Yesterday it was hovering around 0° F outside. My wife, after months of driving a typical Alaskan car around - see first picture - suddenly decided she needed a clean car to take some friends to the airport. I didn't relish driving to a car wash place and then taking the wet car out of the washing bay into 0° weather.
So I got two buckets of warm water and some old dishtowels and in 20 minutes we had the worst of the dirt gone just by hand washing in our own garage. It still looks pretty streaky, but at least you won't get all dirty if you lean against it. When it warms up I'll take it in for a soapy soak spray job.
I just needed to think differently about how to solve the problem. Faster, cheaper, and good enough for now.
call me stupid but how on earth do you prevent yourself becoming entombed inside the car when you go out after washing it... when the doors freeze shut due to the wet door rubber surrounds it is Alaska after all cold cold cold
ReplyDeleteoops that was me forgot to change the name back
ReplyDeleteAs you wish, Stu,
ReplyDeleteLaughing at the image. Guess we'd drive it home and into the heated garage. I washed it in the garage. I just used an old towel and some water. No hoses. Minimum water. Not all that clean either. BTW, it's now up to 20° F now.
I notice all those newspapers on the floor... do the planet a favor and fix the leaks! Geeses.
ReplyDeleteLaughing again Horace. Not oil or other mechanical leaks. But when the car gets full of snow it melts and the newspaper keeps it from seeping into the house. Not the most elegant solution, but it works. And then we recycle the papers after they dry. Feel better now? We try not to jump to conclusions on this blog.
ReplyDeleteI have a ten-year old Malibu. I often skip the car wash and just spray the car with Pledge and wipe off with a soft towel--looks great--don't know what it does to the finish.
ReplyDelete