Do you wash your car or truck in the winter?

[Charlotte987]

My husband and I have this ongoing argument about washing the car in the winter. There's a local inside car wash we can take it to. He maintains that the door locks will freeze and cause all sorts of problems. They still salt the roads minimally up here, so at the moment the car's body has salt all over it.

I'm concerned that the car's body will get ruined and rusty eventually from the salt, which has happened to every vehicle that we've ever had. Will bringing it to the car wash help? Or make any difference? What do you do with your vehicle in the winter?

 

[Chimney Smoke]

They use lots of salt in Maine and the vehicles are covered pretty much all the time. Every few weeks I stop at a local car wash and pressure wash under my truck to get sand and salt out. I don't waste money on full car washes though because 1 mile down the road the vehicle is covered again. I've never had a problem with frozen locks.

 

[homebrewz]

I wash the car about once a week in the winter, depending on road salt which is proportional to storm frequency. Of course, I just washed it a few days ago and the next day it was covered in salt again. I use the hand pressure washer so I can get up under the wheel wells and undercarriage, otherwise you're just saving the body panels from eventual rust rather than the undercarriage. I have not had locks freeze, but have had doors freeze. The locks have little covers over the keyhole to prevent stuff from getting in there. You could put a little piece of tape over the opening. Maybe electricians rubber tape would work well for that application?

I think waxing the car in the fall would be a good rust preventative.

 

[bholler]

haha i wash my car about once a year. The work trucks get done every few months or if they get into mud

 

[Swedishchef]

Back in the older days, locks would freeze. However today they are sealed much better.

I wash my 2005 Subaru Impreza every 2 weeks in the winter. I got the underbelly sprayed with a rust protector when I bought it 10 years ago and there's barely any rust to this day. THe only rust I have is where rock chips got through the paint and are now bubbling. And as you know, in Quebec, we cake our roads with salt.

Normally I wash it when they are forecasting cold weather. The roads are never wet when cold. I am fortunate where I work, I can wash it at the local indoor car wash and then leave it in a heated garage at work for the afternoon to make sure it is really dry.


Andrew

 

[Snagdaddy]

In late summer, coat the underside of your vehicle with chainsaw bar and chain oil. Use a cheap air powered paint sprayer to do the job. Make sure the coating is nice and thick on truck frame rails and everywhere else underneath.

It is critical that all the salt is removed from your vehicles (by washing underneath) shortly after they are done with all the salting and the warmer weather returns.

 

[BrotherBart]

That has to smell a treat when the tailpipe and cat converter get hot.

 

[Hogwildz]

We have a local car wash that has a drive through, touchless, pressure wash system. It even had jets that do the underside of the vehicle. I usually go through there once a month or 2. Just knocking what I can off till the next round of crud.
Never had lock freezing issues.

 

[UMainah]

I wash my vehicles at home even in the winter. Pretty much all car washes recycle their water and they will typically only remove the oil and sand from the water.

 

[tigger]

I wash my cars once a week at least. I pay a monthly fee for the car wash near me. We can use it as many times per month as you want. What is nice is you pull in and they hand wash the outside of the car and the tires, then you go through the automated one. It's really worth it. Getting all of the salt off of them is awesome.

 

[festerw]

Mine get taken through the wash when it gets above freezing for a couple days.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

In late summer, coat the underside of your vehicle with chainsaw bar and chain oil. Use a cheap air powered paint sprayer to do the job. Make sure the coating is nice and thick on truck frame rails and everywhere else underneath.

While old school and effective, this is not very environmentally friendly. There's enough pollution on everything without oil dripping off the undersides of vehicles.

 

[Beer Belly]

Our vehicles will not get washed in the Winter months until all the crap is all done and off the roads....,in the better weather, the Wifes car will get done weekly, or at least when needed.....my truck ???, ever once in a while. We've stretched out our ownership to 6 years max, so rust should not be a concern...I hope.

 

[Snagdaddy]

If we to really look into the environmental friendliness of undercoating vehicles with oil, we would discover that the practice is more environmentally friendly than people might imagine. Consider that pickup truck frame rails will be ruined in fewer than 5 years in the northeast if care is not taken (washing and/or oil coating). Now consider how many vehicles are sent to the junkyard for the rust problem. What if you could protect your truck frame for 15+ years for the minimal cost and effort of oiling once a year? You would save the environment by preventing the excess manufacture of vehicles. Frame oiling will continue to be safe and effective at preventing rust. (wear a respirator suitable for painting) After all, where does all the bar and chain oil go that we use in our chainsaws?

