You probably already appreciate the importance of keeping your vehicle clean throughout winter. But do you also know that the frigid weather calls for specialized car cleaning? For instance, are you aware the kind of detergents you should apply or when to wash your car during winter? This do and don’ts guide brings to your attention five winter car wash rules you should familiarize with before attempting winter cleaning.
- Don’t use kitchen soap, use shampoo
One of the reasons you are supposed to clean your car is to keep the paint protected from abrasives and salt corrosions that make it fade. Nonetheless, you won’t achieve this with the kitchen soap. These soaps are specially manufactured to do a thorough cleaning job that includes washing off the wax you put so much time and effort applying on your car.
Worse still, without the wax, or excessive soap, will corrode the paint protective and shiny coat applied by the manufacturer. For this reason, stick to shampoo or other soft soaps when washing your car exterior.
- Use warm not hot water when cleaning your car
You will be standing out in the frigid environment washing a car. It might, therefore, be quite tempting to exaggerate the warm water rule to your advantage by using hot water to clean the car as you enjoy some warmth.
Nonetheless, as fun as the thought sounds, don’t encourage it as it does more harm to the car paint and coating that failure to clean. Just like kitchen soap, hot water washes off the protective wax and the overcoat for the paint thus leaving your paint unprotected and exposed to increased corrosion and abrasiveness.
- Don’t wash your car in extreme cold
It may sound obvious that no one cleans their car outside with temperatures way below the freezing point. But that is probably the only free time some of you have. However, regardless of your tight schedule, it is not advisable to clean your car during the freezing days as it won’t dry, which is an essential component of washing.
- Don’t scrape off sticky debris using hard objects
If you leave your car unwashed for quite some time, you might notice some hard surfaces signaling debris accumulation on the vehicle exterior. Don’t attempt to scrape them off with a hard object, especially if you can’t accurately estimate how deep they run in the car paint. Instead, smoothly lather the region with shampoo. If the debris won’t fall off, it means it is deep-rooted. Take it to professional car maintenance experts to have it tended.
- Remember the under wash
Unlike most of the motor vehicle exterior, the car under isn’t covered by a protective paint coating. As such, it is most susceptible to rust due to salt splashes from unavoidable water pools. Ensure that your cleaning professionals spray water to the cars under and adequately wash off this salt accumulation that might initiate rusting.
Bottom line
Car wash cleaning is relatively inexpensive. Washing helps safeguard the car’s originality and appeal, but only when done right. For this reason, avoid cleaning using hot water and using kitchen soaps as detergents and only clean your car in a warm environment for it to dry.
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