Winter washing... again....

S

screeby

New member
I typed out a 6 paragraph post over my noon hour today and came back tonite and realized it didnt post. That is probably ok as it was drawn out much like this one will probably be.

Long story short, NW Iowa has been bitter cold here and washing my dirty vehicle just flat out hasnt worked out time wise or when the temps came up enough to do a traditional wash at the coin op late at night again, life happened.

Well the Explorer was driven 14 hours one way throigh two snow storms and full of salt, grime nasty road crap. It has been that way for a touch over 2 weeks. I had a couple coats of MFF and OCW on it and assumed I would handle it next weekend when temps were coming up again.

WELL the wife decided that she was sick of me not handling it and brought it through the touchless (doors frozen shut on her by the time she got three miles home) and parked it in the garage. The garage is kept between 35-40.

Suprisingly it loomed good other then spots of dried soap or wax or whatever it was. In a bit of "ocd???" I grabbed a bottle of GG Speed Shine and went around the vehicle the next day. It looked pretty respectable. Wheels and tires excluded.

Is Speed Shine safe to use like that? I am hoping to do a traditinal wash this weekend and going back over again with Fast Finish and the OCW after the next washing. I like that look as it draws the metallic oit more it seems. Maybe just in my head?

I cant really tell that I have created marring as i already had some when i wemt over it with my led light. I dont want to create more then whats there as it is just more work in the spring when the DA will come out. Is a quick detailer like that not enough? I do have ONR and i know that would be preferred but again, small children stop any continued time out there especially when mom is out and one is sick. If this is safe I will keep going cause time wise it rocks.

TIA

KM
 
screeby- I`d MUCH rather use a RW like the ONR than a QD like SpeedShine. IME the SpeedShine (of which I`ve used countless gallons) just doesn`t clean/encapsulate dirt all that well compared to a rinseless. Mix the rinseless up kinda strong, more like a QD-strength dilution and it oughta work better.
 
As I keep posting, much to my surprise I like my IUDJ so much that it`s basically replaced my QDs. ESPECIALLY for anything that involves genuine cleaning. Great appearance on metallics too...and yeah, it`s actually a noticeable diff IME.
 
I kinda knew this was gonna be the prevailing thought. I need to just take the extra 15 minutes more and ONR the vehicles.

Thanks guys for reaffirming my initial thoughts. A fella should know by know that if you want to be safe and do it right it typically takes longer then the "short cut".
 
screeby said:
I kinda knew this was gonna be the prevailing thought. I need to just take the extra 15 minutes more and ONR the vehicles.

Thanks guys for reaffirming my initial thoughts. A fella should know by know that if you want to be safe and do it right it typically takes longer then the "short cut".
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These guys are spot on, my new Friend !

And you can always run a lot of hot water in the bucket of your ONR and that will help not only clean it faster and easier but be much better for your hands..

In time, well, perhaps this month and all of February, and it may all be over enough so that you can get better efficiency down at the car wash place..

Loved your comment about the "frozen doors"... :)
Dealt with that a lot in the oftentimes frozen Pacific Northwest..

Lastly, you are right -- sometimes the longest way around is the shortest way home... :)
Dan F
 
She didnt think the doors being frozen when she got home was all that funny.

"My doors are frozen and it was only 3 or 4 minutes ago"

I tried to explain that when its under 0 out, that means it is REALLY cold.

There is relief in the forcast though. High of 18 tommorrow and above freezing the next two days. Only to have a chance of snow and forcasting 6 inches this weekend. MORE ROAD SALT!!!!

The excitement levels are through the roof over here.
 
