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02-25-2015, 12:46 PM | #1 |
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A discussion on winter car care - why I follow a less frequent wash schedule
I started to write this post in detailer domain's thread but didn't want to hijack.
I'm one of those people that believes that you should leave the salt on your car for longer periods and when you do clean, do it really well. First though, let's talk about why we wash new cars from salt: It does not eat or corrode paint (though it can scratch clearcoat as an abrasive, but that happens before you wash it anyway and during the washing process itself....so we're not washing it to STOP it from scratching clearcoat). The danger of salt is when it reaches bare metal and that's primarily a concern of when salt gets into practically inaccessible crevices. Think the line between your paint and your wheel well plastic or the line between your body frame and gas fill cavity. These are areas where, at a microscopic level, salt finds access to minimally painted/primered surfaces and can work through those layers to get to bare metal. Salt is NOT going to cause corrosion starting on your door panel - it's going to start where two panels join in a hidden spot, or inside your rain gutters. So if you agree with that, then washing your car does not halt corrosion unless you are specifically getting into those crevices where metal is joined together instead of a solid sheet, or metal is minimally protected. Now beyond that, my rationale is that removing salt is going to be abrasive no matter what (though with Detailers Domain description, they definitely really minimize it!)....and that salt does not continue corroding after a certain period of time. I believe the base layer of salt becomes inert and actually acts as a barrier to new salt hitting the sensitive bits. Also, when you wash salt off you are actually dissolving it into water and potentially pushing it into those very crevices you are trying to protect. My point being: Frequent winter washing of salt, especially when it's going to be covered in salt 2 days later, is going to provide more opportunities to damage your paint through abrasion and dissolve salt and leave it deposited into undesirable places. (This is also why parking snow covered salty cars in warm garages increases corrosion) ... I'm mainly sharing the above for discussion/input/counterpoint. My actual process is as follows: 1. Identify a freaking warm day in a cold-arse winter with good weather ahead 2. Hose the vehicle down ALOT unless no more salt is being washed off 3. Mix optimum no rinse wash + wax in hefty doses with a couple gallons of water. Set aside 8-16 ounces in a spray bottle. 4. Pre-spray the remaining salt with the mixture 5. Wash with generous use of water 6. Once the car is clean on the outside, vigorously scrub the door jams/trunk jams/hood jams as much as is reasonable to both clean them and get some of that minimalist wash/wax product in there for a little protection. 7. Dry with a leaf blower 8. Enjoy my clean car for approx 24-48 hours before it's filthy again I do this 1x every 3-4 weeks.
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03-29-2015, 06:19 PM | #2 |
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I agree completely. I didn't clean my car (outside) even once this February, never got above -10 Celsius and your temps probably weren't much better.
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03-31-2015, 08:23 PM | #3 |
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I agree. I simply will just leave the car dirty in the winter until I get a day nice enough to wash it.
Never taking it to some swirl-city car wash just to get salt off for no good reason.
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