machine car wash in winter, detail in spring

when i drove my truck in the winter, every time i would get some nice sunoco gas i ran through the laser wash since it was right there connected to the gas station. now that i am lifted, i went to one thats about 10 minutes away and ran through it. lets just say it didnt like me very well. soap was left all over it so i had to go to the spray wash and just rinse the whole truck off and get the undercarriage as well. it was completely stupid though because by time i drove the 10 minutes back to college, it looked like i went through a muddy field because of the lugs throwing up the mushy brown crap in the parking lot at college since they didnt plow and i was doing full lock turns to park. im going to hate winter even more now haha. looks like im going to spend 1-2 weekends just cleaning it in the spring if i ever get a PC kit.

AJ it's nice to see your mind reading skills are still working, you can see right into peoples thoughts and write down what they really meant to say!

It's a curse!

Well im into day 5 of sub freezing temps. All the Quarter Wash places are still closed and my white SS is now a lovely shade of gray.. I don't like the drive thru washes, but since Ohio started using brine solution with the salt to make it work better the rust factor has accelerated. Since I can not get under my truck even when the Qwashes are open I have but 1 choice. I will pay the price in PC & Flex time, its a fair trade to get that crap off my undercarriage. And yes I have asked the place I go cant just do a chassis bath.

Any has a better idea Im all ears.

More like a Gift!

Curse to your credit card, gift to yourself.

Well, it's sunny and 38 here..that Adams bin of goodies is calling out to me to be released. I'm trying real hard to hold out a bit longer though since its supposed to get up to 45 tomorrow. My poor black car is sort of salt gray though..she needs me!!

Well I held out. Yesterday we got to 52. I busted out all the Adams goods and gave my Charger a nice 2 bucket wash, Adams top to bottom and even tossed on another coat of Americana. She looked STELLAR when I was through.

And, 3 hrs later it started raining and rained on it all through the rest of the night. Oh well, she was real nice for a bit and my brain was happy i got a chance to clean her up.

ehh its okay that will give you time to buy some new wheels

Mine looks the same!

Those are the winter rims right?

yeah the stocker wheels are just for the winter, with some brand new BFG KO tires. sucks i had to spend extra money on new ones because i couldnt find that size used in a tire on CL and such. the XD diesel's are sitting semi clean in the basement still mounted on my BFG KM1's. i only cleaned them with water and greased lightning(im out of APC) to get the gunk and salt off of them, still need to use the drill/mothers powercone and some swirl remover stuff, buttery wax, and some compound on the aluminum parts.

its just sad that it has to sit like this in the snow and salt and such. i was just looking at my whole rear axle assembly yesterday, its gona look crappy when i get my new gears in with that nice looking mag-hytec cover since its all rusted. i need to get someone or find something to coat the bottom of the truck, frame, and axle with some new black colored protectant(rustoleum/bedliner/por-15)

one more question isn't the car washes even if you use the hand sprayer using very strong detergents that could strip the sealant off?

I dont think so.... The ones I've seen, you're lucky to be able to get any soap out of them lol

I live in Texas so I don't see horrible weather all that often during the winter, but it does get cold. I use a no rinse product coupled with the two bucket method.

ok guys you've convinced me to stop using the touch car wash in winter. I realized that i was just being lazy and i really shouldn't be on this forum if i use a touch wash anyway lol. i still need to earn the right to put that adams sticker on my window. one more question isn't the car washes even if you use the hand sprayer using very strong detergents that could strip the sealant off?

I use the touchless carwash and then hit it with the Detail spray. No scratches here.

I live 60 miles south of Chicago... I would NEVER EVER EVER in a million years bring my truck to a Touch Car Wash. In winter I mostly go to the do it yourself car wash and sometimes (rarely) bring it through the automatic touchLESS car wash.

I used to work in maintenance for a company that owned Phillips 66 Station w/ Touch Car Washes.... Once a year in the summer we would clean the brushes and power wash the entire inside. I found so many antennas, pieces of metal, glass and all kinds of other stuff stuck in those brushes. All the Gas Station kept a Polaroid under the counter with a huge/thick photo album for insurance reasons from cars getting scratched and what not. I'm talking scratches down to the bare metal, sometimes huge chunks of paint were "cut" off from the scratch pattern.

yes i do but then theres the problem that i wouldnt have a touchless way to dry it afterwords and would be grinding the dirt that was missed across the finish.

If its below 32* all you want to do is spray the salt off. If it warms up above 32* take a bucket with you and and hand wash it!

