Prep your cars for winter while you can!

Fall is upon us and before you know it the weather will be too cold to permit for comfortable or effective detailing. Cold temperatures cause all sorts of problems with applying waxes and polishes (they don’t dry very fast and cure times are extended) so it is best to jump on it while the weather is still in the 70s and 80s in most places.

Why should you prep for winter? Well, I don’t know about you, but around here the roads are covered with all sorts of stuff I don’t really want on my car. They don’t call the city I live in SALT Lake City for nothing… There have been recent winters where there is more salt on the roads than snow and it causes all sorts of problems to your paint.

Slush is sticky on an unwaxed car, so that means all the contamination contained in the slush is on your car much longer than just driving through a puddle or getting poured on by a summer shower. Getting that slush off your car should be a priority, but it isn’t always convenient or even possible to get your car to a car wash every time it gets a little sloppy outside. The solution is to get a slick wax or sealant on your paint so the slush isn’t as sticky and the paint is more protected against the stuff which does settle on your car.

Any wax or sealant will do the job. The difference will be in how long that wax or sealant actually lasts. Because the ice and salt and crud is abrasive, the durability of whatever product you use is going to be compromised more so than if you were dealing with summer conditions. Summer carries its own set of concerns, but we can talk about that in six months. Anyway, like I said, any wax or sealant will work, but the higher quality the product means the less frequently you have to reapply it. You don’t really want to be reapplying wax during the most bitter part of the winter, do you?

So wax or sealant? Well, no matter how good your wax is, I can pretty much promise you that a carnauba wax is not going to last more than two months during the rough winters most of us have to deal with. You can find some good carnauba/polymer blend waxes if you look hard enough. The only one I’ve got experience with is Wolfgang Fuzion and it did a good job of protecting half my car (I was doing a 50/50 test against Pinnacle Souveran) for the winter of 07-08. However, it is spendy and not necessarily what I would recommend if you are looking for the best winter protection. I do have a good recommendation for you if you are wanting to go the carnauba route, however. P21S/S100 is a fantastic carnauba wax which actually seems to have the slickest results of just about any product I’ve tested. My car literally stays cleaner when I use that product. I ran a test in the winter on white car several years ago and took pictures of the bumper after driving home through the slush. There was a marked difference between the S100 (P21S is essentially the same thing, but S100 is available locally at motorcycle shops) side and the side of the other wax I was testing. I can’t remember if it was Pinnacle Souveran or Zymol Vintage. I’ll have to find the review and post the pictures. Either way, the S100 side was much cleaner and you could see that the water spots on the surface had far less dirt in them and there was far less slush on the bumper. So for what it’s worth, S100 is a fantastic choice for you carnauba purists out there. I love the stuff.

On the sealant side I haven’t found anything more durable for winter use than Klasse Sealant Glaze. Unlike most sealants on the market, Klasse SG is an acrylic sealant and is much more durable. It isn’t going to win awards for appearance compared to sealants like Wolfgang or Zaino, but it does provide a polished rock shine which many people enjoy. The really great thing about Klasse SG is that the durability seems to be increased with each layer. I typically put on four or five coats over the fall and then top it with S100 at the end for the best results. I get the durability of Klasse and the carnauba glow of S100. Then if it isn’t too bad of a winter, I can add an additional coat of S100 in January or February to get me through the rest until I can do my full spring detail in April or May. If I’m not able to do that, then at least I know the paint is protected from all the crap I have to drive through.

I am a firm believer in having different products for different jobs. Just like how you have brown shoes and black shoes depending on the color of your pants, I like to have products for different times of the year when my goals are different. For car show season I’ll use other things, but my goal in the winter is protection, so that is why I go the route I go. Your fall detail should be focused on paint protection first and appearance second. I follow this pattern- Fall/Protection Spring/Correction Summer/Perfection Follow that pattern for your detailing and you’ll be one step closer to having the perfect process which meets all of your needs.

I’m writing this post as a precursor to three guides I’m writing for each of those phases of my detailing schedule. They won’t be as detailed as the one I wrote earlier this year, but they will have more product recommendations and reviews based on the needs of the season and what the focus should be. Keep your eyes out for it!

great reminder before the weekend!

I just took a glance in the detail section while looking for recommendations for a good cleaning which should be BEFORE any good wax/sealant application.

Just finished my yearly polish/seal/wax/seal/glaze! Car looks great but I'm thinking this winter is gonna be extra rough as last year was weak...whatever! At least I get to hit the mountain this year!

