Yes, you can wash your car in the winter. Here’s how.
It’s an age-old question: Is it safe to wash your car in freezing winter temperatures? Or can leftover water turn to ice and damage your car? While so-called experts in the U.S. offer a range of conflicting advice, our Canadian brethren of course have a no-nonsense system laid out.
If you Google search: “Can I wash my car below freezing?” you’ll get a huge range of advice. Firestone Complete Auto Care is normally a great source for automotive maintenance advice. That website points out that some experts recommend washing winter road salt off your car every two weeks. But in the same article it says you should wait for temperatures to climb above 49 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s all dandy, but I grew up in Vermont where you’d be waiting over two months for 49-degree temperatures.
Well, just north of Vermont is Canada. And the Canada Drives website isn’t taking any prisoners. Its experts admit you sometimes need to wash your car in the winter. And it offers no-nonsense advice on how to do so. (Obviously, none of this applies if you have a heated garage where you can wash your car and let it dry. Lucky you.)
First and foremost, protect yourself. Dress in warm clothes and prep to get wet. Second, you can probably wash your car without damaging it if you rinse it instead of scrubbing it and invest in specially-designed wintertime car wax. The main point of winter car washing is to get the salt off your car, so focus on the undercarriage where this gathers.
So finally, how to keep delicate parts of your car from freezing solid and getting damaged after washing? Dry it as much as possible while still wet–even if you’re doing the job by hand. You’ll want to periodically spin all door lock tumblers after washing. Next, you’ll want to roll down your windows a bit to dry the rubber seals between windows and door. You can even apply a silicone-based lubricant to these rubber parts to displace water. Finally, you want to spray your windshield washer fluid. Why? Because you need to clear any water out of the nozzle that sprays the washer fluid so it doesn’t freeze solid. Take the opportunity to lift your wipers up so they don’t freeze to the windshield.
I would only add one thing to this list. If on your first drive you have a horrible vibration in one wheel, you may have some ice frozen to the rim. Examine the wheel, both the side facing the road and the side facing the undercarriage and look for ice built up.
