Salt and grit from roads?

[JayR]

Whats the general opinion on how bad it is from the immaculate freaks in the know?

I didnt venture out during the snow but the aftermath has made my own car quite grubby and its just sitting in the garage with all the sh?t on the bodywork/wheels etc now but my question is how much of this will it take to do damage and how long will it realisticly take to take hold?

Reason i ask is im not gonna get a chance to get it out and give it a good going over this weekend for other commitments so dont know whether to fork out for a valet for peace of mind although i'd prefer not to of course.

How long do people leave there own motors like this without problems?

Cheers

Jay

 

[Jamie]

You don't have a mk1 anymore son. You'll be fine!

 

[Daniel]

My 200 hasn't been washed since I bought it.

Leaving it to fester in your garage is probably worse than driving it in the rain though. At least if you drive it in the rain it will wash all the salt off!

 

[todd100]

blast over with pressure washer to get worst off will take 10 mins then it would be ok i would say

 

[clancy]

i hate salt. also live by the sea. ruins everything, i always give the car and bike a quick wash if the roads are gritted

 

[Stuiemc]

Don't blast it off mate that'll only scratch the paint work. Just rinse it off, go back in the house and order a snow foam lance.

 

[todd100]

Don't blast it off mate that'll only scratch the paint work. Just rinse it off, go back in the house and order a snow foam lance.

i always use pressure washer, only under the arches tho, just leave the rest to be washed off by the rain

 

[Stuiemc]

Nothing wrong with using a pressure washer just don't use it full blast as your rubbing the grit against the paint.

 

[todd100]

Nothing wrong with using a pressure washer just don't use it full blast as your rubbing the grit against the paint.

normally use the one at the garage, they arent very powerful, use the high pressure shampoo as well, think its just water as well tho

 

[Stuiemc]

normally use the one at the garage, they arent very powerful, use the high pressure shampoo as well, think its just water as well tho

Ahh well you'll find just rinsing the car will remove most grit and dirt

 

[Sheepish]

i got told a good hand wash , so took it too the nearest hand wash place for some good on TLC =]

 

[Harpham]

Snow foam?

Is your car not protected, waxed/sealed? I dont plan to wash mine at all until february, when it goes back to JimWD, but it has a couple layers of sealant on so I would imagine that should stop the salt & s**te doing anything.

 

[JD]

Christ.

Jay, next time just PM me fella. Saves you reading through a load of rubbish, save for Daniel's post.

 

[JD]

And Harpham's.

 

[Stuiemc]

Am glad am not classed as a freak lol

 

[JD]

Am glad am not classed as a freak lol

You're certainly not a freak. However, you're slightly wrong chap

A pressure wash down will not do any harm to the car, in terms of scratching because of the grit. The process for a particularly salty/gritty/dirty car is to get the worst of the muck off with the pressure washer, then snow foam, then wash two bucket method with a mitt, sometimes a separate mitt for the lower sections.

 

[Stuiemc]

Agh a friend of mine who runs a detailing company says otherwise. He says to just rinse the grit off which kinda makes sense. Don't see why you would use it on it's top setting to just get some grit off.

 

[JayR]

Christ.

Jay, next time just PM me fella. Saves you reading through a load of rubbish, save for Daniel's post.

Haha, so general opinion from the men in the know is there's no great urgency to get it washed!

I think iv been out in rain a few times since the snow cleared anyway and like i say didn't use it in the snow so don't think there's massive amounts on the car anyway it's mostly grub.

 

[JD]

Agh a friend of mine who runs a detailing company says otherwise. He says to just rinse the grit off which kinda makes sense. Don't see why you would use it on it's top setting to just get some grit off.

It won't do any harm. Your friend is being overly cautious, which in detailing is not a bad thing. If you have rocks on your car's paint work, agreed, don't move them around with a pressure washer. But grit will fall off before being pushed around, unless you fire the PW up the car. I tend to aim it down

 

[JD]

Jay, give it a rinse over. If you can, wash it, especially the wheels. The BS I was referring to was the rest of the garbage