I live in northern KY. no as cold as the UP, but we get our days of blowing cold and snow ... so this is what I do:

Collonite, NXT, Duragloss 105 , etc ...... are all great. But (and you knew that was coming) - you're not going to use any of these products in the dead of winter when it's blowing 25 on a day that's 10 degrees. As a preparatory wax for the Winter I would agree that they can be applied as protection. But (again) that wasn't the question.

How do you wash your car *in* the winter?

I bite the bullet and take it to a full service car wash and let them do it for me. It is NOT "touchless" (although they have some merit in removing the salt from UNDER your car where the wand at one of those "do it yourself" places won't reach too well).

The one that I go to has brushes that are made out of material that will not leave scratches (right!). They use a LOT of water - which helps to move the dirt and grime away from my paint as it is being washed. They also hand towel it dry after it goes through a occilating blower to get most of the water off.

Following the "auto car wash" I take it home and clean up the spots and streaks that are left over from driving home. Since my vehicles are garage kept, it's easy to clean it up a bit more out of the wind and cold.

The main issue for me is the ability to get the undercarriage cleaned from the salt and ash that they put down on the roads. I mentioned the merit of "touchless" carwashes? This is it -- the undercarriage spray. Some of them will spray as you drive into the bay -- by using a sensor....so if you slow down as you drive into the bay it will keep spraying a little longer.

 

rdalemercer,

I agree about the "touch less" washes on the under carriage of the car. I will also use them or a coin-op in the middle of the winter (yes, it's gets cold in north Georgia once or twice a year...) when I am on the road and away from home. In that case I keep a spray bottle of ONR (rinse less wash) in the trunk to clean the car panel by panel after I get back from the car wash. By blowing most of it off at the coin-op, the ONR works well for what is left and does not take that long in the cold to complete. It DOES not work for the "frozen wastelands" up north however. Water freezes up there OUTSIDE and no self respecting Southerner is going to get caught outside in that kind of weather (unless I am in a duck blind....)

 

Is there harm in doing another wash and single coat of wax without removing the old wax?

 

Michael,

You can layer waxes. As long as you are not using a "cleaner" wax, another coat will layer on top of the old one and also help provide coverage for areas that were missed or applied "thin" before.

 

Thanks sir.

 

Well, it got cold, and it was rainy last week, and now my car looks gray. I used my Mr. Clean system, and lo-and-behold, my car still looks gray. This is after I put two layers of the NXT wax on a few weeks back (water beads wonderfully...). The water pressure from the Mr. Clean isn't very good, might be part of the problem. Any ideas/suggestions?