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Can you wash too much?

3K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  stone 
#1 ·
I admit it I love washing and cleaning the Escape. I actually live for it. Nothing better than getting in a perfectly detailed machine and driving. Sure it is easy as hell to upkeep a 2 month old vehicle, but it is just so easy right now I want to keep that feeling going. Now with winter here, along with the salt, I find myself washing it off more often. Not as much "white glove" detailing, but at a minimum washing it. My theory is I don't care if I wash it and it gets dirty fast - like the next day - because the length of time the salt and grime is on there is minimal. For example I washed it on Saturday and then again on Tuesday. There was snow and rain on Sunday so they again salted the roads. I wanted to get that crap off as it looks to be decent for the next 3 days....

I really dislike certain drive thru car washes. Of particular dislike are ones attached/part of a gas station that has the metal track that your left side tires get guided by. You pull in and put in neutral and the roller comes along behind the rear wheels and guides your truck through the wash. I have seen many instances of cars getting destroyed by a number of things. Wheels turn and the vehicle jumps the rail and fenders get crushed. Stuff like that. I also don't trust that the spinning "brushless" cleaners have enough water spraying on them to be effective. Conversely I don't like the ones you pull in and the sprayer merely power washes the truck. They advertise the hell out of them but it is nothing more than a power washer that rotates around your vehicle. Good to get mud off I guess but not salt and baked on grime.

I personally like to do the hand wash stations that have the power washer and foam brush units. I always power wash the truck then clean off the foam brush (before I use it to make sure there are no pieces of dirt/rocks etc.) and foam it all up on the 1st time cycle. Then after all the foam is on the truck, I then wash the whole truck with the the foam brush. Then pay for another cycle and power wash all of the foam/suds away. The one I go to has heated water. Yes heated. I haven't seen any others in my state that use one-time heated water - nothing recycled. No it is not a "green" facility but there is no water shortage where I live.

in any case I was just thinking that with all of the washing can it be in any way harmful to the longevity of the vehicle. I mean beyond taking off wax and needing to wax it slightly more often. I think about specific cleaning additives like the "pink foam" car washes use and whatnot. I don't think using the power washer at the drive in units really have enough power to do damage - unlike my home power washer. That mofo would rip fenders off. Just thinking out loud...
 
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#2 ·
I think once a week should be about the most you want to be cleaning the car.

I fully understand having a clean vehicle though. My wash routine is about every 2 weeks in the winter for both Trucks [Liberty and now Escape]. Although I'm a lot lazier - I hit the standard wash center that has hand towel dry people at the end of the line.
 
#3 ·
I wash my car once or twice a month during the spring and summer. In winter it gets a little tricky when there is snow on the ground, there is no point of really washing it, because the dirt and salt are still on the streets. From what I read, it is good idea to get a wax job on the car before the snow season starts, the wax will usually protect the car from the dirt and salt for about 3 months, than after winter should get another wax job.

I take my Escape to get it washed at a hand wash or the coins operated self service. I don't like the drive thru automated carwash with the spinners and twirlers thingy; because usually dirt, grime, pebbles are stuck to them and they will scratch your car.
 
#4 ·
Winter washes are usually more of a rinse down. I like to make sure I get the wheel wells sprayed out and take a little more of the course stuff off.
Alway rinse out the brush at the coin-op washes before you touch your truck with it (you know the guy before you didn't), you don't want to grind dirt in. :cuss:
I'm a big fan of a sparkly clean vehicle but it's not easy in a part of the world where from November to April is slush season. :shrug:
 
#5 ·
A dirty vehicle drives me crazy. I like to keep our vehicles nice and shiny. :yes: Normally I wash the Escape and Mariner once every couple of weeks but I will do them sooner if needed. Both vehicles have had a wax back in October. I use Zaino car products on our vehicles.

Our winters are not severe here in South Carolina but it does get cold here. I prefer to wash our vehicles in the driveway but I'm not gonna freeze doing them. :lol: In the winter they get run through the car wash.
 
#6 ·
I think you should be fine washing it 1 to 2 times a week, mostly to take the salt off, that is what can be more damaging to your vehicle, salt loves to corrode anything with metal. Especially your undercarriage. Other than that a simple wash and rinse to the body of the vehicle is good, I live in Ft. Worth, we get snow a few times but in Texas they like using sand instead of salt, I dont know if there is any benefit to it, but they say the salt is dangerous and corrosive to the environment. :shrug:
 
#8 ·
The problem with the Northeast is that the DOT uses a very high percent of salt. On Sunday it snowed then rained and my Escape was white from the door handles down and the entire rear of the vehicle. I would rather wash it twice a week in really bad weather than leave the salt on the truck for a week or more. I too wax it often in the summer to help fight the UV rays and it just stays nice longer. It is only 2 months old so I will get through the first winter before being able to wax it.

