Not that I havnt detailed before, or know how, just havnt done it on a car this bad...

It had 2-3 coats of Z-2 on it back in october for pre-history reference.

I know it dosnt *look* that bad, the flash kinda toned it down a bit. I have this road sludge, dirty water, nasty crusty crap all over my PW baby.

Would you start with a wand wash to get some of this junk off, pre-rinse, wash then rinse... take it home and take the mitt to it. Or start off with the mitt? The second option scares me more that just a little, as this stuff is ON there, ya know!

 

I would have to say (in the words of OctaneGuy) "use the least invasive method." In this case, it would probably be using a pressure wash (heated if at all possible) then some suds with a rinse, then some suds with the mitt. This should get most of the grime off of there without using the mitt to rub it all on the paint.

just my 2 pennies, and i may be totally wrong.

 

Whats the point? Its not going to snow again?

Wait until June thaw

 

I used quick and easy wash to get the road grime off the jeep, however I am not sure I would do that in your case, it seems a bit thick. That, and you would notice if it scratched..the jeep on the other hand.

I would wash as normal if possible. If not i usually got to a coin op this time of year and use the pressure washer. Not my fav option, but better than letting it sit and eat away at the wax/paint.

 

I just noticed you are in Denver. Contact Heather at Detailers Paradise.
http://detailersparadise.com/_system...qryDefault.asp

I hear they have a heated garage, that you can rent out inexpensively. At least thats what Heather told me. I didn't ask about pricing because it is very inconvenient.

 

i agree.. well, not till June, but for me, to maybe March.

 

Drive it through a Lazer Wash. No touch. Just water.

......Les

 

I've just gone down to the manual high pressure wash and gotten at least the crust off. Sounds like you better do it tomorrow or it will be next week before it's above 20 deg F again.
I'm trying to imagine my MINI as a beautiful butterfly waiting to come out of its winter, crap covered cocoon. Soon I'll be able to free it when the spring comes. I know thats pretty stupid, but at least I'm dealing with it - kinda, well not really I guess. I've never seen snow on the ground for four weeks in a row here in Denver - if I wanted to live in Michigan I would have moved there.
I'll tell you what; if that damn groundhog piece of sh*t even so much as glances at his shadow he's dead meat. I digress; coin-op pressure washer and call it good.

 

i agree, just to get SOME of that dirt off, i would coin-op pressure wash it (wand only, of course) but beware... I've done that and then put my drying towels on the car only to find that even with high pressure and suds, the dirt is still there.

however, the pressure should clean it up a little bit and then you can decide if you want to hand wash.

then go to the heated washer bay at DP... that sounds like a great idea.

 

I would pressure wash it, using lots of suds to lift the grime, then rinse. Some wand-wash places have blow driers, use that rather then hand drying. If no dryer, just wipe dry door sills, hatch opening, glass, and motor off the rest. Better to have to QD some water spots, than scratch the finnish with any left over grime.

I have washed my MINI this way in temps down to -25F with not ill effects.

Mark

 

My car looks like that during most of the winter

First, give it a good rinse. Let it sit or work on another part so the water can soak in, then give it another rinse.
Next wash it using a sponge or mitt with high pile so it can store a lot of dirt. Don't press with ANY pressure and plenty of soapy water. That should get most of it out. When you've rinsed out the mitt, now you can go over it a second time with a little more pressure to get the remaining fine stuff off.

 

I too have a pepper white/black in Denver and it is quite dirty at this time due to a few snow storms back to back. Nick at Detailers Paradise told me of a car wash up the street from them which does a respectable job of washing the car; Alexander's. They use new towels on each car. I did not want to put my car through a car wash, but it is 21 degrees here. It is also supposed to snow for the next few days.

The car gets washed outside at DP; you can use your PC inside the garage and yes, it is heated. There is a price sheet you can request for the rental.

I don't like riding around in a dirty car, but with the kind of weather we have been getting here, the choices are few. Even if you got your car washed, snow is still melting on the side of the road; cars in front spray the road film on your car. Further, side roads are still impacted with ice and snow. Spring will be here soon.

 

I agree with what most others have already posted...

Take it to the wand high-pressure wash place to get the major gunk off before touching it. Among the gunk is mag-chloride, which can eat through your wax and paint if left to do so.

Although it will be frustrating because it's likely to get dirty all over again, I would still at least spray it off now. It'll get rid of that nasty mag-chloride that's stuck on it now. The Z-2 is protecting it a bit but it's hard to say how much at this point. Plus, the mag-chloride will continue to eat through whatever it can while it sits there. So, you're best getting off as much of the mag-chloride as you can, even if only with the high-pressure wand for now.

Yes, you are welcome to come to DP to use our facility but Jakemini is right. In order to keep the detailing bay pristine, we do all the washing just outside the overhead door. Also, we don't have a high-pressure wand available for use. So, unless you want to do some polishing and/or waxing, it wouldn't be of great benefit to just wash here. Of course, you're more than welcome though!

