What do you guys do in the winter to keep your car looking good? It's been below freezing most every day here in Atlanta for a while. Obviously washing your car in this kind of weather is out of the question. I also just bought a new porter cable and would love to give my car a good polishing. Also hard to do that without first washing it.

As much as I'd love a heated garage to wash my car in, that's not happening.

Any ideas?

 

You might try one of the waterless cleaning systems, like Mequiars offers.
Just be aware these methods don't work on very dirty/muddy cars.

 

Griots makes a waterless car wash but I have never used it.. I use a brushless car wash and have never had any issues with using it. If any small issues do appear I can remove them during detailing. I have access to my uncle's garage which is heated so by the time I get the vehicles there they are dry.

 

I switch to Optimum No Rinse in the winter. I am fortunate to have a garage. It's unheated, but generally the temp stays warm enough to allow me to ONR my car. If my car is particularly dirty, I might first visit the local coin-op and then return home and complete the job with ONR. But all polishing and waxing is out until spring. If the temperatures should get into the 50s on some day in January or February, I might also grab my bottle of Ultimate Quik Wax and ramp up the gloss; but I'm waiting until April before I do any serious exterior detailing on my cars.

 

Of course, never wash a car in below freezing air. But if the temp is cold but above freezing, and if you have a good wax job, you can give it a spray with a power washer with the pressure dialed down, brush it off with a boars' hair brush, and blow it dry with an electric leaf blower. Not perfect, but an improvement. Surely, in Atlanta, there will be many days this winter that are cold, but above freezing.

Also, Kerosene heaters from Home Depot are good for warming an unheated garage.

 

I've been washing mine outside in 30 degree weather in Illinois. Works fine for me. The worst part is drying it imo. I just bundle up and try to keep the hand I'm not using in a pocket.

 

you guys seriously need to look into investing in a gallon of Optimum No Rinse

You can wash and dry your car within 30 minutes and it'll be spotless (unless you have salt) but normal dirt will come off in one pass. I even just give my rims a quick swipe and all the brake dust comes right off

then you just dry that section with a microfiber towel and you're DONE

detailersdomain has a coupon every now and then, I'm sure you could pick up some ONR for cheaper than normal. 1 gallon should last you 128 washes

ONR also doubles as a quick detailer and spray lube (higher concentration needed)

 

What I have wound up doing is just waiting until the temperature gets up to around 40 degrees or so and just washing it with water. It's really cold, but it gets the job done without fuss otherwise.

 

Again, if the car is well waxed, it can be dried fairly well with an electric leaf blower. Not a perfect detail job, but adequate in cold weather, IMO.

 

HEHE.

I just washed my SUV yesterday in less than 30* degree weather. Didn't have much of a problem except to dy it. Then again, my cold water hook-up is in my house so that's why nothing really froze until I was done.

I do agree that ONR is the bomb for situations like this though.