www.protectall.com

 

The best winter wash combo.

(1)Go to one of those self car wash places and use the pressured hose to wash out the bulk of dirt, salt and whatever on the car and undercarriage.

(2)Drive back to the garage and use QEW when the car is still wet. Two buckets(use warm water of course).One is for QEW and water mixture. The other is for rinsing the dirty sponge. You should be able to dry the whole car with a large microfiber towel.

I did it yesterday and it came out great!

 

After many years making do, I have committed the cardinal sin and tried using an auto wash sparingly.

I used to use touchless washes with my Prelude with excellent results versus friends who hand-detailed their cars weekly. The reason is that the touchless wash would get 80-90% of the residue off the car without so much as touching the surface with any pad; my experience & experience of friends hand-detailing cars was that no matter how careful you are in the wash/dry/clay/wax phases, you are going to drag some grime across the clearcoat and get swirl marks. The 'ol Prelude in contrast never accumulated swirl marks because the surface was so rarely physically buffed. When it *was* buffed, it looked like a brand new car.

With the S, I've avoided touchless washes like the plague for the obvious reason: the convertible top seal. Recently though I've seen some modern touchless washes in the area which I've tried, with other cars, and noticed that the spray pressure really isn't as hard as older ones. One morning, 20F outside and the car absolutely decked out in slush, salt and snow, I decided to run it through. Result: wash felt good (from the inside), no leakage whatsoever, and upon opening the doors, dropping the top, checking the drain channels... no problems. And, of course, all that crud was off my baby and it only took about five minutes.

This may be disastrous. I don't know. It's certainly not something I'm going to do every weekend. But, with the S, I think I will add two or three touchless washes per season to the winter regimen--until I see a sign that there really is a leak or wearing/separating seal. Without a garage, this really is the only way to get the car looking decently clean during winter months. I know this is going to be read as blasphemous by some people here, but hey, I think there's something to be said for practicality. I drive the S 30k+ miles a year, through the worst kind of weather we'll get here, so whatever it takes to get the salt off is good by me. I'll save the clay and NXT for the first weekend we get sunny and 60F.

 

35 degrees today in NJ... some sun poking through some high clouds... after 3/4 days of rain & damp roads I just won't bring my S into a hand wash or automatic wash & I figure the self service stalls are about the same as running a hose and bucket -

anyway -

on with the rubbwer gloves - pull out the hose - and washed her nicely nicely ... I figure if I can shovel snow in 20 degree weather I can wash a car in 35 degree weather.

honestly in the end it was no problem at all - hands stayed dry, got only slightly cold...and the S is sitting pretty (under my new OEM cover) in my garage.

washing my S is such a relief...

I gotta say this - life is great when one of your biggest dilemna is whether or not to take your car to a car wash or to wash it yourself in the cold...

 

I use my winter surfing gloves...like 5mm or something like that, I washed my car one day where mid-way through the water froze on the car before I could dry it off and my hands were still toasty warm.

After all thats what they are made for...keeping wet hands warm.

 

I have a hose hooked up to the drain valve of my water heater. Works like a champ. Just make sure you turn the temp down a little.

 

touchless washing may be the way i go too...after driving through tornados with the wind and rain from them, i'm pretty confident that the seals can hold up just fine.