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Winter Washing
- Thread starter TankoftheNorth
- Start date
I just used Optimum No Rinse and the two bucket method to wash in my garage with no hose. I am in Minnesota and had some road salt and road grime to wash off. It seemed to work great. However, I am still new to this and I really hope I don’t end up with micro scratches from this product and wash method.
I have been using ONR in the garage since I first got the car, it works great. If there is a lot of ice buildup then I first go to a self serve car wash and rinse it off. The one I go to is open 24 hours, takes credit cards, and uses hot water which makes it really easy to get all of the ice off.
Thanks for the responses. When washing in the garage, how much of a mess did it make? I only have a two car garage right now but pulling the other car out should give me a decent amount of space. But I also have a work bench and tools all stored in there, along with shelving etc, that I wouldn't want getting soaked in water. Since I wouldn't be using a hose, would the water spray be minimal for this job?
Make sure to spend some extra time drying the door handles. I noticed the bottom side was icing up making it really hard to get the handle out. It also caused the electronic button to stick and randomly want to pop the door open. I was sitting in the driver seat, in park, when the passenger door randomly opened.
No spray and no mess at all using Optimum No Rinse. Using the two bucket method (look for YouTube videos if you’re not familiar with this) you just have two buckets of water to dump out and several microfiber towels to wash and dry. You don’t even get any drops of water on your garage floor.
Being familiar with camera and laser optics, waterless washing is not for me. Average dust has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale, that's synonymous with quartz. Spraying with a cleaner and wiping that grit across the paint would make me cringe. After a few years of that action, you have done this to your paint. Very fine hairline scratches that radiate around the glare.
So what's the alternative come winter time? Touchless car wash? Self service car wash where I wash it by hand myself? I'm leaning toward doing a touchless when it's really dirty, followed by the ONR to really get her clean. Then I'd like to do the clay bar and wax.
I've never tried this either but people swear by it. My plan is to use multiple washing mits and keep switching them out to minimize grime. I may even use the hand pressure wash option first to get the bulk of the dirt off.
That's my personal choice. A maned touchless outfit that includes the undercarriage for $16 in my neighborhood.
That includes a wipe down of the door sills.
I think this makes sense to do...it might be time to ask Santa for a pressure washer....
Has anyone waxed their car in around freezing temps? Is that a bad idea?
Natural wax probably doesn't apply to well in low temps. Synthetic stuff might be better. That said, if you were spending time in your garage doing that maybe a cheap heater would make sense.
Yep. That's why we had the whole car coated with Opticoat Pro+. We rinse with the hose or pressure washer to get the heavy stuff off, do a two bucket wash with Optimum No Rinse and dry with microfiber drying towels. So far, so good.
I have been using a waterless wash since getting my 3 and so far I am very happy with it. It consumes several towels per wash but I just clean the whole batch of towels after each wash. My local exotic detailer uses it on all the cars they work with, including many Teslas. They also make the specific stuff I am using.
Don't think I'll bother washing much this winter. I mean it basically rains here every other day in the winter (NW), so what's the point? My car will look nice for exactly .5 to 1.25 of day then mud and leaves will get splashed all over it again and an hour of work will be down the drain.
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