Cold Weather Washing Tips/Tricks

When I lived in an apartment, I washed my BMW religiously with Optimum No Rinse using the two bucket method.

 

I do the same as Ace-- except I take a 5 gallon bucket containing 3 gallons of rinseless solution with me to the car wash. I toss in 8 eagle edgeless mf towels (from The Rag Co). I seal the bucket with a gamma seal lid from Home Depot (they're like $8 and work great). My only experience is with Wolfgang Uber Rinseless solution. It leaves the paint really slick and makes drying easy. I do it all right in the wash bay.

 

Is it below freezing when you do this.

 

It's Texas and really doesn't get all to cold. So I'll stick with my every other week schedule, unless it's been fairly dry. In which case, I'll do once every 3 weeks. I try to find the days that are a little warmer to wash. And I also put a little warm water in the rinse bucket. Helps my hands not fall off.

 

No bueno. Still a swirl inducer with microfiber.

 

We'll what ever they are I never see any marks. Both my wife's CRV and my truck are black with no issues at our local full service car wash. I'm known at work as the guy with the clean black truck.

 

Just because its microfiber doesn't mean it wont make swirls. That goes for any microfiber, whether its a car wash or your driveway. Moving brushes make the opportunity worse.

 

Yeah it's below freezing. Never have a problem. Obviously, I choose my days. If it was -5°F I prob wouldn't go wash the truck. But if it's 20°, no worries.

If the truck is super salty and has severe road film, I sometimes just fill the 5gal bucket all the way up with warm water and add traditional wash soap (plus an ounce of rinseless). I'll run through the first $2.50 blasting off all the crud and when times up, I'll wash the truck with a mit. Then run another $2.50 and rinse the truck. This is the only time I'll do a non-2 bucket wash. A couple times per winter I can deal with it, as I polish or AIO in the spring anyway. Sometimes a good deep clean is necessary. But the rinseless method is good too.

 

these are great ideas I think im going to get some Rinseless wash and do a 2 bucket wash after spraying of the truck at a power wand car wash, the one I go to the owner chased me out when I brought my own suds and bucket into the bay, he demanded that I use his foaming brush that's in the bay that was full of dirt/grease/grime no way.

 

You are a better man than I am.

 

Ha. Yeah we can get a couple months where it might not get above freezing. It usually doesn't get above 40 for about 4 months. I just can't stand having that layer of salt on my truck for that long. So, I do what I gotta do. It gets so bad there's visible crystallized white salt/chemical all over the sides of the truck.

 

I use a touchless carwash with the underside wash, especially if the roads have been treated. If it gets warm enough, like upper 40s, Ill bucket wash in my driveway.

 

Here's a few things I use to make hand washing in the driveway a little less unpleasant:

1. Fleece lined rubber gloves to keep my hands warm and dry.
2. Watering wand with a rotating head to rinse the undercarriage/wheel wheels with a low pressure spray (so I don't wash off the Fluid Film underneath). Saves kneeling/crawling on the cold wet ground.
3. Hot and cold frost proof spigots with a wye hose and quick connects so I have warm water for washing (great for washing the dog too!).

 

Ooh that watering wand looks pretty enticing!! Definitely a plus... It's always a PITA to spray the undercarriage and wheel wells without crawling on the ground, which I can't really do in 3 or 4 inches of snow.

 

see also:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/winter-wash.412051/

also:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/363948-salt-belt.html#post9914218
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/363280-when-wash-salt-off-truck.html
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...under-car-washer-water-pressure-question.html
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...solidation-thread.355928/page-4#post-11718350

found under:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rust-prevention-treatment-consolidation-thread.355928/

 

Self service wash bays to use their pressure washer and I bring my buckets with me along with products and microfiber towels.

 

I used to do this, but then the car wash owner would run me out because I wasn't using his Foaming Brush(full of everyones elses dirt/grease) and ruin my paint, he said he uses the brush on his wifes Jaguar . Now Im going to try this I did a test run with it worked pretty good, but think it would work better to spray down first with Car wash wand then applyhttps://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/meguires-ultimate-waterless-wash-wax.466740/

 

Thats what i used but didnt get all the dirt, i just know that washing in winter will fuck it up so ill have to polish in spring anyway. I have yet to get good luck washing with 2 buckets and grit guards and have scratch free wash at the end. I just gave up, will polish it more often but im dipping truck in spring after good polish so wouldnt have to worry about scratches anymore

 

Or u can get pressure washer for home and get CR spotless water filtration system, this way you dont have to dry it. Putting ceramic on helps as well

 

My 2nd Gen was black so keeping it clean in Winter was nearly impossible. The new truck is much easier to keep clean and swirls in the paint are not as prominent. During Winter I just go to the touchless wash every few weeks and make sure to get the undercarriage rinsed off really well.