I ALWAYS rinse the hand operated wash brush before use. The only drive thru car wash that I drive to, and it is 30 minutes away from my house, is one that has 2 people pre-wash the vehicle with power washers and soap up the car before it goes into the outomatic line. At least 99% of the solid crap is removed and not going directly onto the first set of whirling brushes. I would rather spend $7 and do it by hand than spend $11 and risk dirty brushes slapping up against the body. The only advantage to an automatic wash is the undercarriage rinse. I can simulate that with the power washer as best I can. I always get the wheelwells and as much underneath as I can.

I hate winter. Except for snowboarding.
 
#9 ·
Well, I have to confess that my maverick gets a rinse down every day at this time of year with my employers jetwash, and a thorough soapy wash at the weekend.
This is made a lot easier since I claybared and polished it last week...

At work, it's company policy that the coaches get a wash AT LEAST ONCE a day in winter, if time allows we have to give them a wash before every journey, to help in this the coaches carry either 50 gallons of clean water, detergent, buckets and washbrushes, or if the coach has a servery and toilet fitted, they also have their own on board jet wash, consisting of approx 40' of hosepipe with a high power lance at the end.
 
#13 ·
ford3443 said:
I think you should be fine washing it 1 to 2 times a week, mostly to take the salt off, that is what can be more damaging to your vehicle, salt loves to corrode anything with metal. Especially your undercarriage. Other than that a simple wash and rinse to the body of the vehicle is good, I live in Ft. Worth, we get snow a few times but in Texas they like using sand instead of salt, I dont know if there is any benefit to it, but they say the salt is dangerous and corrosive to the environment. :shrug:
They use the liquid road salt-stuff a lot up here in Ohio in the past few years. It's terrible to get off (including from the windshield because it's designed to stick....dOh!!! but it also forms a cloud of salt dust on the freeways and the liquid spray covers everywhere on the exterior of the vehicles.
When I got rid of my 03, it was showing signs of having the back wheel well lip rusting underneath. If anything, this is where I've seen rust on the Escapes and it's in the ones that are getting on with 6-8 years of age.
 
#15 ·
sinister mob said:
The problem with the Northeast is that the DOT uses a very high percent of salt. On Sunday it snowed then rained and my Escape was white from the door handles down and the entire rear of the vehicle. I would rather wash it twice a week in really bad weather than leave the salt on the truck for a week or more. I too wax it often in the summer to help fight the UV rays and it just stays nice longer. It is only 2 months old so I will get through the first winter before being able to wax it.

I ALWAYS rinse the hand operated wash brush before use. The only drive thru car wash that I drive to, and it is 30 minutes away from my house, is one that has 2 people pre-wash the vehicle with power washers and soap up the car before it goes into the outomatic line. At least 99% of the solid crap is removed and not going directly onto the first set of whirling brushes. I would rather spend $7 and do it by hand than spend $11 and risk dirty brushes slapping up against the body. The only advantage to an automatic wash is the undercarriage rinse. I can simulate that with the power washer as best I can. I always get the wheelwells and as much underneath as I can.

I hate winter. Except for snowboarding.
Washing where road salt is in use is a mixed bag. Salt is not active on the paint or metal when dry. So, if you wash, you are activating the salt residue on the vehicle. If you don't wash, the dry salt and chemicals will scratch the finish and make open pores to the metal surface. :wall:

Years ago, when I lived in NE Ohio, I owned a 67 Ford. I was putting about 35K miles per year on the beast going to and from work and school. By 1972, that car had gone nearly 150K miles, mostly during the school year, and hence a large chunk of those miles were when the roads were salted...Guess what failed. The frame. Rusted right thru in front of both rear wheels. :cuss: I was very proactive in washing the car, including the frame, every weekend to rid it of the road salt. It did have great looking paint and chrome though... :(
 
#16 ·
cbramsey said:
Colleen said:
Do you have to wash that big bus by yourself, Camus? I imagine that is quite the workout. :)
He has Kermit to help him!?!?!?!?! :hyst: :hyst: :hyst:

:bust:
Yep, the inside and outside has to be cleaned by me, takes about 1 hour to do.

The worst part is when the coach gets it's claybar and polish treatment, takes 2 days to do, and we have to do that twice a year, in spring and late autumn....


 
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