Waylon Chen

Not asking winter in Miami... Instead Winters in Toronto or Michigan, or northern. Unimaginable loads of road salt, it changed paved road colour to white, and for more or less 4 months of application, how often do you wash it? I done my first car wash today since August, and even some people say wash less is better... And My under tray hit a ice bump as I came out of car wash, big sound. Will it be ok?

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I don't know for sure being originally from the South, but we get a few doses of road treatments here in the Kansas City area. We've been here since '98.
I was always under the impression that it's best to wash the crud off ASAP to prevent corrosion.
If there is a reason for not doing so, I'd sure like to hear it.
I know there are super long lines at all the car washes around here after a snowstorm.

Oats

When I moved to Ohio I would wash my Mazda Protege a day or two after it snowed, every time it snowed. Also parked in a garage. Car starting rusting after a few years and is now very rusty. It is very common for Proteges to rust though. I don't know if it's because they are just more prone to rust or because they are more likely to be driven in winter than an RX-8. Probably a combination of the two.

I've heard people say parking in a garage makes it more corrosive vs being outside in the colder temps. Doesn't really seem like it would make a difference to me though.

timmytriangles

OMG its NY its been snowing everyday. When am i going to get to wash it? its like driving on the salt flats here. as a result we have pot holes every 10 feet too.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

It depends on a few things: parking situation and temperature. If you park in a heated garage, wash it at least weekly, but make sure the underside if well washed. Not every automatic carwash will do that. The reason being is corrosion spreads faster in a warm environment, but also that as you drive in and out of your garage, you go from hot to cold to hot to cold, so any crack that has water in it will repeatedly freeze and expand, then thaw and fill with more water, then freeze and expand more. Warm garages tend to be humid in the winter as well, because cars are tracking in snow. Basically, any time you're parked inside and there's salt on the car, your car is taking damage, so avoid that.

If you park outside, you're better not washing it until a dry, warm (0 or above) day, so it has a chance to dry thoroughly. Salt isn't going to do much without water, so there is no rush, but what you don't want is to have salt on the car when it's warm and water is liquid. Conversely, you don't want to wash the car and have water freeze on it instead of drying.

Really good idea to have the car rust-proofed as well. Some places (Krown for example) will sell you spray bottles of the rust-proofing oil which you can reapply to weak areas like the wheel arches. The 2 winters I drove my 8, I'd give it a quick spray every couple of weeks. On the rear wheel arches, I'd even rub down the lips with bearing grease (When they're dry!). So far they're solid!

Waylon Chen

Good thing I park out side, I guess I will just wash it when spring comes, let those salt sit try on my car, will It rust as well? Some body part? Or just undercarriage?

Loki

iTrader: (1)

The weakest part are the rear wheel arches. I'm going to amend what I said above with don't let it sit salty outside if it's more than about -8. Salt absorbs moisture so even though you won't have liquid water, you're still taking damage. At that point you kind of have to pick the better of two evils. Toronto is a bit milder than Montreal, so you might still want to pick days that are driest/warmest and wash it before spring.

kevinande

I lived in Upstate New York for years and let me share my advice.

1st and fore most if you can afford or have access to a POS car for the winter AKA "winter rat" that is the ideal course of action. Only pull your good car out when it's nice, no ice or snow or wait for spring period.

My 1st year I bought a T-bird up there. Had it rust proofed and drove it all the first winter. I was at the car wash nearly daily washing the underside of the car mostly. Yes freezing my nads off in the process. I drove it periodically through the winter months, but I did invest a few hundred dollars in a winter rat for just commuting back and fourth to work. The car survived relatively unscathed. There was rusting, but the vast majority of it was surface rust on bolts and what not. I had no body rust to speak of. It was probably had more to do with me not over exposing the car to road salt rather than all the spraying that I did, or perhaps a combination of the two? My advice is always buy a cheap second car to drive in the winter if you live in an area that is subject to road salt. There is no way I would subject any of my cars to that if I still lived there. I had that T-bird for about 12 years before I sold it, and it still looked very nice.

Gerald Nunn

Generally I wash my 8 once a week but have to admit I haven't done it for about three weeks now due to the very cold weather in Toronto, the constant snow and the fact I've been battling a cold. I park my 8 outside but in Toronto we do usually have milder temps (-10 to -5 Celcius) so washing regularly is important IMHO as salt will keep water from icing at those temps so the rust action still happens.

I also have my 8 rust proofed and waxed before each winter, this is my third winter and it's in great shape so far. However we have had a lot more snow this year then previous winters so it will be interesting how it comes out of it.

monchie

It depends...only when it rains, then i will.

park68k

San Francisco, once a month

oliver305

All year round, regular car washing is vital, but the winter months are particularly important. In contrast to other seasons, winter brings about a number of external (and uncontrollable) variables that might have a significant impact on your car.
If you must, warm up your car by taking a brief drive before having it cleaned. During the entire wash, be sure to keep the heater on.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

It's not that simple. A lot depends on where the car is parked. You don't want to wash and let the water freeze, nor so you want to bring a salty car into a warm and humid garage.