Winter Washing in the Midwest?

[meyer_22]

Question for all you truck owners in the Northern Climates....

I only hand wash my truck Spring thru Fall, but as we are getting into Winter soon in Michigan I will be turning off the outside water and unable to wash my truck by hand. I refuse to do tunnel washes, as I don't want paint scratches. Do others find that no touch automatic washes do a good job without damage? If not what is your winter wash approach....

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[Timsvtgen1]

I do like to visit the no touch washes during the winter. Most of those washes also have the undercarriage spray too ( can't hurt, better than not) .

 

[12Lariat21]

I second the None-Touch wash. It won't make the truck super clean, but it is good to get that salt and road grime off the paint every once in a while.

I try to run it through a wash anytime there will be a 4-5 days of no precipitation.

Then it's just a really good wash in the spring and fresh coat of wax/sealer.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

I've used the as you call "tunnel wash" since moving back from Florida with both the Ram I had when I moved up and now the F150. I use Wash Pointe. They hand spray with soap and the place really lathers the truck before it goes through the flappers. Come April, I'll spend a morning with the Porter Cable and all was/is good. That's with a black truck. I have a monthly program with daily washes available. The truck goes through at least 10 times a month as long as the roads are dry.

 

[pkinneb]

Question for all you truck owners in the Northern Climates....

I only hand wash my truck Spring thru Fall, but as we are getting into Winter soon in Michigan I will be turning off the outside water and unable to wash my truck by hand. I refuse to do tunnel washes, as I don't want paint scratches. Do others find that no touch automatic washes do a good job without damage? If not what is your winter wash approach....

I wash at a DIY carwash early on Sat mornings that way I can bring buckets and nobody is waiting. I dry it as best as I can and have a heated garage so can touch it up there if needed.

 

[JayceeP]

Question for all you truck owners in the Northern Climates....

I only hand wash my truck Spring thru Fall, but as we are getting into Winter soon in Michigan I will be turning off the outside water and unable to wash my truck by hand. I refuse to do tunnel washes, as I don't want paint scratches. Do others find that no touch automatic washes do a good job without damage? If not what is your winter wash approach....

Optimum No Rinse in my garage year round. I occasionally go to the self-wash bays and use rinse-only if the truck is really filthy and covered in grime… and then go home and use Optimum No Rinse. Amazing product that I’ve been using for nearly 10 years.

 

[rado]

As others said, just look at a touchless wash that has the undercarriage spray. Getting salt off quickly is important if you don't want rust in 2 or 3 years. While the body is aluminum, the frame is still steel and prone to rusting issues.

 

[powerboost]

I wash at a DIY carwash early on Sat mornings that way I can bring buckets and nobody is waiting. I dry it as best as I can and have a heated garage so can touch it up there if needed.

Buy yourself a 600cfm (or new 800cfm) Worx plug in 110V leaf blower and 25' cord. It's $60-$80 range and really has high air volume that will blow the water off easy at the DIY car wash being you have a powerboost. Makes others jealous as they have to manually dry their rigs. The battery powered ones don't move enough cfm volume and gas powered ones blow oil specs from exhaust.

 

[catfishkid1986]

Optimum No Rinse in my garage year round. I occasionally go to the self-wash bays and use rinse-only if the truck is really filthy and covered in grime… and then go home and use Optimum No Rinse. Amazing product that I’ve been using for nearly 10 years.

I just started with ONR with this purchase. I had been using tunnel washers with my 05, but started getting disappointed with the wash quality, and scratch damage.

I'm a couple washes in with ONR now, and I use optiseal as a drying aid like they suggest, and I love the outcome. Takes about an hour, tires and all, but as I get more used to the process, I'll cut that time down. I'm looking forward to trying it as it gets colder. May do the self wash bay for spray off first if its really bad. Here is before and after last wash.

Tire shine is Optimum stuff too, seems to hold up preety good.

 

[Northern Goat]

Just be mindful, that touchless washes use pretty harsh chemicals in order to "clean" your vehicle, These chemicals will strip any wax or protectants on the the paint off pretty quickly. I personally go to a self wash and rinse if really filthy and do a weekly bucket wash at the self wash with my own supplies.

 

[JayceeP]

After doing a rinse off at the self wash bays while running errands yesterday I did a 2 bucket Optimum No Rinse in my driveway. It was near freezing outside so I actually went and bought a Simoniz Microfibre wash mit built with a pole attachment. Worked pretty good. I used 2 microfibres to dry the truck. Had my gloves on lol.

With space white, just using the rinse at the self wash-bays ain’t going to cut it. The truck still looks really dirty after winter mess driving and it’s basically pointless aside from getting heavy debris off because of the molasses brine that gets put down on Nova Scotia roads. This driveway method with the pole took me maybe 25 minutes. I also washed the whole truck before drying and only used 2 microfibres to dry.

 

[Zengineer]

I have a hot/cold (softened) spigot in my well insulated garage that I leave on all year. I have a heater and keep it at 45 F or so when not out there. I keep an electric power washer all hooked up and can pull it out in a few minutes so if it is a bit above freezing outside I'll wash it by hand. I had my 2012 for 8 years on SE Michigan and it never saw a tunnel car wash.

 

[Chili]

The problem is the rapid temperature change from cold to warm and warm to cold. It causes condensation in places that don't normally see that level of moisture. Normally this would lead to rust which isn't the case anymore but I'm not sure what kind of coating the insides of door panels and such have and if oxidation is an issue.

People who put there cars in heated garages think they're doing it a favor and it's very much the opposite. I keep my garage at 42-45 degrees to try and lessen the effect but still enjoy a not frigid garage.

 

[Tomatoboy]

Not in the Midwest but I’m a heavy salt area, we absolutely rely on the touch-less spray carwashes (must have undercarriage wash) all winter. They do *okay* but vehicles are never spotless. It’s more about getting the salt off than anything. I find that they surprisingly do a better job on my truck than some of my previous vehicles, probably because the truck doesn’t have many spots the sprayer can’t reach being mostly a collection of flat sides. Most of those washes here also have DIY spray booths. Whenever I see one without ice in it I usually stop and do the undercarriage to get the salt the touch-less wash misses, since ita undercarriage wash is pretty brief and one-dimensional. I don’t really worry about appearance during winter anywhere near as much as the salt.

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