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Cold weather car wash. **pics**

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Old Jan 20, 2005 | 06:23 PM
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Cold weather car wash. **pics**

I couldn't bare the thought of looking at my car full of salt & dirt. Due to the crummy weather outside, all the hand car wash places were closed. So i closed my garage (not heated), and washed my car @ an indicated 29 degrees. The things i do for this car...
Anyone else as crazy as me??







Old Jan 20, 2005 | 06:27 PM
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Not as crazy as you yet, but I've seriously considered doing the same. I'm sure I will before winter is over.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 06:28 PM
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NIce job.. under that weather... Thank God for Florida........
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 06:28 PM
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Looks good, and yes, I'm that crazy. I washed my car last winter on a morning that was -9 degrees. Found a DIY wash that had heated water, but still froze my azz off.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 06:33 PM
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thank god for the touchless carwash with heated water down the street... does a good job... it is a clean 2o or something like that...
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 06:34 PM
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yeah i usually go to the dyi places but you still freeze you azz off drying it you cant have water spots!! winter SUX!!!!
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 06:47 PM
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Originally Posted by aliti19
I couldn't bare the thought of looking at my car full of salt & dirt. Due to the crummy weather outside, all the hand car wash places were closed. So i closed my garage (not heated), and washed my car @ an indicated 29 degrees. The things i do for this car...
Anyone else as crazy as me??







I am crazier... =)
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 06:52 PM
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mmmm black max...

I washed mine today while it was 78 outside.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 07:04 PM
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I have washed my car when it was stupid cold outside. The white brings to light so much dirt and it is hard to ignore it.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 07:06 PM
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I remember changing the brake on my Dodge Laser back in 1986 in the parking lot of my appartment, the temperatur was in the -25 celcius in the middle of january, pretty crazy, I couldn't afford the 500$ job at the garage.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 07:16 PM
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my black max is practicaly all white because of snow and salt..i really want to wash it but then it will get dirty again in a few hours :/
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:03 PM
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having a job at a car wash is wonderful, get the most expensive wash once a week heh
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:21 PM
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it was pretty cold a little bit ago.. like 65, i had to dry the car in the garage because it was just to windy.. gotta love florida..

next time you wash your car in your garage, turn the engine on, itll warm up the place and youll be able to see cool colors and shapes in your head.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:21 PM
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Originally Posted by nismo0604
having a job at a car wash is wonderful, get the most expensive wash once a week heh

Well just don't stay in that job for life.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:27 PM
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it was pretty cold a little bit ago.. like 65
i would kill for 65 degrees right about now.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:28 PM
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looks good...i used to do the same thing when i lived up north...
its the only thing you can do ya know...
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:34 PM
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Nice job on the wash... kinda crazy in that weather... then again, I spent 4 hours in 20 deg weather installing my y-pipe some time back... the biggest pain was soldering (extending my O2 sensor wires for y-pipe) cuz my fingers kept getting numb...
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:41 PM
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Being from Alaska and loving my 03 Max....well you can say I haved toped the list. Changed oil on the Yukon that was in the garage and while that was dripping in a pan I went outside 2 weeks ago to do the AMSOIL change on the MAX. I too have washed my car in the garage for the temperature was hovering around -40 for two days and had to chip the ice out of the first 5 feet of the door. I could have put my hockey skates on and practiced in the driveway. Adjusted headlights outside while it was 0 degrees. Little tasks up here turn in to BIG tasks but you initially think "why move the car when i have to let it warm up for 5 minutes, by that time this could be done! (RIGHT)"
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:41 PM
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I just might do that or take it to a hand carwash
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:44 PM
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PUPPET.....that is a long time in the cold. What would normally take about an couple of hours turned into 4 while you froze your *** off only cus you wanted to better your ride. THE SH_T we do! THAT is dedication TOO.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:47 PM
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Originally Posted by My_first_maxima
Being from Alaska and loving my 03 Max....well you can say I haved toped the list. Changed oil on the Yukon that was in the garage and while that was dripping in a pan I went outside 2 weeks ago to do the AMSOIL change on the MAX. I too have washed my car in the garage for the temperature was hovering around -40 for two days and had to chip the ice out of the first 5 feet of the door. I could have put my hockey skates on and practiced in the driveway. Adjusted headlights outside while it was 0 degrees. Little tasks up here turn in to BIG tasks but you initially think "why move the car when i have to let it warm up for 5 minutes, by that time this could be done! (RIGHT)"
wow man...thats some crazy weather -40 degrees daaaaamn
time to move? do u like it up there?
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 08:51 PM
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Thank god I don't live up north. I hate cold weater.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 09:00 PM
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Originally Posted by I30swimmer
next time you wash your car in your garage, turn the engine on, it'll warm up the place and youll be able to see cool colors and shapes in your head.

Old Jan 20, 2005 | 09:15 PM
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Every time I wash mine in the cold I can't dry it fast enough befor the water freezes up on me.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 09:19 PM
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Man I thought I was the only crazy a$$ for hand washing my car during winter times...... glad to hear that there are other crazy people some crazier than other; -40?!?! Hands must hurt like hell
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 09:21 PM
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Originally Posted by roll4life
my black max is practicaly all white because of snow and salt..i really want to wash it but then it will get dirty again in a few hours :/
Well, why do you wipe your butt after you go to the bathroom? You'll have to go again in a few hours anyways...
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 09:23 PM
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Yeah, my car is wayyy overdue for a good washing, but I don't want it to just get filthy again in a day. I hate the road salt.

