clean cars after snow ?

[65-440]

Am I the only one who washes their cars after the snow melts ? I've been dying to wash the crap off the cars the last few days, I thawed my hose out yesterday. This morning I went out and washed the cars, none of my neighbors had cleaned their cars. I did catch a few funny looks like I was crazy ! Now I'm defrosting my hands !!!

 

[scuba0331]

I washed mine and my wife's car yesterday. It was a balmy 44 degrees. Now it's snowing again but at least I was able to get one layer of salt off!

 

[krazykuda]

There is a local gas station/car wash that offers monthly car washes "all you can wash". I got in early when it was only $12.99 /month, now it is $17.99 / month, and you get a discount on gas (from a nickel, dime, or sometimes 20 cents per gallon) with a car wash purchase or monthly wash subscription. And they are usually the lowest price in town before the discount. So I figure if I wash my car EVERYDAY, it cost less than 50 cents per wash.

And they hire some hot college age girls to work the booths. There's a couple of cool ones that I like to talk to when I pass through.

But my daily driver is a Buick Century and the locks and doors freeze if I wash it below freezing, so I have to wait until it warms up above 32° to get it washed.

 

[DaveBonds]

I do.

Electric pressure washer, stays in the spare bathroom in the house, so it doesn't freeze. Uncover the tap on the house, hook up the black, goodyear hose and go for it.

If you do it around 40 ish, you can do it no prob. Lift/ drain and loop the hose after every use.

The carwash is an ice skating rink and usually crowded.

 

[toolmanmike]

We have a nice manned carwash that has underbody spray, triplecoat wax and they vac, do windows, dash and dry all the door jams. Great for the wife's car.

 

[krazykuda]

We have a nice manned carwash that has underbody spray, triplecoat wax and they vac, do windows, dash and dry all the door jams. Great for the wife's car.

The one I go to is 1/2 manned... They have a pre-spray station, then a guy pre-sprays the pass side and rear, another guy loads you on the conveyor belt and sprays your grille and pass side, then you go through the auto wash, at the end they have young college age guys (and sometimes a girl) hand drying the cars (tipping optional).

They have a manned interior/detail shop around the side where they vacuum the carpets, wipe the dash and steam clean the door jams, and windows for extra charge.

A different outlet of the same station has an area after the hand dry where you can vacuum your car yourself at no charge (I think). And they also have a manned interior/detail shop like the first place where they do it for you (at a nominal fee).

 

[toolmanmike]

The one I go to is 1/2 manned... They have a pre-spray station, then a guy pre-sprays the pass side and rear, another guy loads you on the conveyor belt and sprays your grille and pass side, then you go through the auto wash, at the end they have young college age guys (and sometimes a girl) hand drying the cars (tipping optional).

They have a manned interior/detail shop around the side where they vacuum the carpets, wipe the dash and steam clean the door jams, and windows for extra charge.

A different outlet of the same station has an area after the hand dry where you can vacuum your car yourself at no charge (I think). And they also have a manned interior/detail shop like the first place where they do it for you (at a nominal fee).

Yep, ours works like that too. It's a automatic car wash with the hands on vacuum and prewash on one end and the hand dry with the interior and window cleaning on the other all for one price. It looks and smells like new when it comes out. I usually get the "new car" air freshener which is a quartes sized cork disc they toss under the seat. It smells nice for days.

 

[WildCat]

I sprayed the salt off at self service high pressure wash when it was 11 deg last week, cannot stand having a dirty car. Good thing I have an attached garage to keep it in at night.

We have a car wash close I use for underbody wash that sweeps it out washes windows inside basicly most the time they hand wash before going thru the auto wash then hand dry.

Cost me about $13 plus tip

This is my daily driver mustang

In Indy we had a Mikes car washday that did a great job, sure miss having one close.

 

[goldduster318]

I never wash my DD in the winter. This winter, there haven't really been any opportunites, but here in SE Michigan, if you washed it, it would be covered in salt again on most days in about 10 minutes anyway. I wash it up once most of the snow has melted in the spring and we've had our first rain event.

 

[krazykuda]

Yep, ours works like that too. I usually get the "new car" air freshener which is a quartes sized cork disc they toss under the seat. It smells nice for days.

New car is good. I also like the green (can't remember the scent) and the yellow lemon sometimes I change it up....


Yeah, they do a pretty good job for just 15 minutes inside and out!

 

[krazykuda]

I never wash my DD in the winter. This winter, there haven't really been any opportunites, but here in SE Michigan, if you washed it, it would be covered in salt again on most days in about 10 minutes anyway. I wash it up once most of the snow has melted in the spring and we've had our first rain event.

Yeah, but it is nice to wash it off periodically so the dirt doesn't get set in real deep....


I used to work in Farmington Hills, eons ago...

 

[inkjunkie]

Have 1.6 miles of frozen solid dirt road...that will be like soup when we thaw....vehicles will get washed in May or so....maybe...

 

[joel d. snyder]

yep, washed the truck & the wife's van yesterday. first day it's been warm enough in a while. i'm talking driveway here. can't see paying for a job i'm not happy with.

 

[ddettloff]

clean mine all the time after snow Colorado uses mag chloride on roads it's terrible for wires and connections and turns black on exterior can't stand the stuff ,
also drips on garage floor and makes a real mess

 

[goldduster318]

Yeah, but it is nice to wash it off periodically so the dirt doesn't get set in real deep....


I used to work in Farmington Hills, eons ago...

I haven't seen the actual surface of my street since early January. Constantly driving in salty-snow mess. I was wondering today if they would actually plow after seeing the neighbors get their cars stuck in the street this morning. Not happening. Funny how my Cruze will baja right through anything we've had so far this winter. Gotta love snow tires.

The dirt/salt will come right off the paint. I just clean everything thoroughly when spring comes around. I also wax my car every year around labor day with real hard wax.

 

[Frankie]

Am I the only one who washes their cars after the snow melts ?

No.

When I lived in Jersey I usually hosed off the car, top and bottom, after every drive, whether the snow was melted, or not.

I didn't have a pressure washer or a steam cleaner at the time, so I used to connect a hose to the drain spigot of the hot water heater, and I made a long (36") sprayer nozzle out of rigid break line, and a high pressure hose nozzle to reach under the vehicles with. Most times I used it in combination with a "Y" connector in the hose. One hose from the hot water heater, one from a regular cold water spigot, into "Y" connector, and then a single hose from the Y to the long nozzle. You could adjust water temp from the Y adapter, or from the 2 spigots.


Worked like a champ. I made the sprayer back in1971 when I purchased a new 71 Swinger, and I used that sprayer for about 15 years. Gave it to my oldest son when I moved to Georgia. We get snow so infrequently here in central Ga, that now I just use a regular hose sprayer, and cold water. I usually drive my cars and trucks up onto a set of ramps to spray them, though.