Winters' Paint Job

Mine is ready for a good wash job. I'll take it in within the next few days as you can't really wash it here in Minnesota when the temps are very low or the door freeze shut....even when the car wash has a dryer....I go to a car wash that takes it through for me as I got stuck in one a few years agon and hate going through them!

Yes, we have those same kind of paint jobs here in Illinois. There is lots of salt on the cars these days. I wash the car maybe once or twice in the winter if there is going to be a spell where there will not be any new snow. Today is a nice clear day and not extremely cold, this would be a good day to get a car wash actually.

Hi there Grandpa Bob. I think your car looks covered in the salt and sandy residue from the road. It sounds like your locality got lots of snow and then grit was placed on the major roads. I have just had my car serviced and it has passed its safety check. Grit has been placed in my locality on its major roads. I live in a close and the road up to it is covered in ice. It is snowing again right now. So in the morning I guess there will be new snow on the ground.

I thought that most of today's cars were fiberglass and wouldn't rust. That's probably just the bumpers and stuff. I wash my car about once a month in the winter and once in the summer. It doesn't really get very dirty, as I travel an average of 30 miles a week.

Don't they have garages in Minnesota? Well seriously, we don't have to deal with rust due to the salt issue, so cars last a whole lot longer here. But my car probably gets washed every couple of months or so. More often if we take a trip and it gets bug splatted.

How well I remember those days. Where I live now in Oklahoma, there isn't much need for salt and sand. There are usually one or two storms throughout the winter, but after it's melted and dried, the street sweepers are out in full force. Back when I lived in New England, I tried to wash my car during the late morning of sunny days. Even if temps stayed below freezing, the driness of the air usually took care of the water before dark. On some days anyway. More often than not, we would end up getting more snow or ice in pretty short order...whether is was forcast or not. I think that washing my car was a magnet for drawing precipitation. During my last year there, when I was about 10 miles from the nearest car wash, I took care of the need for frequent washes by purchasing a light, silver-metallic grey car. It hid the salt in the summer, and the dirt and bug spots in the summer. We hardly had any snow that year....

The last year or so they put brine on the road before the snow falls. I leave all of that up to hubby as far as the washing. It does not seem to build up, but we are not driving much.

Your car looks exactly like mine at the present Grandpa! Mine is almost completely covered with salt and sand residue. It hasn't been warm enough in 4 weeks to wash it off either. I suppose I am going to have to break down and go to a heated car wash as I don't want my paint job to rust. We have been atypically cold here and the roads have been salted/sanded much more than usual.

Happily, we don't have this problem around these parts, I probably should wash my car sometimes... but... well, haven't had it done in a while..

speaking of..my bro needs to wash his car before it gets "car cancer". he got spoiled with his old geo with fiberglass body. they seem to be using more sand than salt here nowadays..probably cheaper. i'm surprised they just don't take it from the water,we're surrounded by it.

hi Grandpa Bob the only debris we get on Ca cars is dust and grit from debris left on the freeways. at least we did finally get some rain this late fall just before the year ended. but now its dry again and people often forget to wash the dust and debris off their cars here. Our Gold Crest van is an exception as it gets a lot of use,only sad part is it can only hold six people, for a place like this they need a bigger SUV so they could take more people. just to get out among people of all ages I do go on our shopping trips every Wed. here it gets boring as so many are all older people. I like to be around a mix of all ages myself having worked in the library for so many many years.

My car gets like that too! I try to wash it once or twice during the winter IF its not so cold my doors will freeze shut.

Hi GRANDPA BOB, Yes, we have lots of snow too and my husband won't clean his car yet till all the snow has gone, he don't use his car a lot anyway as he love riding his race bike more. Tamara

UGH...I hate it, this winter weather sucks big time and is so so very hard on cars. It is hard to try and wash them when the temperatures get so cold but the temperatures are suppose to warm up here starting next week so I am sure that I will go and then and get the car washed just to be sure that the salt and yuck can be taken off before it does any more harm to my car.