i wash my car all the time in the winter after everytime it snows. i work outside for a living doing autobody. i am a vendor for various dealerships so im used to the 30 degree weather hell its only 3 months outta the year here in VA. i just fill up a bucket of warm water and some soap and wash the car. I rinse the car off with a new warm bucket of water. to keep the water from freezing before it dries i just use a coleman propane heater i use for work to heat panels before painting and clearing and just haul it around the car while drying it. it not only dries the car it keeps you warm the only way you can survive working outside in the winter. only takes me 25 min to do the whole car i work fast and i don't have a garage.

 

You should check out my thread about winter detailing. If you have a garage (non-heated even), it's fairly quick and easy to use QEW on your car. It's basically a reduced water method of washing. You only need a couple of gallons of water in two buckets to do it.

 

 

[QUOTE=MikeyC,Dec 19 2005, 12:27 AM] You should check out my thread about winter detailing.

 

For cleaning the underside. I wait for a nice day, turn on the water to one of the spigots (I also have a hot water spigot in the garage) and hook up the sprinkler. I then pull the sprinkler underneath the car a few times to get off as much as I can. My S doesn't really see the salt so not much of an issue for me and I run the truck and suv through the car wash.

 

Ohhh! I like the sprinkler idea!

 

If you go to a wand-wash type of place they usually have a low pressure wash method. I use this to loosen all of the crap on the paint, and then gently rinse it all off from a distance.

You wont damage the paint any more than you would with your hose at home and a wash mitt, if you're careful.

When it's not that dirty I just use microfibre and detail spray to clean it up real quick.

 

That's quite understandable. Frankly, I feel like people 100% over react about road salt on the underside of their car. However, I also occasionally remove it with a good spray of water either at home or in a self serve bay. However, to save myself some discomfort and possible frost bite I just hose off the underside and then pull into the garage to QEW the rest of the car.

 

If you live in the Frozen Tundra like I do, Park the car. If that is not an option, most do it yourself carwashes have a heated floor. Close the doors if there are doors and just hang out. You will have to do this when the carwash is not busy. It will warm up to 40 degrees or so and you can detail you car. Scuba gloves work well for limiting the frostbite on your hands. I hate winter, maybe one of these day's I will do something about it. It hasn't been above 25 degrees for weeks. I hate winter.