Learned a trick today. You can pick up water heating elements that you can drop in 5 gallon buckets and heat your RW solution. Pretty much just big versions of a fish tank heater. I have googled them and have seen them for as little as $40. The come in rod elements like a hot water heater or discs that sit in the bottom of the bucket. Keep your water hot through the wash. You do have to work above freezing unless you have a garage. Me, I`m taking advantage of the next few days of warmer weather to at least wash the cars. We only have another 10 or 12 weeks of this in the Mid Atlantic States.
 
screeby said:
WELL the wife decided that she was sick of me not handling it and brought it through the touchless (doors frozen shut on her by the time she got three miles home) and parked it in the garage. The garage is kept between 35-40.
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I have no qualms whatsoever about taking a winter vehicle through a TOUCHLESS car wash (although, as someone within this forum pointed out, the word "OUCH" is in touchless!). I find it to be the only way to clean a winter vehicle, unless you have a well heated garage that will allow you to thoroughly wash a vehicle, including the undercarriage. I think your wife found out the hard way that a 45-second tunnel blow-drying does not remove all the excess water from such a wash, especially doors , trunk lids/rear hatches, hoods, and gas-tank filler doors/hinged access lids. My suggestion is bring a drying microfiber towel to the car wash with you and immediately after exiting the dryer, wipe off the door jams, rear hatch or trunk jam and gas cap access door/lip immediately, then wipe off the rest of the vehicle. Changes are by the time you do that, the excess water will have frozen where ever it is on the vehicle, BUT at least the jams are dry and you have avoided the frozen door conundrum. I know that an old trick was to spray PAM (Yes, the aerosol cooking oil) on door seals to prevent frozen doors, but most OCD Autopians have waxed/sealed/coated the painted jams and cleaned the seals and applied their preferred protectant to the seals as part of their vehicle winter-prep detail as the preferred method to negate or mitigate frozen doors.

Yes, you may induce some scratching/swirling by doing so because of:
1) Hand or wrist jewelry like watches, rings, or bracelets (which can be removed BEFORE going to the car wash if you think of it)
2) Metal snaps or zippers on winter jackets when wiping
3) Wiping off road film that a touchless wash will NOT remove and getting your (very) nice twisted-microfiber drying towel(s) REALLY dirty. (A necessary evil. Some amount of drying with a clothe/towel is better than none! Remember, you are trying to avoid frozen doors and hatches.
I have "re-purposed" worn waffle-weave or cheap, linty microfiber drying towels for this.)
I just live with the swirls from "improper drying" and will remove them during the thorough spring vehicle detail.

I would also suggest using Tri Flow Lubricant by Sherwin Williams Consumer Group or Rem-Oil Gun Oil Aerosol by Remington for door locks, remote cable latches, and door hinges and catches, and rear hatch gas-filled springs/struts pivots to prevent freezing of those automotive devises.
 
I also have no problem going through a touchless wash when my car gets real bad in the winter. Earlier this year durring trhe cold snap we had my car was pretty bad and the temps were cold enough they were not open so I did a WW/RW on it when I would normally go through a touchless. I did spray it down 3 times with N-914 three times before I did the RW wash which did get rid of a lot of the grit on it 1st.

Here is a link to some pictures I took of it before, durring and after.
 
Yep, that`s the link!

Nice Audi and garage floor, by the way!! When did you do this washing? I see very little snow on the ground for a Wisconsin-based photo. (Just sayin`...kind of looks like it did here in Green Bay during last week`s "January thaw" when I washed my Subaru just before the cold snap set in. Recent snowfall and very rare (for the city of Green Bay) Lake Michigan-enhanced snows have made it LOOK more January here now.)
 
