Ok it's 27 degrees outside and there's about an inch of snow on the ground accumulating by the minute. I was apparently the only person out washing off my car and two people found it necessary to detour just to call me stupid and blind for not noticing the falling snow.
It is my understanding that a car's finish is adversely affected most during the winter months due to the salt, dirt, and other deicing chemicals used on the roads. So my question, though highly subjective, is whether or not I'm being overly anal about the appearance of my car or are these other people just ignorant? I only fully wash and wax my car about 3 times during the winter and all of which are in the privacy, comfort, and warmth of my own garage. But I 'rinse' and spot wash my car at the car wash (never using the brush of course) about once a week regardless of the weather. Granted I'll forgo the washing if the temp is cold enough that I will have difficulty opening my door once I get home.
Am I the only one out there that will brave the weather in order to take good care of my car? The way I see it... If I'm going to spend thousands of dollars on a depreciating product, I want it to look good and last as long as possible, hence the reason I bought a Toyota! LOL
The most damage done to your car from salt and moisture is at the point just slighty above freezing 34 F, to 38 F. At temperatures below freezing the moisture had frozen and the salt does its most damage when it is wet. Canadians know that the best thing to do in the winters is to not wash your car at all in the winter. Most of the time it will get slashed within minutes of getting on to the street. If you wash your car, you will have to be careful not to rub road grit into the paint and scratch it up.
The best way to take care of your car is to give it a good waxing in the fall and do not wash it all winter. In the spring I hose all the grit off the car and then give it a good washing. I will then wipe the clean car with a degreaser ( 50/50 water / degreaser ) to get any dirt and road tar and oils off the car, then I will hose it off carefully then wash the car again. I will give the car a summer waxing.
If you wash in the winter below freezing, there is always a risk of your doors freezing shut. It happened to a bro in law of mine.
I wash mine when it gets above freezing during the winter and the roads are dry, just to keep all the grime, salt off down to a minimum. When it gets below 0C I don't do anything except for vacuum the interior, dust the dash etc.
__________________ '09 Corolla CE Enhanced Auto
TRD Springs/Sway/Xrs FSB by Yamaha
Lifetime : 6.121L/100km(38.714mpgUS)
Maximum: 5.082L/100km(46.287mpgUS)
(manually calculated) (original unflashed factory ECM code)
Right now its pointless. Oh how I'd love to wash it ...but its completely covered top to bottom in grit, grime, snow, and salt. Aside from tonight its been well below -5c so that stuff isn't going anywhere and until we have a bit of a thaw (not one in the forecast) and we get above +5c I'm not going to be washing it...that'd be impossible really as everything would freeze. Even then I'm not going to do a complete job as its going to get dirty again soon afterwards.
I only live a few blocks from the wash so it has to be extremely cold for the water to freeze up before I get home. When I do get home, though, my car is always parked in a heated garage. I wasn't aware of the salt damage temps though, thanks for the info. But is it still pointless for me to even rinse my car off in my particular conditions? The average winter temps in my area are between 27 and 35 degrees farenheit. And I don't scrub the car, I just rinse it lightly.
If this is a bad idea then I will definitely stop doing it
If you are parking it in a heated garage every night where it is above 0C, the salt etc is in its operating temperature. I'd be more inclined to rinse it off.
Is this your own private garage or the building garage in which you share with others? If its your own garage I would turn the heat down so that it keeps it a little below freezing, so you wouldn't have to rinse.
__________________ '09 Corolla CE Enhanced Auto
TRD Springs/Sway/Xrs FSB by Yamaha
Lifetime : 6.121L/100km(38.714mpgUS)
Maximum: 5.082L/100km(46.287mpgUS)
(manually calculated) (original unflashed factory ECM code)
It's my own garage but I don't have any control over the heat. It's just very well insulated and picks up heat from inside the house somehow. Although our heating bill is never excessively high... haven't figured that one out yet. haha
Kudos to everyone who takes such great care of their car... However, I don't see any harm in rinsing the salt and crap off my car every week or two. Its what I do, and i Just either do the coin-op or the touchless at Petro... Either way, we'll see how bad my car looks in the spring after washing it throughout the winter. I'm sure it will look just as good as the car that wasn't washed all winter... but maybe 10 yrs down the road after i've done a trade in it won't look as nice...
But I do admire the passion and restraint some of you have to keep your Corolla's paint as perfect as possible. Keep it up, these cars look Beautiful when they are cleaned up nice.
In your situation you are doing exactly what I would do. I don't like leaving my car with all that salt buildup as it's very abrasive. Moving snow around and people walking next to your car will invariably cause some surface scratching.
Keep doing what you are doing. I wash my car even on a rainy day or even if it's snowing..provided the temps are 28 and above. I never have a problem with doors freezing as I wipe all jams and rubber down, and I also treat the rubber door seals with vinylex so they stay a little slippery.
Before vinylex (back in the late 80's early 90's) I used a tiny bit of vaseline on the seals. Never had a problem..
Say if i go to those manual car washes, then hose off my car in 20 degree weather. And bring a bucket of luke warm water full of soap, use a glove wash to get it nice and clean. After that, spray it with the high pressure hose to get the soap off. Will i harm the car, also should i wax it in the cold weather too?
I only live a few blocks from the wash so it has to be extremely cold for the water to freeze up before I get home. When I do get home, though, my car is always parked in a heated garage. I wasn't aware of the salt damage temps though, thanks for the info. But is it still pointless for me to even rinse my car off in my particular conditions? The average winter temps in my area are between 27 and 35 degrees farenheit. And I don't scrub the car, I just rinse it lightly.
If this is a bad idea then I will definitely stop doing it
When the temp goes above 40F. it is a good idea to hose it off thouroghly if you can be sure of a sunny afternoon that will allow the car to drip dry. When water turns to ice it store the formation of rust, but it is the salt that keeps the water from freezing. The most likely cause of rust is moisture, then salt that cause moisture under 32 F.
Say if i go to those manual car washes, then hose off my car in 20 degree weather. And bring a bucket of luke warm water full of soap, use a glove wash to get it nice and clean. After that, spray it with the high pressure hose to get the soap off. Will i harm the car, also should i wax it in the cold weather too?
This is the way I have always washed my cars in the winter. I just wait until the roads are dry and it is 20 degrees F or above. I hose it off on the soap setting, which uses warm water, then use a bucket of warm water with car wash soap in it to hand wash, then rinse off with the rinse setting, then towel dry. I use rubber neoprene gloves to keep my hands dry and fairly warm, and an old heavy winter coat. This is MUCH better and cheaper than any automatic wash, even the touchless ones.
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I only fully wash and wax my car about 3 times during the winter and all of which are in the privacy, comfort, and warmth of my own garage. But I 'rinse' and spot wash my car at the car wash (never using the brush of course) about once a week regardless of the weather. Granted I'll forgo the washing if the temp is cold enough that I will have difficulty opening my door once I get home. 
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