Want to care for your car this winter? Think about how you can protect it this year and have a plan in place that not only looks after your pride and joy, it keeps it in pristine condition and ensures it is safe to drive on the road.
Whilst there’s nothing worse than climbing out of bed on a cold and frosty morning a little earlier than normal to de-ice the car, you have to put yourself in the place of your pride and joy, imagine being left outside all night in cold and freezing conditions, totally neglected, and feeling vulnerable as you gradually turn into a block of ice?
Simple but preventative measures will help to nurture your vehicle this winter and we know a thing or two about this at Storm Car Covers, we’re one of the market leaders in the industry for car care accessories.
To help you get through those chilly winter days and freezing wintry nights, we suggest you take the proactive approach to caring for your car this winter and here are some of our best recommendations.
Looking Buff?
Washing and waxing your car doesn’t just make it look shiny, it helps to protect the paintwork as well. It’s a little too easy to neglect your vehicle over the winter, and ignore that weekly wash due to the extremities of the weather but this is probably the worst thing you can do for your car.
Winter really takes its toll on UK cars - sleet, slush, salt and grit are just some of the extremities your vehicle has to cope with throughout December, January and February. Left to fester on paintwork, rock salt in particular can be cancerous, eating away at the outer layers of your car’s paint job and causing corrosion if left for too long.
The simple solution is to wash your vehicle with good quality car shampoo as regularly as possible. It’s also a great idea to buff the paintwork with a leading brand name protective wax, this way you’ll do your best to keep corrosion at bay.
Use Autoglym for a fresh out of the showroom look
Autoglym care car products are brilliant for bodywork protection. This premium car care range contains a wealth of waxes, shampoos and polishes best known for making vehicles gleam and shine. This product range is highly regarded within the automotive industry and renowned for providing vehicles with a showroom look through all stages of their life.
Chief Executive of Autoglym, Paul Caller, knows just how important it is to provide vehicles with a protective layer over the winter, he says:
“Severe winter weather can really take its toll on your car and road salt especially can accelerate the corrosion of the paintwork on your vehicle leading to rust.
Preparation with quality car care products is the key, and can help to reduce the harmful effects of very low temperatures, road salt and increased grime, whilst also making future cleaning a lot easier.
It can also help to avoid labour-intensive and potentially costly repairs later.”
Read this step-by-step wash and wax guide
Knowing what you need to do to care for your car and actually preparing your vehicle for the onslaught of the winter months are two very different things. A quick wipe over with a bucket of washing up liquid should be avoided at all costs. To properly care for your car you need expert advice from people that know a thing or two about bodywork preparation.
A thorough bodywork wash will remove dirt and grime and help to leave your car in spotless condition ready for an all-over wax. Break it down into small stages and it feels less daunting, we recommend following these steps.
- Wheel wash
- General pre-rinse with a pressure washer or garden hose
- All over bodywork wash with a quality shampoo or shampoo conditioner
- Rinse away shampoo residue using clean water
- Dry the vehicle
- Wax the car
Wheel wash
Before you clean any other area of the car, wash and dress the wheels. A premium quality wheel cleaner applied directly to the rims will start to remove built on grime, you can work it around the wheel using a soft bristled brush, and simply rinse clear afterwards to leave alloys sparkling.
Pre-rinse
Next give the car a general rinse with clean water, a pressure washer or standard garden hose can be used to save time during this process. The principle behind this is to remove general dirt and grime, it’ll start to loosen up excess debris prior to giving the car a shampoo and this is an essential part of the preparatory work.
Bodywork wash
Once the pre-rinse is finished you can turn your attention to washing the car. This is where we suggest you choose a good quality shampoo from the Autoglym range to really add lustre to your vehicle’s bodywork, a pH neutral bodywork shampoo is ideal. You could also try a bodywork shampoo conditioner to remove all traces of grime from the vehicle, just remember to work your way down from the top to the bottom of the car, to prevent grime working its way back up the car.
Post-wash rinse
Once you have comprehensively cleansed the car it’s time to rinse the vehicle thoroughly to get rid of all those soapy suds. Use a hose or a washer to blow away the excess shampoo, carefully cover all areas taking care to remove all traces of suds, you’ll soon start to the notice the quality of the shine upon your vehicle’s bodywork.
Drying the car
Pay close attention when you dry the vehicle off, take care as you cover all panels and go around the bodywork. You could use a conventional chamois to remove excess water from the car, but for superior results, try a Hi-Tech Microfibre Towel and this makes it really easy to dry your car. If you want streak-free windows and bodywork that’s a joy to behold, this towel makes all the difference.
Wax it for the winter
By now your car should be looking pretty pristine but you still have some way to go to provide it with all over body protection. Adding a wax layer will help to ward off the worst of the wintry weather, and by choosing the best possible product at this stage, you’ll give your car the greatest chance of surviving the bleak months that lie ahead.
High Definition Wax is the product we’d recommend, you can buy it from suppliers of Autoglym care care accessories. It has a careful balance of polymers, carnauba and microcrystalline waxes; this is a product free from abrasives, water or emulsifiers, and it is suitable for use on some of the worlds’ most prestigious vehicles, but looks equally as impressive on a family runabout.
Apply as thinly and as evenly as possible using the foam applicator provided, taking special care on the lower areas of the vehicle that are more prone to salt corrosion, slush and other debris thrown up by wintry roads.
Other areas to address...
Apart from the wheels and the main bodywork of the vehicle, tyre dressing, glass care and fabric hood treatments will help to keep your car in a gorgeous condition over the winter. The good news is all of these items are available right now through Autoglym and other premium brand name car care suppliers.
Now it looks great, keep it that way!
One of the best ways to provide your vehicle with superior protection over the winter is to park it inside a garage and cover it with a premium grade car cover. People often forget to use car covers over the winter, especially if they have a garage available.
However, due care should be taken whether you leave your car inside or outside at night, always use a cover to protect that freshly washed and waxed bodywork, this is very important if you own a soft-top car.
Apart from the obvious exposure to frost, ice and general debris that whirls and swirls around the driveway during the winter time, by fitting a car cover you prevent specific issues related to fabric hoods on convertible cars.
Freezing winters can be cruel to cabriolets
A growing number of rag-top owners have taken to online forums to report issues with door opening mechanisms. On certain cabriolets, the mechanisms are designed to lower the windows slightly to allow access when the door is opened, but they can sometimes stick when the vehicle is frozen solid, and people can’t get into their cars!
Case examples of this can be found at:
https://forums.nissansportz.com/topic/21447-doors-frozen-solid/
https://www.a5oc.com/forums/a5-general-q/9553-frozen-windows.html
https://www.mercedescla.org/threads/frameless-doors.149/page-2
https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5046042-Windows-Freezing-Closed-in-the-winter
Don’t worry if you own one of the vehicles mentioned in these forums, you can keep your Nissan Z, Audi A5, Mercedes CLA or prestige cabriolet well-protected throughout the winter using one of our luxury, waterproof, lightweight or indoor car covers, we also stock wheel covers to keep rims prestige as well.
Call Us Today for premium levels of car care 01442 256682
If you really want to care for your car this winter, follow our wintry guide at Storm Car Covers, for more details about any of the fitted vehicle covers we sell, call today on 01442 256682, or click to contact us here.