New Member From S.E. Michigan

[Paul A.]

Welcome Jim!

[B5visser]

Welcome from the Kalamazoo area!

[derek0609]

Thanks, Hammer77! In Waterford Township.

Welcome! I am over in Novi

[DaveT435]

Welcome from the Kalamazoo area!

Where abouts in the Kalamazoo area? I was actually Portage at the south end of Westnedge. I know I've talked to you before I remember the last name, thought you might be related to a woman I know up there.

[JeepinJim]

Thanks for the warm welcome, everybody!

Hope all my fellow countrymen & women had an enjoyable Thanksgiving Day.

Use the touchless car washes but I think that you mean that. Or check out how you do the rinseless wash.

If I can find a touchless nearby that's what I'll do. Though I understand that, unless you have ceramic, it doesn't get the body really clean.

I have read up on rinseless car washing. Looks like a fascinating process, but I doubt it would achieve the desired result in the wintertime.

You see: Here in Michigan they salt the roads in the wintertime. And not sparingly. They throw it down by the truck-load. Literally. Oft times indiscriminately. It is not at all unusual to see mounds of the stuff in the middle of intersections. You can see clouds of salt dust fly when the roads dry. It is death to bodywork. Heck, my wife's 2003 Chevy TrailBlazer, which is a body-on-frame design, had the frame rust through just behind the left front wheel.

So, once the plowing and salting have the roads clear and (mostly) dry: You have to get the salt residue off. Car wash is the only way. Preferably a car wash that'll do underbody washing.

Jim

[SWETM]

I know what you mean with the road salt. Live in Sweden where the winters where I live is around bellow freezing point. So they bombs the roads alot with road salt.
I think if you can find a place where you can rinse it of with a pressure wash like on a coin op wash. Then drive home and do a rinseless wash there. You get the most of the roadgrime of. Have some prewash product before as you rinse or drive thrue the touchless car wash. That helps to get the most of the roadgrime to desolve. A citrus deagreaser works good for that. This is something I will do this winter when I don't be able to wash at home. And it will be the first time to do rinseless or waterless wash for me.
As you wrote take a look around where you live to find the least aggressive way to wash. And tweak it if necessary to your benefit.