How to clean your car in winter

Keep it clean for maximum visibility

Keeping your car clean is important year round, not only for appearances (though we certainly know those are important, too) but to maximize visibility, minimize corrosion, and keep the health and value of your vehicle alive and well no matter what the season brings. It would be hard to argue that any season presents more of a challenge than winter — in any area really, but today we’re focusing on vehicular cleanliness. So today we’ll give you our best tips for how to clean your car in winter — inside and out. 

Rubber mats are your friends. One thing to keep is that corrosion isn’t just something that happens to the outside of your car. The snow melting off your boots can soak right through a carpeted floor mat, and over time has great potential to corrode the floor beneath your feet. Not ideal. Switch those out to rubber, at least for the winter months, and take them out and spray them down every few weeks or after a big snow.

A squeegee and soap to the rescue.

Wash the outside about every ten days. That’s the general rule of thumb, anyway. But more importantly, while following that approximate schedule pay attention to the temperature outside and whenever possible, wash your car when the temperature is 40 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer to avoid freezing. By the same token, washing earlier in the day can help you avoid night’s falling temperatures, so maybe try to do it on your lunch break rather than on the way home if possible.

When washing at home, use the two-bucket method. If you are washing every week and a half or so as recommended, chances are you’ll want to be changing things up between running through an express car wash and doing it yourself when  you’ve got a little time. Should you decide to take that task on yourself, make sure to use the two-bucket method: one for soaping up, the other for rinsing. Rinsing all that salt and dirt right back into the bucket will lead to… well, you get the picture.

If you’ve got questions or concerns about how to best keep your car clean and in great condition all winter long, check out some of our other tips and tricks, or go ahead and give our service department a call some time.