I'm also weary of working on the car in the cold because I just get frustrated quickly because my hands start freezing, so I rush and screw something up. That old problem where every time you make another mod to the car, you break something on it...that seems to happen more when you're outside for multiple hours in freezing temps. In fact, I made a really really stupid mistake when I installed my DDEs back in December. I was removing my pass. side headlight and I was under the impression that there was a metal rod going into the fender that had to be "pried" out. So I started prying, and nothing happened, so I pushed harder (because it was cold and I was pissed) and then SNAP! I'm like, "NOOOOOO!!!" because when I looked at my headlight, I found that my screwdriver had gone through the back housing and had broken part of the inner decorative shell (just to the left of the parking/turning lights). I don't have any pics right now, but lets just say that there is a noticebal "scar" (crack) in the headlight....and it saddens me. The other headlight I scratched up the paint while removing it. I really gotta stop doing things out there in the cold....

Oh yeah...turned out it was a screw nobody had mentioned....no prying required.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 09:34 PM
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Originally Posted by JayMax2000
Every time I wash mine in the cold I can't dry it fast enough befor the water freezes up on me.
LOL, same thing happens when i wash, end up w/ a coat of ice on the car, sucks even more when its wash water and i end up w/ a sheet of dirty ice.. that eventualy melts and leaves my car just as filthy as when i started
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 09:41 PM
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forget about washing the car tomorrow. i dread changing my headlight bulbs because it is going to be so cold!
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 10:16 PM
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If it's at least above 35 degrees, I use my wash brush with thick rubber chemical gloves to clean the MAX so I at least don't have to get my hands too wet. If I have time, I'll pull it into the garage and dry, otherwise I take a quick spin around the neighborhood to dry it a little. Below 35 degrees, I just take it to the brushless car wash. Thought about doing that on my way home 2nite, but we got a Nor Easter on the way in NYC that's due Sat PM, so why bother? That's why I like the MAX in silver, doesn't show dirt too much. Now my dark blue Acura MDX and black Civic are a different story - there's no hiding the dirt on a dark car. It's no use trying to keep a car looking good in the winter up here anyway. Poor MAX - I know it's gotta be in shock. Up until Thanksgiving it was in West Palm Beach, FL with my Dad.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 10:18 PM
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You think you guys are crazy yet, then try changing spring and struts outside in -5 degrees with a wind chill of -24 degrees. Double leather gloves, triple socks and triple everything and you still feel cold and have to go inside periodically to warm up. And as for washing in the cold, well I usually just try to wait till the temp is somewhere close to 30 degrees so the water does'nt freeze up on the car while I am trying to wash it since I only wash by hand like most of you guys do. This can be a real pain as Dr. Roy said earlier. But gotta do what you have to, in order to keep a clean car in cold weather. Can't wait for summer.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 10:19 PM
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I always wash my car myself. I do NOT trust those "Touchless Carwash" things. I just don't see how spraying a dirt-dissolving solvet all over your car and letting it sit for a minute before rinsing can be good for the paint. It doesn't even do a good job of removing all the dirt and stuff (it can't do dead bugs).

Those old-style automatic car washes with the spinning brushes scare me too. I can practically feel them screwing up my car. I'm a little obsessive, I guess.
Old Jan 20, 2005 | 11:41 PM
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The funny thing is that i have a Grand Cherokee for the winter. I took my max out a few times last week thinking the weather was gonna be good & ended up being sh!tty, thus getting all dirty. I couldn't bare the thought of seeing it like that for an extended period of time in the garage. I feel like the salt was chewing away my car daily. PLUS, i only hand wash my car by myself.
Paying for hand car washes are only for desperate times.
Old Jan 21, 2005 | 04:34 AM
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careful next time you pull into that garage! If it's 20 degrees in there, you'll slip right through the back wall if you'll not careful!
Old Jan 21, 2005 | 05:09 AM
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Originally Posted by spiromax
Those old-style automatic car washes with the spinning brushes scare me too. I can practically feel them screwing up my car. I'm a little obsessive, I guess.
Those spinning brushes do leave scratches. Hand washing is the best.
Old Jan 21, 2005 | 07:00 AM
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Good work man! If I was driving mine this winter I would be doing the same thing. You should really consider a kerosene Torpedo heater. I bought one for when I am tinkering around in the garage and its fukin great, I swear this thing puts off more BTU's than my furnace.
Old Jan 21, 2005 | 07:49 AM
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Originally Posted by GBAUER
careful next time you pull into that garage! If it's 20 degrees in there, you'll slip right through the back wall if you'll not careful!
I shouldn't be laughing, but that would be pretty damn funny. (As long as it didn't happen to me )


Maxima2 - Good call on the torpedo. I'm really gonna consider buying one now.
Old Jan 21, 2005 | 07:51 AM
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yup, gonna wash my car when i get home today, i think it's gonna be in the 70's so....texas winters are GREAT!!
Old Jan 21, 2005 | 07:55 AM
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Use QEW to wash your car inside, it's a cinch.
Old Jan 21, 2005 | 07:56 AM
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QEW? What's that?



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