Best winter washing method

BlackCarBlues said:
I do have a question for those that recommend touchless car washes -- I always avoided these because I heard they all use harsh soaps (since no agitation possible) and will strip waxes/sealants. Is this not necessarily true then?
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The soaps might be harsher than normal, but I've never had any issues with it stripping a sealant or the coatings I use now. Sealant durability was roughly six months regardless of touchless automated washes or a nice bucket wash at home. Any quality sealant should be able to take the abuse.
 
In the heart of winter I wash in the safest way dictated by the weather. I’ll touch less wash if I have to and I’m fine with it, the best thing to do is don’t rush and scrub, I’ll let the cars stay dirty instead of doing a half ass job
 
vobro said:
In the heart of winter I wash in the safest way dictated by the weather. I’ll touch less wash if I have to and I’m fine with it, the best thing to do is don’t rush and scrub, I’ll let the cars stay dirty instead of doing a half ass job
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:iagree:
 
I've seen one youtuber mix a little APC with your WW/RW in a spray bottle for pre-treat before you start the rinseless wash. That's what i will be trying this year.

For instance 50ml of APC in 1000ml of waterless wash for a pre-treat.
 
noorth said:
I've seen one youtuber mix a little APC with your WW/RW in a spray bottle for pre-treat before you start the rinseless wash. That's what i will be trying this year.

For instance 50ml of APC in 1000ml of waterless wash for a pre-treat.
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Not that it’s needed in WA as we don’t get much salt.... be doing the same with Ammo Boost in my pre soak for Ammo Frothe.


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I have a heated garage but even without, my process is pretty much the same. I re-fill my touchless wash station card as there's a really nice laser touchless 2 miles from my house. That gets the vast majority of gunk off and helps blast the undercarriage too. If it's not too too dirty, I may just skip the outside wash but if it's still bad, so long as the temps are over 36* outside, I'm fine dragging a hose out there and being a bit chilly, etc.

If not, I pull a hot vehicle into the garage and open the hood. That alone will heat up a decently insulated space even if it's not heated. From there I proceed to do a rinseless wash and can complete it 1-2 gals water using the Gary Dean method, etc.

Go pick up a bunch of old beach or bath towels at some garage sales or thrift stores and use them to soak up the water on the floor, etc to keep your work area clean and not humid, etc. I'm OCD so that's what I do.

Never had issues.
 
Live in Iowa here, so feel your pain. I will go to the coin op bays early morning late at night so I have nobody waiting behind me. I load up my arsenal and fill my buckets at home and will do a two bucket wash and dry in the bays using the wand to knock off the heavy stuff and to rinse.
If needed I will run through the touchless wash to keep up on trying to keep it clean. During the hunting season can be the hardest time keeping the truck clean.
 
You don’t need a plush 500+ towel. 5-6 good 320 GSM towels will work fine.
 
TTQ B4U said:
I have a heated garage but even without, my process is pretty much the same. I re-fill my touchless wash station card as there's a really nice laser touchless 2 miles from my house. That gets the vast majority of gunk off and helps blast the undercarriage too.
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Stay away from those Moo Moo Expresses, that's for sure ... :laughing:

Black Bowtie said:
Live in Iowa here, so feel your pain. I will go to the coin op bays early morning late at night so I have nobody waiting behind me. I load up my arsenal and fill my buckets at home and will do a two bucket wash and dry in the bays using the wand to knock off the heavy stuff and to rinse.
If needed I will run through the touchless wash to keep up on trying to keep it clean. During the hunting season can be the hardest time keeping the truck clean.
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Pretty much my exact routine although I do a pre-treat with an Uber or similar at WW ratio. Also, I always use their final "spot free" rinse after I have done the main rinse, esp. if I am going to be lazy and do the highway drying technique instead of hand drying.

I also do RW's when the vehicles aren't too bad. GD method all the way and I usually dump a dozen towels in the bucket for good measure.

David Puddy said:
I've always been curious about this as well.
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I use a dozen of these :

Cobra 12 Pack Edgeless Polishing Cloths

These are the same as the Forrest Green Cobras but I like the lighter color as it makes it easy to tell when/where it's dirty. $20 (or less on sale) for a dozen, you could only get 3-4 mitts for that price.
 
If it is at least 30 degrees, I will do a bucket wash in the driveway. Sometimes I forget to bring the hose inside the garage to make sure it thaws. When that happens, I fill some buckets and use the Worx Hydroshot to blast as much crud off of the surface as I can. Then I will do a rinseless wash. Just make sure that you are working on the surface of the car facing the sun. Any surface in the shade will freeze up.
It is also a good idea to invest in some ice fishing gloves. Glacier Bay gloves will keep your hands warm and dry and you can get them at Bass Pro Shop.
 
UncleDavy said:
It is also a good idea to invest in some ice fishing gloves. Glacier Bay gloves will keep your hands warm and dry and you can get them at Bass Pro Shop.
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Those are thick neoprene gloves? I've used nitrile gloves in the past.
 
MisterSnoop said:
Those are thick neoprene gloves? I've used nitrile gloves in the past.
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They are fleece lined neoprene gloves. They are thick enough to keep your hands warm but you can still get the feel of tools and towels.
 
UncleDavy said:
It’s against Autogeek policy to post a link of a product not available on Autogeek. You can google Glacier Glove ice fishing gloves.
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AG doesn't sell ice fishing gloves, so go ahead and link away UD. :)
 
Seems like a good use of my saved up L.L. Bean "Bean Bucks".
 
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