Well, it's in prime winter time, and my max has been gettin' down and dirty with all the crap they've laid out on the roads here...luckily, its only snowed like, twice, but enough to crust my max over a few times...

I handwashed the beast two or three weekends ago when it was relatively warm, with my normal routine. I went over the whole car w/the soap before rinsing, and noticed a streaky, dirty film over practically the whole car when I got done. So I rinsed again and went over the whole car with soap again...rinsed, began to dry...and the film was still there. I took it up to the touchless wash where my friend works and it took care of the rest...

This weekend, it's supposed to be like, in the mid 60s...that's crazy! Perfect car wash weather...but what can I do to avoid the film? The grime is pretty well crusted on the car....the touchless wash could probably get it clean in one shot, but I usually only have a 1hr window a week to get a free wash (heh, I worked there for a while and can't see paying for a wash there).

Any tips? Should I soap and rinse the car in sections? I'm thinking the grime is so thick that the pre-soap spray isn't enough, and then the soap gets a little dirty, and when I do the whole car at once, the soap streaks the dirt back on there before I can rinse it off. Anyways...shoot me your ideas for handwashing in the winter.

 

i would try washing her in sections, this way the soap dosen't have any time to dry, which may be why you're getting that film. just a thought.

 

Agreed. I always wash it a section at a time. Hood, quarter panel, door, door, and so on. In colder weather the soap seems to settle and cause that film that you're talking about.

 

Thanks for the verification on that. I'll give it a try this weekend...

It may even be warm enough on Saturday to get some mid-winter wax action goin on. Not every winter you get that opportunity...

 

Thats why right before winter I try to load it up with a few coats.

SuDZ

 

First off what kind of "SOAP" are you using? You shouldn't be using plain old SOAP on your car. Use car wash detergent. It will not strip off your cars finish. (The Wax protection not the paint) Only wash one section at a time and rinse well.

 

Come on guys. It was 34 degrees here last Friday night. I still washed AND waxed her. Mainly because I had a dyno day the next day so I wanted to show up in a CLEAN car.

 

try to clean the salt off - thas one thing u could watch out 4

 

njmax - I use dishsoap, that should work, shouldn't it?



hehe, I know better than to treat the max like that. Meguiar's Gold Class product line is the minimum in treatment this car receives...

I gave it a coat of gold class pre-wax clear coat prep and a couple coats of gold class wax right before winter, and it was still pretty freshly waxed before that point...it was still pretty smooth when I washed it a few weekends ago after I got the streakiness off.