Winter Auto Care Tips

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imported_Bulldog

New member
Being in the military, I have no choice but to live in Nebraska. With that being said I was wondering if you guys and gals had any tips on taking care of a daily driven car during the winter. My Mach-1 is parked during the winter, but I have as daily drivers an F-150 and an Accord. I am mostly worried about salt damage (they use a lot of salt here on the roads.) Specifically wanting to know if it was okay to spray the salt off even if the water was turning into ice as I sprayed. Any tips to keep future salt damage to a minimum would be appreciated.
 
Leave the salt alone till its above freezing .. its inert at that temp and the most you have to worry about is abrasion. Washing cold only means your driving salty water into places to freeze.
 
Bulldog,



I generally wait until the temps are in the low 30's before I start worrying too much about washing. I think, in general, the best you can do in our Nebraska driving environment is just try to keep the salt off whenever there's a break in the deep freeze. If its warm enough, I'll hand wash with Quick & Easy Wash (search for QEW, if you're not familiar with it); if it's still pretty cold (but above freezing), and there's still a lot of snow on the ground, I usually just rinse my WRX with the wand at a coin-op (no soap, no drying, but use spot-free rinse) just to get the bulk of the chemicals and road grime off of the car. I won't spray the car at all if it's cold enough that I have to deal with water freezing on the paint and frozen door seals.



A layer or three of a durable sealant prior to winter's arrival is always wise, too.



Tort



P.S. If you're in Bellevue, feel free to PM me, and we can hookup sometime (I'm in Omaha). You're welcome to try anything in my big box-o-stuff (Zaino, Klasse, NXT, 1Z Glanz Wax, etc., and a number of different polishes for the prep).
 
thanks for the input. Tortoise, I might have to take you up on that offer if you are serious. I would like to try some of the detailing stuff this site raves about. Thanks.
 
Another winter tip, just did this today and its about 30 here. Put your regular car wash soap and water in a spray bottle and spray the car-then wait 1 min or so and then spray off with the rinse setting. Its ALOT better than the car wash they use, you can just see the soap encapsulating dirt. I used Perls today in a little bit weak mixture and just sprayed the car and rinsed it off, worked very very well.
 
Bulldog said:
thanks for the input. Tortoise, I might have to take you up on that offer if you are serious. I would like to try some of the detailing stuff this site raves about. Thanks.
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Sure, no problem. When the weather warms up and the %$#&@ snow melts (may be getting another 8" over the next couple of days :rolleyes: ), get in touch and we'll get together. If you have a heated place to work on your Mach 1, and would like to try some stuff sooner than the spring thaw, that works, too; PM me anytime.



Tort
 
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