ok, so I picked up my car on saturday and it snowed saturday night. since then it snowed again on monday and my poor baby is covered in salt and road grime. he's barely 5 days old!!!! I only have an hour for lunch but I was thinking of going over to the spray wash and hosing this crap off and possibly giving him a semi-decent bath. At this point I have no car care stuff in the car so what should I get at pep boys on the way to the wash? Now they're saying it's supposed to snow again before the weekend. should I just wait? that's what everyone tells me but this is killing me! so here are the questions...
Should I even wash it?
If so, should I just rinse it off?
or should I get stuff to give it a proper wash?
What would be the bare essentials to get for that?

 

Your going to get more snow, and more, and more.
Its called "winter" (not trying to facetious).

Not good to keep the salt on the car but this isn't like the 1960s and I doubt the body will start to rust because of it.

HOWEVER, when possible, I'd try to wash the salt off. Get a bucket of water and just give it a "microfiber" sponge bath for the salt. Try to rinse? I would try to get the salt off.

 

sounds like a good enough reason to pamper it a bit. should I pick up one of those 'microfiber' wash mits? I'm afraid of the salt and crap scratching the surface as I wipe it off. should I pick up quick detailer or something while I'm at it? damn snow! at least on saturday I should be able to heat up the garage at my parents and put on the first few coats of zaino!

 

Get some microfiber towels (a lot). You needs some in the wash cause they get dirty and still have spare one.

You can put on the Zaino immediately (after the car is clean). Rinse the salt off with plain water first. Thats what would do

 

What 'burb are you in...that looks like Otto's back room!

First, congrats on you MINI...looks good! Second, yes, the snow really does suck, and fridays storem looks big. Of course, the news blows everything out of proportion, but it will still be enough to make the MINI dirty.

I just took our 05 over to one of those DIY car washes last night. Worked very well. Pumped $2.50 of quarters in, got 5 minutes to blast soapy water followed by rinsing water on the MINI. Not as good as a job as using the wool mitt, but good enough for the winter. I'll be keeping a few rolls of quarters in that car from now on!!!

My zaino just came in the mail yesterday...i'll be doing the dawn wash & the whole process this weekend as well. Wish i could have gotten it done when it was a little warmer, oh well!

-jac

 

Isn't there a temperature range for zaino? Up here in Vermont all I can do is rinse from November thru May as it's too cold for any sort of paint protection. So in mid-October I apply paint sealant (I use Griot's) and just deal with the salt till winter ends in May.

By the way, salt crystals are incredibly sharp and can do a number on your paint unless you use copious amounts of water first!

Pete

 

Thanks! you are correct, that is the back room at otto's. I live in northern bucks county and work in montgomeryville. I just got back from 'lunch'. I picked up one of the microfiber sponges as well as a 3 pack of microfiber towels and an absorber and then headed to the coin-op wash. I used the spray to get the bulk of the junk off and then removed the rest with the microfiber sponge under a constant stream of water. everything seemed to work great and after using the absorber and finishing up with a once-over with a microfiber towel my little guy looks great once again. there are some places that I will need to get really good before hitting it with zaino, but that's to be expected. I wasn't about to buy another whole set of detailing brushes and stuff when they are in my dad's garage.

As to the question of temperature for zaino I think you're correct boondox. I will be putting it in the heated garage after washing and drying... hopefully after a while it will be up to temp for the zaino

 

sorry to hear about the salt problem, but at least now I know another philly guy! I'm in Haverford (My house that is...I'm on boarding school in new hampshire now). Hopefully my parents haven't been driving it around much (if they have I will be PISSED to no end... I spent 5 hours detailing the paintwork last time I was home)

Hope to see you around. I get home on the 16th and go back the 4th, so PM me if you're done your xmas shopping already and we can go motor...

Cheers,

 

While it's going to be wintery and crappy just go with a rinse to get as much as the salt off as possible. Rinsing and trying to wash the car in a rush on lunch while freezing is a great recipe for SWIRLS unless you're super careful. Some people use a product called Quick and Easy Wash for winter washing. You can find a lot of info. on it at either of these two sites:

www.autopia.org
www.detailersclub.com

I got my car last winter and made one large mistake with my x-lites (which I notice you have, too). I didn't protect them as soon as I could, and I got some great brake dust baked on to the little creveces in between the spokes. I have them off for the winter now and tried to detail them, and holy crap it is a pain to get the baked on stuff off. Some of it is permanent and will NOT come off. Moral: put some durable wax or wheel protectant on those things ASAP! Some suggestions for what to use - you could zaino them, Klasse SG them, Collinite Insulator Wax them, etc...

