You should always take good care of your car. This is because many things can go wrong when you don’t. For example, the brakes or fuel injectors can suddenly stop working, which, as you can guess, is catastrophic. When such a problem comes about, you have no one but yourself to blame. Besides taking your car to the garage for regular maintenance, you also should be washing your car it to get rid of dust and other materials that can accelerate the wear and tear.
You should especially clean your car more regularly during the winter months as the bad weather can cause a lot of wear and tear, and you don’t want this, do you?
Due to the bad weather during the winter, it can be hard to wash your car, but you have to do it. To help you out, here are some tips you can use to make things easier and the process more effective.
Dress right.
Winter is cold, and you don’t want to get sick. To do everything as comfortably as possible, dress in layers and include more than one waterproof item to prevent the water from getting to the inner layers.
A good way to go about it is to wear a waterproof base layer, a middle layer, and an outer jacket.
Since your hands will be in cold water, wear insulated driving gloves that aren’t too bulky and a pair of waterproof gloves.
Instead of your regular boots, wear a pair of thermal, waterproof boots that don’t slip.
Use warm water
Since it’s winter, the water you are using might be too cold and uncomfortable for you. Instead of using cold water, use warm water to be more comfortable when cleaning your car.
You should note that you shouldn’t use hot water, as the heat can damage your car, especially if there is ice or snow.
Remember that glass and heat don’t go together. For example, when you use hot water on your windshield, you can make the tiny cracks there bigger or even break the windshield altogether.
Instead of using hot water, wet your hands with warm water, then clean the windscreen. To keep water from freezing, heat your car beforehand.
Wash your car in an enclosed space.
As much as you have worn protective clothing, you don’t want cold breezes getting to you as you are doing the washing, do you?
To protect yourself, wash the car in an enclosed space, such as a garage, that will keep out as much wind as possible.
Even if a pressure washer or sprayer would make the work easier, avoid using it, especially if there aren’t drains and good ventilation in the garage. This is because you can flood the garage with cold water, making the task uncomfortable.
If you live in an apartment, find the closest car wash bay to block the wind and keep the water from drying up.
Use Winter Wax
Adding wax when you wash your car is an essential preventive step as it comes in handy at keeping water and snow away. As a result, you don’t need to wash your car too frequently.
Wax is strong and doesn’t break down quickly, so it can handle being splashed repeatedly, which gives you peace of mind.
Check the bottom
The underbody of most cars doesn’t have a coating to protect it from road salt and water splashes, which can cause rust to form quickly.
As you wash the car, check the bottom of the vehicle and use a hose to spray water under the car. While at it, clean the salt and dirt out of the wheels.
Wash the windshield wipers.
After washing, get back in your car, shut the doors, and turn on the washer fluid.
Let it spray for at least 10 seconds while the wipers are going. When you do this you let the fluid soak into the wiper parts, such as the hinges, to stop ice from forming and clear the fresh water from washing.
Don’t let your doors and windows freeze from ice.
Ice can quickly form in the space between the windows and sealant. To prevent this from happening, roll down each window, including the moonroof, a few inches to stop any moisture from getting between the window and the seal.
Give them a few minutes to air out, before closing them. You should also do the same thing with your gas door.
To prevent the doors from icing up, open them and use a towel to clean the rubber seals on the inside edges of the doors.
Take your car to a car wash.
Let’s be honest. Washing your car by yourself is a hustle. If you want to avoid going through the trouble of doing it, consider hiring a professional car cleaning company to help you out.
If you don’t have a company in mind, you can easily get one.
All you have to do is enter the search term “car wash in my area” and you will find one in close to you. Of course, you shouldn’t go blindly to the car wash. We recommend going to a reputable car wash like Shell, BP or Spark.
First, do more research to make sure the company is trustworthy and has good reviews. You want to avoid taking it to a car wash that will do a shoddy job or, even worse, damage your car.
After getting your car washed, inspect it to ensure it’s clean enough. If they have missed some areas, ask them to redo them.
Parting shot
Even though it’s not a lot of fun to wash your car in winter or any other time when it’s cold outside, we hope these tips will help. They make washing your car more fun and help keep problems from happening.
However, if you think it will be boring, and tedious to do the cleaning yourself, there are always car washes that you can use. Find a reputable professional car wash and let them clean the car for you.
As mentioned, to reduce the frequency that you do the cleaning and at the same time protect your car from damage, always apply car wax after cleaning.
