Funny this should come up. Just installed this last weekend.
How cold before you stop hand washing your car?
- Thread starter gregk24
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Originally Posted By: gregk24
Also, if its just TOO cold and you cant wash your car and dont want to use a car wash, how long should you go before risking paint damage?
Are you suggesting that not washing your car weekly might damage the paint? I believe that over maintaining some things is worse.
Also, if its just TOO cold and you cant wash your car and dont want to use a car wash, how long should you go before risking paint damage?
Are you suggesting that not washing your car weekly might damage the paint? I believe that over maintaining some things is worse.
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: gregk24
Also, if its just TOO cold and you cant wash your car and dont want to use a car wash, how long should you go before risking paint damage?
Are you suggesting that not washing your car weekly might damage the paint? I believe that over maintaining some things is worse.
No, more like skipping out on washing it all together in the cold weather due to being uncomfortable vs washing it when I can. A biweekly washing is almost a necessity because its outdoors 24/7 and is parked under a trees almost all the time. Bird droppings, sap, leaves covering the car are a daily occurrence. Then I go to work and for 8 hours it sits in the sun and bakes in. Almost every week I am using tar remover to take off large globs of sap, which always removes the wax.
Originally Posted By: gregk24
Also, if its just TOO cold and you cant wash your car and dont want to use a car wash, how long should you go before risking paint damage?
Are you suggesting that not washing your car weekly might damage the paint? I believe that over maintaining some things is worse.
No, more like skipping out on washing it all together in the cold weather due to being uncomfortable vs washing it when I can. A biweekly washing is almost a necessity because its outdoors 24/7 and is parked under a trees almost all the time. Bird droppings, sap, leaves covering the car are a daily occurrence. Then I go to work and for 8 hours it sits in the sun and bakes in. Almost every week I am using tar remover to take off large globs of sap, which always removes the wax.
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Touchless Wash.
Or you can use Meguiars D114 or Optimum No Rinse inside of your garage.
Not a good idea with Salt all over the car. You need to flush it away not just on the paint but the under carrage as well an "rinseless" washes will not do that.
Touchless Wash.
Or you can use Meguiars D114 or Optimum No Rinse inside of your garage.
Not a good idea with Salt all over the car. You need to flush it away not just on the paint but the under carrage as well an "rinseless" washes will not do that.
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I just put on a pair of rubber gloves(the kind you use for dish washing)and go at it no matter how cold it is,as long as the hose isn't frozen.
I lucked out! My old boss runs a used car lot, most of his buys are auction cars from Manheim in Milwaukee. He hired me as a detailer and gave me 'LA privileges'! So now I can service my own cars in a warm garage! Wash, wax and dry! Not to mention servicing! "Saturdays only!"
With full blown Winter here, I also am on call for plowing....
Of course I bought my Nissan Frontier from him last Spring.
poikaa
With full blown Winter here, I also am on call for plowing....
Of course I bought my Nissan Frontier from him last Spring.
poikaa
I typically won't handwash below 45 degrees F or so. In the winter, neither of our cars get washed hardly at all. Especially if you have a stretch where the temperature remains well below freezing for an extended period of time, washing the car would be impossible since there are chunks of ice stuck to everything. And if you did wash it, all of your doors would freeze shut!
I'll probably wash down into the 30s-40s. When I t's really cold I fill the wash bucket with warm water to help keep my hands warm while I wash.
Washed my car on Saturday afternoon when it was 35 degree out. As the sun goes down, the temperature started to drop to around 32 and my driveway became an ice skate ring. I had to slide with my boots to rinse the car. The next day high was 12 degree.
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