Winter Car Washing... its the season to get your ride ready

[Team Adam's]

 

We just had our first sub 30 degree morning of the season here in Colorado, and that means its time to revisit your winter washing routine. Have a look at the video if you haven't already and comment with your best winter prep or winter car care tips!

Edited October 16, 2013 by Dylan@Adams

[Holder]

Cover everything in Adams Quick Sealant and you're golden.

[Chewy]

3 applications of AQS on my RAM.  I'll hit the coin ops and do a straight water wash, but they frown on "washing" your car the proper way and I'm too busy to get up early early or go in late late to "wash" it.  

 

Chris

[Team Adam's]

3 applications of AQS on my RAM.  I'll hit the coin ops and do a straight water wash, but they frown on "washing" your car the proper way and I'm too busy to get up early early or go in late late to "wash" it.  

 

Chris

 

That brings up a great point -

 

If your coin op wash won't let you do a full wash like demonstrated there are a few different approaches you can take. Personally... the one closest to my house only has 3 bays, and if I were to do the video process I'd be holding up the line, so I do the following:

 

 

1. High pressure rinse to knock all the nastiness and sludge off, spending lots of time concentrated on the undercarriage. 
2. Spray down with the mag chloride remover to break that up a bit. 
3. High pressure WASH (this is the option where some soap is mixed in)
4. Spot free rinse

 

I then drive home, pull into the garage and waterless wash the entire ride, being sure to heavily saturate the lower areas that might have picked up some gunk on the drive home. 

 

Once its completely cleaned I then go thru whatever processes I would normally do, like light polishing, an application of sealant or wax, etc. 

[Chewy]

Mag chloride remover?  HUH?  None of our coin ops have that setting!   

[Chris@Adams]

 

 

 

1. High pressure rinse to knock all the nastiness and sludge off, spending lots of time concentrated on the undercarriage. 
2. Spray down with the mag chloride remover to break that up a bit. 
3. High pressure WASH (this is the option where some soap is mixed in)
4. Spot free rinse

 

I then drive home, pull into the garage and waterless wash the entire ride, being sure to heavily saturate the lower areas that might have picked up some gunk on the drive home. 

 

Once its completely cleaned I then go thru whatever processes I would normally do, like light polishing, an application of sealant or wax, etc. 

 

I too do this all the time...........

[Team Adam's]

Mag chloride remover?  HUH?  None of our coin ops have that setting!  

 

Really? All of them do here. 

 

It comes out of a separate 'nozzle' and its just a light foam... from just 'seat of the pants' testing it seems to break the black gunk up better than the regular foaming wash or anything I've sprayed on it. 

[Chris@Adams]

Mag chloride remover?  HUH?  None of our coin ops have that setting!  

We don't have that option either.....all we have is pre-soak and wash.

[texinfin]

One of the good points of living down south is that it is actually nice outside now. They do have a sign no washing by hand in the bay but in the winter no one uses them they will make an exception. Also we have a car wash that faces east-west and that cuts down on the wind coming through there.

[stirthepot]

in the winter i try to go to the bays when its not busy with my buckets already filled with hot water and Adams car wash. 

 

unless its super cold out i typically prep everything in my garage, pull out into the driveway, wash rinse and finish up back in the garage.  my garage has running hot and cold water and i have a nice set of fleece lined wash gloves (hint, hint adam's should offer them) my garage typicallys stays in the 50 degree range so its cool but not too cold, if its colder than that in the garage i sometimes fire up a space heater but with 11 foot ceilings it doesn't do too much unless it runs for a long time.

 

I am always concerned that the soap at the bays will strip the wax / sealant on the car as its seems they dispense very strong / harsh soap at the bays near me.  maybe i'm just paranoid.

Edited October 17, 2013 by stirthepot

[joffems]

I am always concerned that the soap at the bays will strip the wax / sealant on the car as its seems they dispense very strong / harsh soap at the bays near me.  maybe i'm just paranoid.

 

Ask your local wash what they use. I went into my local coin-op and asked what soaps they used. They told me which supplier and products they use so I could look into them. I now support the wash for their co-operation and friendliness and know that their soap is fine, but to skip their pre-soak.

[dmac]

Hey, thanks for the video!

 

I especially liked the tip about raising the trunk lid and front hood.

 

That video was about 22 minutes long... I bet in real time, the actual washing took longer... for the total wash time, if you were using one swipe of a credit/debit card, it would have cost you $25 to $50 just to keep the wash wand active... 

 

I realize you're trying to be helpful, as well as market Adam's stuff, but for the cost of running the car wash for that long you'd probably be able to have a car detail shop do a proper hand wash in a heated space.

 

Plus, high pressure sprayers are always poo-pooed elsewhere, but now it's okay???

 

It'd be nice to think about a more abbreviated way to wash a car... one that wouldn't cost so much at those self-serve coin-operated clip joints masquerading as car washes...