-Heather

 

Heather,

Do you rent thermal wet suits? I think if I washed my car at your facility I would probably turn the parking lot into an ice rink. Then again, you could film Richard Octane Guy detailing a Mini on ice skates. I know he's good, but can he handle a PC on skates? Epic, more powerful than a Colorado blizzard!

 

I wish we did have thermal wet suits! The temps sure are dropping rapidly again. And to think that it was a beautiful sunny 60 degrees out just yesterday morning!

Now Richard on ice skates while polishing a MINI... that would be a sight to see!! If anyone could do it, I'd bet money on Richard!

-Heather

 

do you sell blind folds? jk jk

 

I think it would be like a horrific accident. You really don't want to see it but for some reason you cant turn to look away.

 

Where does the mag-chloride come from? Is that what they use to keep the asphalt from freezing?

 

Yes- unfortunately they use mag-chloride to pre-treat the roads around here to help prevent freezing. They don't use standard road salt around here at all. Only sand and mag-chloride. They *say* they don't use standard road salt to prevent car rust, etc. However, the mag-chloride salt eats away at everything anyway! Plus, they can only apply it when it's still above freezing or it won't work.

So, we've had horrible clean-up efforts out here with all this snow we've been getting. It's too cold for the mag-chloride to be effective (but yet it's mixed in with all the current snow-dirt-gunk on the roads now anyway) and the sand just pits and cracks our windows. I'm from the Northeast and wish they'd just use the standard salt and be done with it! ...at least when it's really bad like this.

-Heather

 

I hate the sand in CO. We were just out there during the second storm, and the sand was just about everywhere. CDot really does need to just switch over to salt and make it easier for everyone.

 

well, i think octaneguy also goes by smell so he can detect the microns of
swirl left in the paint just from sniffing.

 

about 10yrs ago when i moved to LA, i drove through CO in early April
when you guys had some nasty snow storms in the mountains. even
though i changed my route (decided not to go through the rockies), i
still got hit with snow in FlagStaff along the way and they too use sand
as their weapon against snow on roads.

sand with pebbles came flying every which way onto my car.

i would take road salt over rocks any time.

 

Sodium Chloride (Rock salt) will suppress the freezing point of water by about 8 degrees F while Magnesium Chloride will suppress freezing by about 12 degrees F. They have switched to mag chloride in an effort to minimize the environmental damage caused by the rock salt. Both salts have an almost equal affinity to steel and corrosion.
In either case, when it is below 25 deg F (rock salt) or 20 deg F (mag chloride) they will not "melt" the ice.
Thus the need for sand.
I'm not a chemist so I will sit and wait to be corrected.

Edit: So I just went and checked my memory. Turns out I was high or something during that day in chemistry class. Here is the info from Wikipedia:
Sodium chloride (rock salt) is normally used, as it is inexpensive and readily available in large quantities. However, since salt water still freezes at -18°C or 0°F (the basis for Fahrenheit's thermometer scale), it is of no help when the temperature falls below this point. It also has a strong tendency to cause corrosion, rusting the steel used in most vehicles and the rebar used in concrete bridges. More recent snowmelters use other salts, such as calcium chloride and magnesium chloride, which not only lower the freezing point of water much lower, but also produce an exothermic reaction.

also this:
A number of state highway departments throughout the United States have decreased the use of rock salt and sand on roadways and have increased the use of liquid magnesium chloride as a de-icer or anti-icer. The liquid magnesium chloride is sprayed on dry pavement (tarmac) prior to precipitation or wet pavement prior to freezing temperatures in the winter months to prevent snow and ice from adhering and bonding to the roadway. The application of anti-icers is utilized in an effort to improve highway safety. The use of this product seems to show an improvement in driving conditions during and after freezing precipitation yet it seems to be negatively affecting electric utilities.
Two main issues have been raised regarding the anti-icer magnesium chloride as it relates to electric utilities: contamination of insulators causing tracking and arcing across them, and corrosion of steel and aluminium poles and pole hardware.

 

ahh, that magnesium chloride is wat's been used lately in our
neck of the woods, it looks like. that thing is still SUPER SLICK
on tires and imho, worse than driving on conventional rock salt
unless the truck dumps piles of salt as if driving on unpaved roads.

i guess the benefit of the spray is that it is better controlled and
no rock salt blasts for on-coming traffic when salt trucks sprinkle
past them.

 

Whoa! I am impressed, MiniMaybee! Very interesting to know the details.

The one thing that I still don't understand is how in upstate New York they throw "something" on the roads and within hours the snow magically disappears from all the roads, even if there is tons of snow. ??? Yet in Denver I still have several inches of packed snow on my street from several weeks ago... not to mention the packed snow is literally a mogul field which has to be carefully navigated at no more than 2 mph!

I think they are using a secret weapon in upstate New York... maybe the mafia sources it for the state. We just don't have enough mafia out here to help us out...

-Heather