Best winter washing method

[BlackCarBlues]

Hi guys, first post here and also will soon be my first full winter with a car whose paint I actually care about.

I live in Michigan so winters can be cold, snowy, and salty. I also don’t have access to a heated garage or warm space to wash the car. The garden hose also gets put away for the winter. I usually use the two bucket method when it’s warm enough outside, but won’t be able to do that come winter.

Here’s my thought…
Prep stage:
1. Fill a pump sprayer with hot tap water and some ONR.
2. Fill two buckets, one with my usual Meg’s Gold Class and hot water and the other with just hot water.

Wash stage
3. Pre-soak a panel or two at a time with the pump sprayer
4. Wash the panel with 2 bucket method
5. Dry the freshly washed panels

I wont be able to pre-rinse, only pre-soak since no garden hose. My thought is that ONR in the pump sprayer won’t get too foamy and will add some lubricity. Hot water used throughout the process so it doesn’t freeze onto the car before I get a chance to dry it.

Any input from you veterans? Thanks!

[glen e]

ONR is the product to use but you don’t need to go to that length or complexity. Mix up Onr in one bucket, get four or five towels in that bucket, pull out a completely sopping wet soaked towel and do two panels then discarded in another bucket. Get a fresh towel out of the bucket and do two more panels, then discard …after you move around the car in this fashion, use a waffle weave towel to dry a car. This is known as a true rinseless wash. The beauty of this technique is since you’re only pulling towels that are completely clean out of the solution, the solution stays virgin it doesn’t transfer dirt back to your car. After you’re done, take all the towels and wash them. And since the towels are completely sopping wet, dirt doesn’t scratch your car.

If the car is completely filthy with road grime salt snow etc. run it through a touchless wash first then come home and do a rinseless.

Search on YouTube for the Gary Dean rinseless wash method, he’s made several videos on this.

[Coatingsarecrack]

Hi guys, first post here and also will soon be my first full winter with a car whose paint I actually care about.

I live in Michigan so winters can be cold, snowy, and salty. I also don’t have access to a heated garage or warm space to wash the car. The garden hose also gets put away for the winter. I usually use the two bucket method when it’s warm enough outside, but won’t be able to do that come winter.

Here’s my thought…
Prep stage:
1. Fill a pump sprayer with hot tap water and some ONR.
2. Fill two buckets, one with my usual Meg’s Gold Class and hot water and the other with just hot water.

Wash stage
3. Pre-soak a panel or two at a time with the pump sprayer
4. Wash the panel with 2 bucket method
5. Dry the freshly washed panels

I wont be able to pre-rinse, only pre-soak since no garden hose. My thought is that ONR in the pump sprayer won’t get too foamy and will add some lubricity. Hot water used throughout the process so it doesn’t freeze onto the car before I get a chance to dry it.

Any input from you veterans? Thanks!

How are you gonna get the gold class off with no hose?

Also agree with above but would use your presoak. Spray 2 panels at a time. Let dwell for couple minutes then rinseless.


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[Markymapo]

Another suggestion: All of our outdoor hoses are put away for winter. Leave the crud on the vehicle until it gets above freezing, use a portable pressure washer that has a built in tank (Sunjoe makes one that is battery operated); rinse off vehicle to remove as much junk as possible then proceed to wash and use pressure washer along the way.

[ct18]

I too live in Michigan, Go Blue. I do the spray bay to rinse the salt off as much as possible. Then put it in garage to warm up and do a rinse less wash with lots of microfibers. I am considering the Dewalt cordless pressure washer and just doing the rinse at the house where it is warmer

[CleanIT]

I have ONR/GG RW mixed up at the QD ration in a spray bottle I use as a pre-treat. I then do as others suggested and soak a few towels in the ONR bucket and do one panel at a time.

[opie]

Glen e i like the idea of the method you suggested. What towels do you use? Im guessing something with a thicker gsm...like 500gsm +?

Never did hand washes in the Pa winters unless it got warm enough.

Im curious as to other folks methods as well.

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[Ace22]

Spray bay here as well, utilizing a bottle of water/soap mixture instead of the bay's own for presoak. Rinse, head home (hopefully not too salty), and rinseless wash / waterless wash depending on road conditions.

[John U]

For dusting. I use ONR with one fluffy 16” x 16” folded twice. After each panel the towel is redipped in ONR and refolded exposing a fresh surface. A towel gives 8 surfaces when refolded.

[BlackCarBlues]

Thank you all for the suggestions! I think I will do something along the lines of:

1. Pre-soak with pump sprayer using hot water and ONR (pressure washer is on the list of wants, but not needs at the moment)
2. Rinseless hot water ONR wash with several MF towels (any recommendations for rinseless wash MF towels?)
3. Dry with drying towel (recently purchased CarPro DHydrate)

@glen e: I thought touches car washes were bad because they all use non-pH neutral or otherwise way too harsh of soap?

@coatingsarecrack: I was tired last night when writing the post and didn't realize I didn't include a way to get the Gold Class suds off haha.

@ct18/Ace22: I like the idea of using the local quarter car wash for pre-soak/first rinse for when it's above freezing, but worried all the water I spray on the car will turn to ice on the way home when below freezing

[MisterSnoop]

I do a self wash bay as soon as I can. The issue with that is sometimes if it's cold enough, they end up closing them so they don't freeze the water. I think the local touchless may stay open and be an option.

I would do a rinseless if it's warm enough or I did get AMMO frothe/boost and a foamer to try as well. Haven't used that yet. I use TRC Eagle Edgeless 350's for RW.

There was some previous discussion on a PVC undercarriage sprayer that seemed like a good idea as well.

[Desertnate]

In the depths of winter, I take our vehicles through a touchless car wash. It doesn't get them perfectly clean, but one of our local places has an underbody spray so it does a pretty good job with knocking off the majority of the salt and grime.

On the rare instance when temperatures and time line up, I'll do a bucket wash, but for the most part I simply deal with clean-ish vehicles until the weather warms up.

[BlackCarBlues]

How are you gonna get the gold class off with no hose?

Also agree with above but would use your presoak. Spray 2 panels at a time. Let dwell for couple minutes then rinseless.


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Yeahhhh... I was pretty tired when I wrote this last night and didn't think about how I would get the Gold Class off lol

[Coatingsarecrack]

I do a self wash bay as soon as I can. The issue with that is sometimes if it's cold enough, they end up closing them so they don't freeze the water. I think the local touchless may stay open and be an option.

I would do a rinseless if it's warm enough or I did get AMMO frothe/boost and a foamer to try as well. Haven't used that yet. I use TRC Eagle Edgeless 350's for RW.

There was some previous discussion on a PVC undercarriage sprayer that seemed like a good idea as well.

Love ammo frothe! How i use is soak car down with A normal waterless/rinseless (ONR).

Let panel soak for a minute then spray Frothe and soak for 30 seconds. This is all per panel.

I wipe one direction with folded up MF and flip every pass.

I would even think to use boost in the ONR pretreat to dwell longer.


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[BlackCarBlues]

Thanks for all the input folks! Really appreciate it. Sounds like I will be doing a pre-soak with ONR in a sprayer, then a rinseless wash. I will need to invest in a few things (pump sprayer, quality MF towels, and some ONR).

I do have a question for those that recommend touchless car washes -- I always avoided these because I heard they all use harsh soaps (since no agitation possible) and will strip waxes/sealants. Is this not necessarily true then?