 

If you did a good sealant job, with or without waxing, in the fall, I"d bet a good spraying off, followed by waterless wash and detail spray would be the way to go (and being careful not to spray too close to the car with the high pressure sprayer). And, you could always do the wheels afterwards, in order to avoid paying too much for the car wash machine (yeah, you're supposed to do the wheels first)...

 

I'd think that if the sealant or wax (or both) are any good, at all, you'd be better off rinsing the car weekly, or more often if it gets really nasty, then using a waterless wash regime. Otherwise, you risk stripping the protection from the car.

 

Cheers.

Edited October 17, 2013 by dmac

[Chewy]

You bring up some valid points but you have to remember some things.

 

#1 we aren't here to have someone else do the work for us, we are here because we are OCD and have to control every aspect of the detailing process of our cars.

 

#2 the time it takes to schedule a wash, then drop it off and let it sit for who knows how long, you could be done washing your car more than once.  I for one have a family.  I have time at certain times of the day to do things.  Before they're awake and after they're asleep.

 

The goal is to go late at night or VERY early in the morning with buckets filled with your juice and ready to wash and stop the time when you're hand washing it.  As long as you're not holding anyone up, you're still going to be giving them 10 bucks or more to wash your vehicle.  It's just spread out over more time.  

 

If I was washing my DD which isn't corrected, I could do that in less than 30 minutes.  There's NO reason to kill yourself if you're just going to drive it back out onto the M/C covered roads IMO. 

 

I don't look at this video as marketing as much as a helpful video to show people how you can care for your vehicle in the winter.  

 

JMO

[Team Adam's]

 

That video was about 22 minutes long... I bet in real time, the actual washing took longer... for the total wash time, if you were using one swipe of a credit/debit card, it would have cost you $25 to $50 just to keep the wash wand active... 

 

 

That might be true if you swiped your card at the start and let it run the whole time... if you only run the wand when you need it this process could be completed with minimal charges. 

 

I realize you're trying to be helpful, as well as market Adam's stuff, but for the cost of running the car wash for that long you'd probably be able to have a car detail shop do a proper hand wash in a heated space.

 

 

 

Actually this video was originally shot due to customer requests, not to sell stuff. People wanted to know how they could wash thier cars in the winter and wanted to see this method. 

 

Sure you could pay a detailer to do it indoors for you, but if you prefer to do it yourself this is the way. 

 

 

 

 

Plus, high pressure sprayers are always poo-pooed elsewhere, but now it's okay???

 

 

I'm not sure what you're referring too... a presure washer is a good tool to have if you can justify it. A regular hose is going to lack the power to knock heavy contamination loose in situations like this. I'd love to see an example of where it has been "poo-pooed elsewhere".

 

 

 

 

If you did a good sealant job, with or without waxing, in the fall, I"d bet a good spraying off, followed by waterless wash and detail spray would be the way to go (and being careful not to spray too close to the car with the high pressure sprayer). And, you could always do the wheels afterwards, in order to avoid paying too much for the car wash machine (yeah, you're supposed to do the wheels first)...

 

 

Not sure where you live, but if you think simply hosing a car off regularly will prevent things like magnesium chloride from degrading or removing your sealant entirely you're mistaken. Its highly caustic stuff and will strip panels completely quite easily. 

[Rich]

I have the Vette all clean and waxed and ready.  I'll be pulling her out this week to put down the floor and tire cradles, then she'll be put on life support, covered up with two covers, and tucked in for the winter.

:( :(

 

Damn, I really need to move. 

[stirthepot]

I have the Vette all clean and waxed and ready.  I'll be pulling her out this week to put down the floor and tire cradles, then she'll be put on life support, covered up with two covers, and tucked in for the winter.

:( :(

 

Damn, I really need to move. 

 

Put a set of all seasons on it and enjoy it all winter!  that's what i did when i had my 3rd vette and i enjoyed it so much more, wish i had done the same with my first two.

[Rich]

Eric, I think I'll pass on that idea.

[DonJuan692006]

This is why I'm thankful for not having to deal with harsh winters. The worst thing we run into in lower VA typically is some freezing temps with the precipitation. On the few days that we see snow or ice the Stang will sit in the garage and I'll either coin op the truck or wash it at home using warm water from the sink.

 

Thanks for the tips team...yet another reason why I love Adam's.

[WillSin865]

My husband just built this shop so now I have a place all winter to wash my cars. No more going to the car wash and freezing my A## off!

[WillSin865]

And can't forget the hubby's ride…

[ForceofWill]

Thanks for this thread!  This will be my first real winter with the cars.  They started salting so the Boss isn't coming out of the garage again for a while but I definitely needed this for the Explorer.

 

I'm used to VA winters

[tophat595]

The caddy has its winter tires on but I can't seem to bring it out yet this winter, its all shiny in the apt garage…As much as I hate to drive my winter beaters I still can't pull the trigger to bring the V out since the roads are still snow and ice covered…When I do bring it out I make sure to give it a good wash at night to get all the crud off….Im lucky enough to have heated underground parking with a wash area but still swing in the coin op places during the winter to get a high pressure spray on all my cars before following up with a better wash back home