5 Winter Car Cleaning Tips

Winter Car Cleaning Tips

The usual quick wash and polish might not be enough when you’re cleaning your car in the cooler winter months. The season brings with it a unique set of cleaning challenges and needs that you should pay closer attention to. Fortunately, we have a handy guide of the most important cleaning tips to keep in mind this winter.

 

1. Salt/Grit on the Road

When the snows start, the trucks will be round to put salt down on the roads to help keep them clear. Did you know that the same road salt they use, while crucial to ensure safe winter driving, is also highly corrosive and puts your car at risk of the “car cancer” --- rust. Repeated exposure to road salt will accelerate any onset of rust. Clean it off regularly to minimize any damage done.

2. Undercarriage

During the milder months of the year, your car’s undercarriage doesn’t get a lot of punishment (unless you’re regularly driving on dirt roads). Winter, on the other hand, thanks to more of nature’s debris on the main roads, as well as aforementioned road salt, all create a kind of gunky concoction that gets stuck right in the undercarriage. Give the undercarriage a good once over before winter sets in, but also keep an eye on it during.

3. Iced-up Windows

When you were a passenger in your family car, did your older family members throw hot water on the windscreen to try and get rid of the ice? Have you tried it yourself? You may think it’s a quick way of dealing with an icy windshield in a hurry, but in fact it’s a bad idea from the get-go. What you need is a good ice scraper. Invest a little more in a durable scraper designed for the worst kinds of winters. That way you know you’re getting the best available. Use your scraper and be a little more patient. Your glass will thank you for it in the long term.

4. Headlamps

Winters are dark; winters are dirty times to drive. Keep your headlamps clear of any dirt so that your beams can do their work properly. There couldn’t be a more dangerous time to not have proper illumination. It’s a simple task to wipe them clean properly each day. Get it done.

5. A Full Coat of Wax

Right before winter is a great time to apply a nice full coat of wax to the car. It will help protect your vehicle from the onset of the first winter frosts. If your winter is more rainy than snowy, the same rule applies. When it’s dry, give it a nice coat of wax and it will protect it from the worst excesses of moisture damage.

Follow these tips and keep your vehicle in good order this coming winter!