Thanks again OC Details for all your advice on proper paint maintenance! The Danase products you reccomended have worked wonders on my severely water-spotted OBP paint and previous swirl marks!

Winter can definitely be gnarly. I'll never forget what my poor RBP LGT had to go through...

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b182/OCDetails2/DSC03445.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b182/OCDetails2/DSC03418.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b182/OCDetails2/DSC03425.jpg

However, you'll notice that there is a pretty defined line where the crud doesn't seem to be. There is nothing you can do about the spray that comes off your tires when you drive, but notice that the rest of the car is fairly clean even after being out in the nastiness of winter. That is what a good sealant/wax will do for you. Dirty slush will just slide right off the car. I'd much rather only have half a car to worry about than the whole car.

not sure if anyone else does this, but one trick I use up here is to clean the the plastic bits of the wheel wells, then spray them with some Bostik Dricoat. The coating is sold as a saw blade lubricant to prevent the buildup of resin on your blades. it works great in the wheel wells, where it causes the slush buildup to fall off while driving.

hey OCD, what's your take on meguiars #26 hi-tech yellow? I've had pretty good luck with it keeping crap off my car in the winter, and it is pretty easy to find. I know it will make repainting difficult later, but I haven't found anything else that is as easy to apply (even in the cold) and makes it through the winter.

not sure if anyone else does this, but one trick I use up here is to clean the the plastic bits of the wheel wells, then spray them with some Bostik Dricoat. The coating is sold as a saw blade lubricant to prevent the buildup of resin on your blades. it works great in the wheel wells, where it causes the slush buildup to fall off while driving.

 

hey OCD, what's your take on meguiars #26 hi-tech yellow? I've had pretty good luck with it keeping crap off my car in the winter, and it is pretty easy to find. I know it will make repainting difficult later, but I haven't found anything else that is as easy to apply (even in the cold) and makes it through the winter.

That's what I use. Seems to work better than Meguiar's NXT 2.0 wax/sealant.

Hey OCDetails,

I just recently picked up a 7424xp with some Pinnacle polishes. Yesterday I sealed the paint with some Wolfgang Deep Gloss. Hoping it will last until next year, but I'll probably have to reapply something mid-season.

What's your opinion on Collinite 845? I have heard that is quite possibly one of the best winter waxes on the market. Compared to other waxes and sealants it's very inexpensive at about $15 for a bottle. Seems like it would be worth a shot.

- Fellow Salt Lake City resident.

Meguiar's #26 is actually a really good wax. Fairly durable for a liquid wax and it looks great. Not exactly what I would use to win a show with, but in the winter you really care more about durability than appearance. #26 is a good choice if you have access to it.

I actually haven't used any of the Collinite products. They sort of hit the scene after I stopped buying everything new that I heard about. I've read good reviews of it over at DetailCity.org and haven't really heard anything bad. As far as how it compares to other products, I really couldn't tell you. It's on my list of things to try when I get the experimenting bug again.

Get another coat of WG on in November sometime and it will last you till it is warm enough to strip it all and start over. One coat will last you around 4 months, but getting another coat on will actually boost that quite a bit.

hey OC, i recently used klasse all in one. The product needs to be applied very sparingly, which i did not do. i can now see streaks/marks of where i applied the klasse. what is the best way to remove these marks?

A power drill works. Maybe a jack hammer? lol SG has a little bit of a learning curve to it. Anyone with more than one or two applications under their belt will tell you that thin thin thin is the key. If you can see it when you are applying it, then you are using too much. It makes it tough to buff off and that is what causes the streaks. You can still get them off, but you'll need to use a damp towel to give you a little more bite. Some quick detailer and a dry towel will probably work too. Give that a shot and see how it works.

ill try that. the product is hard to work with, and the sealant glaze (grey bottle) is even harder.

should these products be applied with hands or machines?

You can apply the AIO with machine but the SG should be applied by hand so that you can have control over the application. Oh yeah, did we mention that the SG has to be applied thin.... very thin. You can't really over apply the AIO as it buffs off easily but you don't need to use much.

When I apply SG I buff off immediatly after finishing the whole car, starting with where I started. I use a little bit of Sonos Acrylic spritz QD on a MF towel to aid with the removal.

Can I interject with a noob question?

I don't have access to, or the knowledge, on seriously detailing the paint of my car, e.g. buffers, compounds, sealants, etc..

