There is one other type of Road Film that rears its ugly head every spring in the Upper Midwest (and I am sure in the Upper East and the backwoods South) and that is mud and clay. When spring temps arrive and the snow disappears and the frost comes out, dirt back roads become quagmires and rutted trails that even 4X4 or AWD vehicles have "difficulty" traversing. Clay is the worst, as it really can throw off wheel balance when it sticks to your rims and you go out a paved road at a higher speed. I see some pretty dirty vehicles this time of year and understand pretty well WHY they bypass a carwash: it is a waste of time and money. Warmer weather and dryer spring conditions may let them finally wash their vehicle or they wait for Mother Nature to do it for them.
Sand and dirt are so abrasive and even spray rinsing this TRF can raise havoc on a vehicle, even doing a "gentle" 2-bucket wash. It is one of the reasons I keep a separate wash media for doing such vehicles, generally a grout sponge I know I can get "somewhat" clean after using it.
I am not sure ,but I think A LONG TIME AGO in this forum, that someone in Vermont had to pressure wash the rims of their Subaru every day during the spring thaw because of the clay that clung to them from the drive on the dirt lane to their home. That person remarked that there were times that they had to get out and physically hand-remove chunks of clay from the rims so they would not vibrate and shake so badly when driving on highways speeds on paved roads. I can attest to that phenomenon when having chunks of wet, clingy snow freeze on rims in an unheated garage overnight when your park the car in the late afternoon from work on a snowy day and you go down the road the next day unbeknownst that this has happened. It`s kind of unnerving and you wonder what is wrong with your vehicle. Another reason to wax/seal/coat the barrels of a rim and keep them clean of built-up brake-and-caliper dust.
Sand and dirt are so abrasive and even spray rinsing this TRF can raise havoc on a vehicle, even doing a "gentle" 2-bucket wash. It is one of the reasons I keep a separate wash media for doing such vehicles, generally a grout sponge I know I can get "somewhat" clean after using it.
I am not sure ,but I think A LONG TIME AGO in this forum, that someone in Vermont had to pressure wash the rims of their Subaru every day during the spring thaw because of the clay that clung to them from the drive on the dirt lane to their home. That person remarked that there were times that they had to get out and physically hand-remove chunks of clay from the rims so they would not vibrate and shake so badly when driving on highways speeds on paved roads. I can attest to that phenomenon when having chunks of wet, clingy snow freeze on rims in an unheated garage overnight when your park the car in the late afternoon from work on a snowy day and you go down the road the next day unbeknownst that this has happened. It`s kind of unnerving and you wonder what is wrong with your vehicle. Another reason to wax/seal/coat the barrels of a rim and keep them clean of built-up brake-and-caliper dust.