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