Do you have access to a coin car wash thats not automatic? That way you can spray it off yourself. Make sure you dry out your door jambs.

yes i do but then theres the problem that i wouldnt have a touchless way to dry it afterwords and would be grinding the dirt that was missed across the finish.

Do you have access to a coin car wash thats not automatic? That way you can spray it off yourself. Make sure you dry out your door jambs.

when i drove my truck in the winter, every time i would get some nice sunoco gas i ran through the laser wash since it was right there connected to the gas station. now that i am lifted, i went to one thats about 10 minutes away and ran through it. lets just say it didnt like me very well. soap was left all over it so i had to go to the spray wash and just rinse the whole truck off and get the undercarriage as well. it was completely stupid though because by time i drove the 10 minutes back to college, it looked like i went through a muddy field because of the lugs throwing up the mushy brown crap in the parking lot at college since they didnt plow and i was doing full lock turns to park. im going to hate winter even more now haha. looks like im going to spend 1-2 weekends just cleaning it in the spring if i ever get a PC kit.

Best bet is to wait till the roads are clear M8... It sucks, but it's just a waste of coin otherwise...

Chris

I don't recommend using SHR, or anything that abrasive all the time. Once you fix your paint, you should never have to get that aggressive with it again. FMP should be the only thing necessary to remove any damage that you may occur, unless you are doing something really wrong.

I don't recommend using SHR, or anything that abrasive all the time. Once you fix your paint, you should never have to get that aggressive with it again. FMP should be the only thing necessary to remove any damage that you may occur, unless you are doing something really wrong.

OMG! thx for saying it guru I preach this constantly to customers which i get from other detailers...... & i guess is the reason you really need a paint gauge for commercial detailing..... grrrr

Just in case this was referencing my post I will clarify my thoughts. After the winter I did a heavy detail because as much as it killed me we pretty much had to use a brush to get the snow off the vehicles which always scratches the clear coat.

I've seen Some people mention that auto car washes, even touchless, causes swirls after time. So my thought process is if this guy doesn't have a heated garage that washing a veh in winter is a pain and very cold on the hands.

I'd rather do shr once at spring rather than dealing with washes in the winter.

Hopefully this makes sense because I'm still laying in bed trying to get up LOL.

I don't recommend using SHR, or anything that abrasive all the time. Once you fix your paint, you should never have to get that aggressive with it again. FMP should be the only thing necessary to remove any damage that you may occur, unless you are doing something really wrong.

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A touchless car wash may not get the car clean but if you don't touch the paint, they won't create swirls. The only way to scratch the paint is to touch it or touch it with something.

Just in case this was referencing my post I will clarify my thoughts. After the winter I did a heavy detail because as much as it killed me we pretty much had to use a brush to get the snow off the vehicles which always scratches the clear coat.

 

I've seen Some people mention that auto car washes, even touchless, causes swirls after time. So my thought process is if this guy doesn't have a heated garage that washing a veh in winter is a pain and very cold on the hands.

 

I'd rather do shr once at spring rather than dealing with washes in the winter.

 

Hopefully this makes sense because I'm still laying in bed trying to get up LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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that was what i was thinking because my vehicle is an 08 and has never been polished before and i am not the original owner, to say this thing has bad swirls is an understatement. i really wouldn't think anything besides using an SOS pad would make this thing look worse.

I just handwashed my z06 the other day and it was 20 out ... I have to blow compressed air through the hose lines afterwords so it doesnt freeze the hose up and crack it...

Its semi-garaged currently ... car will never see an automatic car wash but even if i wanted too I would get stuck in there (sits to low)

get some of those rubber dishwashing gloves and suck it up !

I only run through touchless washes, I've found one near me that seems to use a more gentle soap and it doesn't seem to hurt my sealant/wax. Assuming you put a nice coat of sealant/wax on your car a good blasting of water should clear most of the salt.

I would never run my car through a auto wash with brushes, that's just cruel and unusual punishment.

Yeah, those brushes - (shudder) - think of them as little strips of fishing line with beach sand stuck on them. Uh, no thank you. Give me a self service wand wash any day - wipe off those seals on the doors, and the door jambs (waterless wash)! Even if you are just rinsing off the finish (and undercarriage) to remove the salt, every bit helps.

Women... can't live without them and I love them to death!

Really?? I never would have guessed!!!!:lol:

I was with you until this. What you meant to say is that in April, you properly 2-bucket wash and inspect it to determine what the proper approach will be to repair it, if repair is necessary. Never assume that you are going to have to hit your paint aggressively until that has been properly determined.

AJ it's nice to see your mind reading skills are still working, you can see right into peoples thoughts and write down what they really meant to say!