It’s cold, your teeth are chattering, and your car looks like it was one-two punched by Mother Nature and a very angry saltshaker. What's the best way to handle it? Here are some tips, tricks, tools, and products to help you from beginning to end.
Starting your car and turning on the defrosters before you begin snow removal can help loosen hard snow from your hood and windows. Make sure your tailpipe isn't obstructed by a snowbank, however, to prevent toxic fumes from filling your car.
Every winter, paint jobs pay the price for improper vehicle snow removal, whether by corn-straw broom, nylon snow brush, or any variety of snow shovels. Using a foam brush to sweep snow off your vehicle will protect your paint and finish from the former products' rough bristles and sharp edges.
The SnoBrum is the highest-rated foam brush/snow broom on the market for removing even wet, heavy snow from all areas of a vehicle without causing damage to the paint. This snow broom contains high-impact, metal-free face plates with durable cross linked polyethylene foam to prevent surface contact. It's the same tool used by car dealers for more than 20 years to clear hundreds of vehicles per snowstorm.
It’s especially important to wash your car thoroughly after snow and ice melts. This way, you can avoid the accumulation of salt, sand, soil, and ice, reducing the likelihood of corrosion. Rust damage costs motorists about $3 billion in damage each year, so you want to make sure your car’s exterior is adequately protected before and during winter weather.
If you think visible dirt and grime outside your car is a problem, beware that this nasty mix of salt, sand, soil, and chemical contaminants can impact many inside parts of the vehicle.
Salt can cause stains and even corrode carpet floor mats in a car, so it's always a good option to consider swapping them out for rubber floor mats. Cleaning the inside of the car is important to keep those same chemicals on your boots from tracking into the carpet or even your seats. Also, wet shoes can lead to mold or mildew buildup, which is never a nice smell.
When it comes to protecting your car’s surface materials from freezing temperatures, the key is to provide a thermal barrier between the surface and the outside. One way to accomplish this is a Ceramic Pro ceramic coating.
A Nano-ceramic coating is exceptionally temperature sensitive. It can treat products and hold up against extreme temperatures over 200 degrees and below-freezing temperatures. It works by bonding directly to the surface of porous materials, seeping into those microscopic peaks and valleys to provide an exceptionally flat and hydrophobic surface.
Not only does this help to protect paint and clear coats, but it also works on headlights, grilles, wheels, fiberglass, carbon fiber, PPF, and vinyl wraps. When it’s applied correctly, it makes it more difficult for road salt and grime to stick to the surfaces. This feature helps to keep the vehicle cleaner for longer periods.
If you are asking how to protect car paint in winter and keep rust from forming because of salt, then you should consider adding a paint protection film to your vehicle. This film is millimeters thick, but it is durable and effective when it comes to protecting your vehicle. It is versatile enough to be used on all parts of your car’s paint. The best places to apply PPF are your rocker panels located along the lower sides, the front and rear wheel well openings, front bumper, and hood. Protecting these areas will ensure that road salt and other debris don’t cause any damage to your vehicle and will keep your paint from being damaged for a long time to come.
Whether you have questions, need supplies to detail yourself, or want us to do the work APC Auto Spa is here to help! Check us out at APCautospa.com, give us a call at 425-818-2820, or send us an email at info@apcautospa.com
Drive safe and we hope to hear from you soon!
The team at APC Auto Spa.