Good luck, and if you get addicted to the above sites, this is just going to be the very beginning of a long journey!

mb

 

Thanks for the suggestions! This weekend I'll put the car on stands and pull the wheels in the garage to zaino them inside and out while I'm at it. I'm sure I'll be harassed for being so obsessive, but who cares right

 

Wait, let me seek cover . . . .

What's snow?



(donning flame-retardant suit)

 

If it was me, I'd forego the Zaino treatment until the Spring when you can do a decent job of preparing the paintwork before applying it....Dawn wash, claybar etc. It's not a 5 minute job. Unless you're totally au fait with Zaino, applying it for the first time can take longer than you think. It's also a sealant, so unless you're paintwork is meticulously clean you run the risk of sealing in the crap (of course you can always strip it all back off at a later date and start over). Metallic paint can be a real pain to look after and if you're not careful you could end up doing more harm than good.

I would find a touch-free car wash and run it through that every other week and hose off the underneath to get rid of the salt. Slapping a few coats of wax on the wheels ASAP is definitely a good idea though.

 

Once winter sets in, I go to a wand wash and just spray off the road crap.

I do try to go to one that charges by time once a month, so I can QD.

I never wipe the surface, even to dry. There are hot air blowers at the places I go to to dry out locks and things. I figure just getting as much of the grit off as I can with the spray, is better than grinding anything left into the paint.

NEVER use the soapy brushes at these places.

 

Hey, a fellow bucks countite... I to just picked up my Mini right before Thanksgiving. Good luck with the storm tomorrow. I am actually quite interested in seeing how the Mini's handle the snow in the AM...


Mike

 

good stuff! I'm sure we'll find out! I drove a bunch on sunday in the snow and it was great in the snow. not sure if you got DSC and LSD also, but it is marvelous. I can't wait until tomorrow!

and I'm going to take lot's advise figuring he has enough experience. I'll keep with the wands to clean it off... and this weekend I'll just pull the wheels and wax them. I'm sure otto's waxed it before delivery so maybe I will just try to make the winter and then dawn, clay bar and zaino this badboy when I can spend the time to do the job right.

thanks everyone!

 

I am watching is snow out side
and i wish i had my blizzarks off my 5 series, but too big.
The sport tires might work, standard.
-alpinamike

 

god, it just snowed again up here in Chardon, i'm really getting sick of snow. the only plowed roads are main roads and freways. i use about 1 freeway and about 30 side roads to get home


I just bought some Fulda tires from NTB - it was like 650 something installed



I love them, they suck on ice, awesome in water, awesome in powder and packed snow. great dry traction too. its a really nice all around tire!

 

well I have to say that the little guy did wonderful in the snow... I saw quite a few SUV's sliding around and a corolla in the snowbank from earlier. The little guy just chugged along, barely flashing the traction control light. the 16" all seasons were also very nice although I'm sure a dedicated snow tire would have been phenominal. the only annoying thing was the tendancy to pull itself into others' tracks... which were often wider than the MINI and caused it to jump back and forth between them. Once I got used to it I didn't mind at all though. I fully enjoyed my cold weather package also! I love this car!

also I have now found the name for my car.... just simple old 'Blue'. I couldn't help but shout "you're my boy, blue" every time I made it around a snow packed corner with no fuss. damn I wish I wasn't already at work... I could use another few minutes of motoring! :D

 

GRRR....

Okay, there -- got that out of my system!

 

Yea, got off school yesterday, just a fine flurry. I go to drive home (which is a whopping 2 miles away) and by the time I pulled into my driveway it was white out conditions. I'm like YES!, but held my breath until this morning, because my school system is notorious for being the only ones to hold classes when all the rest of the schools in a 50mile radius are closed. But as luck would have it I have off school today. We got about 9in total on the ground, all in a matter of about 4-5hrs. So I have a long weekend!

Mike

 

I can honestly say that I love snow and my car... but it's a long story.

My MCS arrives next week, so I'm selling my 1997 Nissan Altima. We had 2 days of snow and ice with sanded/salted roads and the accompanying grime that comes along with it. A potential buyer came out to look at the car about 1 hour after the local car wash opened up. I ran out, cleaned up the car and parked it right between 2 nasty SUVs... both dark colors and covered in salt. My Altima looked like a diamond surrounded by lumps of coal... The car sold to the first buyer.

 

I know what thread to read this summer when it's "just a dry heat" time. Why does everyone else get the snow? I just heard from a Chicago native that they had to put lawn chairs in their parking space, after they shoveled it, to save it for arrival after work. I used to ski, so know a little about snow. I wish I could share our climate with the above folks...