Salt or car wash?

I feel your pain. here in n.y its nasty too. snow salt and freezing but ill deal with the salt before i take it to a car wash.
 
I would take it to the coin-op and spritz it with plenty of plain water, taking special care with the undercarriage. A powerful wash that takes off your sealant is counterproductive in my opinion. Then I would do a rinseless wash in the garage.

I've been using "salt-away" in my home sprayer from time to time when I can. I don't know if it really helps, but the people who have boats in salt-water swear by it, so at least its not snake-oil.

If I lived in the rust-belt I would get my car Krowned every couple of years.
 
Sunder92 said:
Thanks for the input, everyone. I was really tempted to just go through a carwash because my car was so dirty.

The coin operated ones are all frozen over.

I might just use my turtle wax no rinse tomorrow since it'll be 20 degrees (highest it's been in a while)
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Wont it freeze on the car?
 
Salt has no damaging effects on cars, salt water does though. So if its too cold don't worry about it. Too cold here for the automatic car washes to be open.
 
Tblshoot said:
I'm in the teens here in Levittown and I have major salt deposits my car.
What I wouldn't give for a co op garage with a drain!

I'm considering a local pro detail wash - it should cost less than a AG order.
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FWIW, there is a touchless car wash in Warminster around Street and York road, if you ever find your way over there.
 
Same boat here in PA. Weather has been brutal on my vehicle! I think it starts with a good pre-winter prep. A good sealant/lsp will do wonders. I usually wait till the weather breaks, and do a good home wash. If tempted, a blast off at a coin-op will do. I also have a touchless wash nearby. One of the worse things i have heard is pulling a salt covered car in a heated garage. Something about the salt reacting with the warmer temps inside the garage? More prone to rusting.
 
It obvious that many responses here are from people who have not experienced the same kind of winters we get in the upper midwest. When water starts to freeze the minute it leaves the hose and builds up on the driveway, and you need to break the ice on your bucket of ONR, you realize that this just isn't going to work, LOL.

Our highways and freeways are covered with salt, sodium chloride, magnesium chloride and potassium chloride solution and, new this year, cheese brine. This stuff stays liquid even at temps below -30°, so yes, you do have to worry about it as long as it is liquid it will attack your car. You can wash your car and drive 5-10 minutes to work and your black car is grey/white.

Even going through a car wash requires some preparation like cleaning and lubing your door seals so that they don't freeze shut by the time you get home.

Our current temp = 1° F, but it is going to get all the way up to 4° F today. Tonight's low will be 0°. Tomorrow night -20°. Monday's high will reach -13° and low of -22°. Tuesday's high will be up to -6° and low of -15°. Welcome to our winter.

Now "winter" to a Floridian means the dry season and temps in the 60-80 range. This begs the question of why I live in the midwest. Just crazy.
 
jfelbab said:
It obvious that many responses here are from people who have not experienced the same kind of winters we get in the upper midwest. When water starts to freeze the minute it leaves the hose and builds up on the driveway, and you need to break the ice on your bucket of ONR, you realize that this just isn't going to work, LOL.

Our highways and freeways are covered with salt, sodium chloride, magnesium chloride and potassium chloride solution and, new this year, cheese brine. This stuff stays liquid even at temps below -30°, so yes, you do have to worry about it as long as it is liquid it will attack your car. You can wash your car and drive 5-10 minutes to work and your black car is grey/white.

Even going through a car wash requires some preparation like cleaning and lubing your door seals so that they don't freeze shut by the time you get home.

Our current temp = 1° F, but it is going to get all the way up to 4° F today. Tonight's low will be 0°. Tomorrow night -20°. Monday's high will reach -13° and low of -22°. Tuesday's high will be up to -6° and low of -15°. Welcome to our winter.
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I feel your pain. As much as it sucks, I do a good winter prep and don't do a whole lot else until spring. If we have a spell where the roads are gonna be dry for a stretch I might run it through a touch less, but 90% of the other time the car will look like I never washed it by the time I get home even though I live 5 minutes from the car wash
 
I did have 6 cars..with many experiences. All of them are branded new from beginning. Noted: inside are heated garage. Daily driving. Every car treated by anti-rust oil or others under warranties from 5-10 years.

- Avalon: park inside, clean at coin op around 1-2 times/ mo. Hand wash 1 time per month interval => no rust after 5 years like that.

- Civic sedan: outside parking like others said...no warmer, no rust??? Wash at co-op 1 times per month or 2 months, only cleaning ice, snow by brushes => Rust from inside to outside, everywhere around the body. Not big hole, but enough to see it when you close to the car after 6 years

- F150: parking outside, did nothing at all until spring => RUST and RUST after 2 years and half.

- CX9 Mazda: Parking inside, coin-op 1 times per 2 moths => Rust after 3 years, but no hole is bigger than 25 cents :) then it's worthless with warranties. In here, most people complains about Mazda metal..rust like to eat them

- Black Camry V6 sport: inside parking, clean at coin-op and then hand wash more at home, maniac hand wash every week. NO rust after 5 years but swirls a lot every year. Mistake? No 2 buckets due to time limited.

- M3: inside parking, only drive outside if needed or clean street. Even that, it still be dirty due to melted salt on the street from the city. No coin-op, rinseless or waterless until now for every time back home..only 1 year and no rust at all 1 season and half of winter.

- MDX: coating PBL, just several months testing. Foam canon, rinseless, waterless...inside parking...of course no rust until now :)

In general, if you have time, take care the baby that you love. It's worth for every penny that you spent. Good luck!
 
I'll go to the pay and spray and use the high pressure water to knock off the heavy stuff. I might go home and do a rinse less after that or I might just leave it like that, depends how the roads look and what's in the forecast.

I don't worrying too much about the salt unless it gets wet, that's when it starts to do damage.

In the spring I do a massive decontamination of the whole car.


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I did forget to mention that every car is always coated by sealant, wax before the winter.
 
I use the coin op when the vehicles get coated with salt and grime, usually the manual bay. Sometimes use the touchless to get the undercar wash. I don't like having a dirty vehicle.
 
Oh man. It's gonna be snowing for most of next week.

Still worth it to do a rinseless wash?

More than half my car is completely white (I have a black car).

Edit: It's 26 degrees today! Too bad with the windchill it feels like 8..
 
I choose salt.
No garage, no frost free hose bibs, no coin-ops nearby.
I count on my Winter LSP doing its job the best it can.
That's life for a DD.
 
nat88 said:
I did forget to mention that every car is always coated by sealant, wax before the winter.
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Well, at some point I think you have to trust the sealant to do its job. Prudence suggests you should knock of the dirt with plain water, but that's about it. It may not look good but if its there, its protecting. The undercarriage is a different issue.

In my experience the car was just fine with a good waxing in the high forties, low fifties. (I was using a liquid sealant Jetseal 109 at the time for what its worth). You might be uncomfortable but your car doesn't mind one bit.
 
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