The winter wash that saves your lacquer
Salt does its damage in the places a quick wash never reaches. A simple routine for the months between November and March.
Written by Tom Hartley, who has corrected more of them than he would like to count.
Where salt actually sits
Not on the bonnet. It sits behind the arch liners, along the sill undersides, in the lower rear quarters behind each wheel, and on the back of every alloy spoke.
A wash that only touches the panels you can see leaves all of it there, damp, for months.
The routine
Rinse first, and rinse underneath. Then foam, then a two-bucket wash top down, then wheels and arches with their own tools and their own bucket. Dry with a plush towel rather than a chamois.
It takes about forty minutes and it is the difference between a car that comes out of winter fine and one that needs correcting in March.
What to avoid
Brush washes, because they carry the grit from every car before yours. Washing in freezing conditions, because water refreezes in shuts and on glass. And drying with anything you have dropped on the floor.
If it is genuinely icy, a rinse alone is better than a wash. Getting the salt off matters more than the shine.
If the car is coated or filmed
It gets easier, not unnecessary. Dirt releases with less agitation, so the wash is quicker and puts in fewer marks, but salt still has to be physically removed.
Cars on our round get exactly this every fortnight through the winter, which is when the round earns its money.
