Washing Car-Cold-Warm-Hot?

I would try to wash with warm water just because it's more pleasant on my hands. But in ALL cases I would never have the temperature radically different from the temperature of the paint - it could be like throwing a frosted beer mug into a bot of boiling water...



If the paint is sizzling hot but the water is ice cold (for some bizzare reason :p) I'd warm up the water. If the paint is freezing (more likely in the winter) I wouldn't mix up the water quite so warm/hot.
 
The warmer the water is, the better the car soap will work. However, as Brian has said above, great differentials in temperature are hard on the paint.
 
CRXSi90 said:
warm water will soften wax, so I mostly use cold water.



Warm water for me. It seems to work better. And, after a cold rinse, another layer of S-100 is only a couple of minutes away.:D :xyxthumbs
 
I use pretty warm water. However, the car is usually pretty warm already. I find warm water helps out the cleaning. But mainly I had a choice when I put in my bib to use pretty warm water or cold water. Warm seemed the better overall choice.
 
Thanks for all your responses. After reading them, I have decided to wash with warm water and rinse with cold water. The reason I will rinse with cold water is that I wash my truck at the barn, which only has a 20 gallon hot water heater. I would think that there may be minerals and sediment at the bottom of the tank that would stay on the truck if I used as the final rinse. Tell me what you think.
 
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