True story about an Audi:
Back in 1990, my wife and I were in Appleton and, on a whim, went to the Audi dealership (the now defunct Behm Auto) after an afternoon winter ride between Christmas and New Years, since our workplace we both were employed by at the time shut down between those holidays. I wanted to drive a new Audi and see what the anti-lock brakes that were just becoming standard equipment on higher-end vehicles was all about. At the time I was driving a Toyota Camry All-Trac with a 5-speed manual transmission, so I knew about 4-wheel drive vehicles.
I do not remember the exact model, but it was a larger sedan, and I do remember the MSRP on the info sticker was almost $30,000, which was a goodly sum in 1990 for a new vehicle.
The salesperson came along for the test drive as required by their dealership (and I am sure, their insurance company). I told him I wanted to try out the anti-lock brakes, so he directed me to some back roads that had iced over during a recent thaw. You know the roads where the slush forms ruts from vehicle travel and then it freezes over in the cold weather. I tried the brakes on the ice and they worked admirably as engineered IF you kept your foot on the brake pedal, as the salesperson told me BEFORE I tried to do this. I I was instructed to turn the car around in a driveway and return to the dealership. However, on this icy road with ruts was a large, sweeping corner going up a slight incline or hill. I guess I was going too fast when the Audi got out of the rut, the back end starts to fish-tail, and I hit the brakes HARD, thinking the anti-lock brakes would "save" me. I hear the salesman in the back seat hollering "Whoo, whoo, WHOOOO!!" during the 270° loop, and end up in someone`s sloped lawn that formed the road-side ditch, wheels completely off the road at a 90° to the road, but the front end sticking out. Missed the mailbox and driveway culvert just behind where the Audi went in. I am as red with embarrassment as the red-colored Columbia winter coat I was wearing. The saleperson gets out, takes the driver`s seat, locks the Quattro differentials, as attempts to drive out without my assistance pushing in the rear. I know we are just hung up on the snow that was lodged under the vehicle. SO I run the house that we are near, ask the home owner for a shovel, give him my wallet as collateral, return back to the stuck Audi to dig it out. Try again with me and my wife pushing the back end, and accomplish with success with getting the Audi back onto the road. Return the shovel and take back my wallet, offer my apology to the home owner and his lawn (he laughs!!), go back to the Audi for a VERY awkward ride with the salesperson driving back to the dealership. After an apology to the salesperson, my wife motions with her head to leave and get going. I get into my Camry and my wife states, "Well, we are not going to buy THAT car!" We laugh somewhat, knowing I had escaped smashing or seriously damaging new Audi worth $30,000 or worst, injuring ourselves. TO THIS DAY, my wife will NOT let me look at an Audi just because of this one "incident".

In retrospect, I should have tried to power my way around during the slid/skid, much alike a dirt track or ice racer does in a corner to bring the back end around, but I panicked and hit the brakes. I had a similar "incident" happen on an icy curved overpass when driving the Subaru Outback I currently own. Learned my lesson and let the All-wheel drive system work its magic and missed the car that had looped itself on the overpass and the police squad car that was stopped to assist it. It happened SOOO fast, but I did notice the all-wheel drive system "kick in". Which is why I prefer to have an all-wheel drive vehicle in the winter.
 
Guys be aware that salt and a heated garage is a bad combo; it`ll make things rustier alot quicker.


But back to the topic on hand. I`ve found today if you go to the coin-op before touch-less the results will be better. I`ll shoot the wheels/tire/wells with a 50/50 dilution degreaser first. Start blasting the car with rinse only, don`t have to be perfect, I mainly focus on the bottom panels. Get the wells and wheels last, then it`s off to the touch-less bay. Turned out pretty well.
 
Nizmo said:
Guys be aware that salt and a heated garage is a bad combo; it`ll make things rustier alot quicker...
Click to expand...

I had worried about that as none of my garages ever get down to freezing temps. Fortunately, it`s never been a problem; the vehicles I keep in those garages have been no more prone to corrosion than the (few) vehicles I kept outdoors.

I always wonder about the practical aspect of that advice..what, do people`s garages typically get so cold that whatever liquids they have stored there freeze? I honestly don`t know...I mean, never in my life have I lived any place where that`d happen. Not at my parents` house, not at any of mine, not at any garage facilities I`ve ever had...freezing temps are one of the things that buildings are there to help avoid IMO. All my friends IRL have garages attached to their homes and those never get down to freezing AFAIK (never are when I visit or do house-sitting visits in the dead of winter when the thermostats in the house are turned way down).

Discuss....
 
My garage isn`t heated, but attached to the house. Insulated garage doors, partially insulated ceiling (bonus room above), none of the exterior facing walls are insulated. In the winter it will be about 10 degrees warmer than outside, and no wind. In Chicago, when I gets down to 0, stuff in the garage will freeze. In the recent warm up we are experiencing, it is a nice 45/50 degrees in the garage.
 
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