 

[begreen]

There's a massive difference with the quantity of chain saw oil used to lube a chain and that used to spray the underside of a vehicle. If just hundreds of people do this in an area the results can be serious. It runs off into streams and rivers, not a good thing. If you want undercoating do it with a more stable product that is purposed designed and will not wash off.

 

[Snagdaddy]

You will need less than a quart of bar and chain oil to coat the average vehicle annually. There are lots of people with chainsaws running bar oil. Very few people actually follow through with coating the underside of their vehicle with oil. Not much oil comes off if it is applied with a paint sprayer. The idea is to drive down a dusty dirt road afterward to build up a coating of dust on top of the oil, which helps protect the vehicle. Think about cast iron frying pans. The stuff doesn't run off after it is applied.

 

[ironpony]

yes, biweekly more or less, run it thru a car wash.

 

[sportbikerider78]

If we to really look into the environmental friendliness of undercoating vehicles with oil, we would discover that the practice is more environmentally friendly than people might imagine. Consider that pickup truck frame rails will be ruined in fewer than 5 years in the northeast if care is not taken (washing and/or oil coating). Now consider how many vehicles are sent to the junkyard for the rust problem. What if you could protect your truck frame for 15+ years for the minimal cost and effort of oiling once a year? You would save the environment by preventing the excess manufacture of vehicles. Frame oiling will continue to be safe and effective at preventing rust. (wear a respirator suitable for painting) After all, where does all the bar and chain oil go that we use in our chainsaws?

I'm inclined to agree with you. People overestimate the environmental impact of oil. Perhaps they also forget the thousands of gallons of gas that are burned to fuel cars..hardly worth sweating 1 pint of oil.

Heck, I burn 500 gallons of it every year to heat my home! There is zero pollution control on my 20 yr old oil boiler, just like everyone elses.

I wash my car biwkly.

 

[thinkxingu]

If my vehicles get really, really, really, really bad, I'll spray them down. Otherwise, as most people have mentioned, they're salty again in a mile. Someone above mentioned frame rails rotting in five years--not convinced. My brother's 1500 is 11 years and solid, my other brother's Titan is 9 years and solid, my Frontier was 10 years and solid, and I could go on and on. Wax and wash the car in spring and fall and, unless it's a clay Yugo (a la SNL), it'll last (at least in northern MA and NH!).

 

[ironpony]

If my vehicles get really, really, really, really bad, I'll spray them down. Otherwise, as most people have mentioned, they're salty again in a mile. Someone above mentioned frame rails rotting in five years--not convinced. My brother's 1500 is 11 years and solid, my other brother's Titan is 9 years and solid, my Frontier was 10 years and solid, and I could go on and on. Wax and wash the car in spring and fall and, unless it's a clay Yugo (a la SNL), it'll last (at least in northern MA and NH!).

Except for all the Toyota Tacomas that are having frames replaced for rust. 2005 - 2008 drive past a Toyota dealership and see how many frames are sitting out back. it isso bad they have run out of replacement frames. still does not mean they all rust my Dodges are fine.

 

[Beer Belly]

One of my biggest concerns is the doors freezing shut, and then ripping the rubber seal when you try to open it

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I don't wash my car. To quote a good friend- I have a hammer, and I don't wash that either. My wife occasionally gets sick of looking at it and washes it, and if I bring it in for service, they wash it- but otherwise it would never get washed. 100k on it now, and not a sign of rust.

Put me in the- keep oil where it belongs camp. Likewise, when people tell me they must keep adding oil or power steering fluid- it drives me a bit nuts.

 

[thinkxingu]

Except for all the Toyota Tacomas that are having frames replaced for rust. 2005 - 2008 drive past a Toyota dealership and see how many frames are sitting out back. it isso bad they have run out of replacement frames. still does not mean they all rust my Dodges are fine.

Knowing what I know about Toyota's frame problem, I'm confident a few washes here and there wouldn't have changed a thing. In fact, arguably, just spraying them down as most car washes do probably would have been worse.

 

[dan_s2k]

I wash it twice a month cause my garage is still not finish at this time. So i borrow my father garage. I use optimum no rince wash it use one gallon to wash a car. No need to rince and the polymer and the soap are safer for the paint. Plus since i dont rince the car the door dont freeze

 

[AK13]

I wash my vehicles at home even in the winter. Pretty much all car washes recycle their water and they will typically only remove the oil and sand from the water.

How do you do that in Bangor in the winter? Do you have hot water running to a hose bib? We haven't had a day above freezing here in over a month.