And quite honestly after reading much here and elsewhere I'm not exactly sure the difference between polish, wax, sealants oh my!

But I was wondering if what I do is "good enough" for winterizing my exterior.

I wash the car thoroughly with your standard car wash (Armor All I believe - I'm going to upgrade once I run out of this stuff). Then I've been using Turtle Wax Ice Liquid Polish.

Is that good enough to protect the paint? Does it not last that long?

Thanks in advance

Many times words like polish, wax, and sealant are used interchangeably. Technically I suppose you could polish your car with wax or even seal your paint with wax. You sort of have to take the word in the context that it is used. When I say 'Polish', I am usually talking about using a cutting compound to remove swirls and oxidation. Waxes are carnauba in nature and sealants are synthetic polymer or acrylic products.

What you are using is a wax, and it is not a very durable one. You are going to get about a month's worth of protection out of it before it needs another coat. 4 to 6 weeks is pretty standard for any carnauba wax, which is why I recommend using a sealant for winterization. Off the shelf you won't find too many, but Meguiar's NXT is a good choice and it is available locally at all sorts of stores. Give that a shot and you'll be pretty happy with it. You are still going to want to reapply at some point in February to get you through the rest of the season, but it will last a lot longer than Turtle Wax Ice.

What's your opinion on Collinite 845? I have heard that is quite possibly one of the best winter waxes on the market. Compared to other waxes and sealants it's very inexpensive at about $15 for a bottle. Seems like it would be worth a shot.

 

- Fellow Salt Lake City resident.

I have Collinite 845 on my car at the minute. Haven't been through a winter yet, I applied it back in May on both the paint and the rims. So far I'm really impressed, it has a real glassy look that has held up great so far (my car is SWP). Rain literally falls off the car when I drive, and the car stays cleaner for longer because of it (more so than other waxes/sealants I've used). The rims stay a lot cleaner too, almost no brake dust residue - and they wipe clean easily.

I bought the car new in June 2009 and used Meg's Gold Class on it the day after I took delivery. It looked good, and held up well over the winter - was still beading water before I detailed the car again this past May with the Collinite. I have to say though, to me the Collinite seems to have a much deeper and smoother look than the Megs did, and seems to be holding up a lot better.

We have the same salt problem up here in Toronto, so we'll see how the Collinite holds up this winter.

Just thought I'd chime in and say I definitely recommend the 845, so far.....

If you waxed your car in June with Gold Class, then it was not still there in the following spring. Meguiar's doesn't make a carnauba product that has more than a few weeks durability. Your car may have looked good all winter, but that is because it was a brand new car. The fact that it is a white brand new car is the other reason it looked good. You are using good products, but don't fool yourself into believing they are lasting longer than they are. Water beads and shine are not the only indicators that the car is protected. If you are going to use a wax, then you really need to reapply it every two months if you want it to stay protected. You can ask Meguiar's about that. Even they won't say their products will last that long.

However, with that being said, Meguiar's Gold Class really is one of the better products you can buy off the shelf if you are shopping for a liquid wax. Consumer grade products don't last very long, but some of them sure do look good.

You know, I'm sure a company like Meguiar's could make a product which seals and protects for fifteen years, but why would they do that? The key to marketing success is to have a product which constantly needs to be refilled. A bottle which gets empty, a box you hit the bottom of, a jar which needs refilling... Making a product that lasts forever would be bad because people would only need to buy one of them. Why do you think cars are being built so shitty right now? They want your money again in five years when your car has had it. Its like the drug business. The cure for cancer is sitting on a shelf somewhere, but the treatments are so much more profitable that the drug industry isn't going to let it be released. They'd lose billions in treatment revenue.

Anyway, sorry for the little rant. I just wanted to be sure you knew that while Colinite may last you a few months, Gold Class most definitely will not. It isn't meant to.

I use Klasse AIO also. I use a damp cloth to apply and it really works well if you do it in the evenings when its very cool around this time of year. Wear a sweater . I then hit it with a layer of Collinite 845.

Just did my first sealant winter prep. Another layer will go on around November before things start getting dicey weatherwise.

I touch up sometimes during the winter with a quick wash and some Duragloss Aquawax spray wax which puts down a good maintenance layer and is quick to apply when its freezing out lol

OCD, what is your opinion on no-rinse products for the winter?

I used some DP quick detail spray for the first time this week and it worked pretty well, but I don't know how confident I feel about just wiping off dirt from my car... Especially in the winter time.