Fall Car Care Checklist- Prepare Your Vehicle for Winter Weather
If you are like me, you are getting excited because its that time of the year when the weather is just perfect. We're switching out of the summer activities, and for me its time for chili, football, cider, marzen beer, and dusting off the hockey skills. It really is my favorite time of year and it is easy to get caught up in the fall activities. It is a busy time of year, but I am writing this to remind you that you cannot forget to prepare...because.... WINTER is COMING!
That's right, right after all the leaves have fallen and you have had to haul 50 bags of them to the curb, after you have recovered from your candy binge on Halloween night, and after you've run the tap dry of your favorite Octoberfest, there will be snow, ice, and salt coming for you and your vehicle.
Fear not however, I have compiled a handy checklist for you to get yourself ready for the winter elements. The time is now, while the weather is nice, to run through this list and get yourself prepared!
Start with a Clean Slate
The main goal in your preparation will be to get a solid layer of protection on your vehicle so the harsh winter elements do not wreak havoc on your exterior. The first step in this process is to fully decontaminate your paint. This will serve as the perfect baseline for you to add a fresh layer of protection if you use waxes and sealants, and will also help rejuvenate your ceramic coating if you have one installed, thus allowing it to perform at its best.
Chemical Decontamination
The first step is to perform a decontamination wash. I like to remove any bonded contamination first with chemicals before moving to more aggressive methods if necessary.
Clean your wheels and tires first as normal, then proceed to the paintwork.
Onto the paint I recommend the following.
- Bugs: Once done with the wheels I like to get the bugs soaking in bug cleaner. Let that eat them up and break them down, then the rest of the wash processes will start to remove them from the vehicle. You will be left with only the most stubborn splatters to clean up afterwards.
-
Descaling soap: This is the perfect time to bust out a descaling soap to get started. I recently tried out Koch Chemie Reactivation Shampoo in my effort to revitalize an old coating on my truck.
These soaps are not PH neutral, they are more aggressive and should be used sparingly, but this is exactly the type of time to bust them out to help break down contamination and give you a fresh surface. This particular soap is acidic with a PH of 3.0. You need to accurately measure your dilutions here. Know your foam canons pre dilution so you can achieve a final dilution of 1:200. You can use this as a pre-foam and rinse or move straight to your contact wash after a couple of minutes of dwell time (as always, do not let the product dry on the surface). I recommend wearing gloves if you intend to contact wash with this. You can also try a pre wash degreaser ahead of this step or on its own- here are a couple I have enjoyed using: PURE:EST A2 Pre-Wash, Meguiar's D101 All Purpose Cleaner
- Contact wash: Now is the time for your normal contact wash. Reference Jason's full car wash write up here. Whatever method you use, here are a few tips I will sprinkle in here. Use straight vertical strokes on your vertical panels. The goal is not to mar or scratch the paint at all, but if you are marring the surface, it will be much harder to see in a straight vertical pattern. Wash top to bottom and leave the rocker panels and bumpers to last. The lower portions of the car are the dirtiest, so as you pull that dirt from the vehicle, you don't want it to build up in your wash mitt/towel/buckets and end up scratching the rest of your car. once your contact wash is complete, fully rinse the car and move onto the next step.
- Iron Decontamination: A heck of a lot of the bonded contamination on your paint is iron fallout. This comes from brake dust that your car swims through on a daily basis as well as many other sources of industrial fallout. These particles bond to your paint, and many times, especially on white vehicles, you can see them start to rust on top of the paint. Iron fallout removers can break these particles up and essentially melt them from your paint. This is the perfect step in the process to apply an iron fallout remover. Spray liberally over the entire vehicle and leave it for a few minutes, making sure not to let it dry. A chemical reaction will start where the product comes in contact with iron particles and you will see a purple solution draining from each iron spec. You will be surprised at how covered your car is! I almost forgot, try not to puke. This stuff is the most foul smelling chemical in detailing. After letting the product dwell, you can wash it off with your wash mitt then rinse or just rinse the product from the vehicle. My iron remover: Car Pro Iron X
- Tar removal: few things will stick around on your paint to this point but tar is almost always one of them. Now is the time to tackle that mess. Tar is super easy to remove with a dedicated cleaner. An effective tar remover will dissolve the tar and remove its adhesive properties making it very east to rinse or pluck from the surface. Take a good look around the car and treat and remove any remaining tar. While you are at it, keep your bug cleaner with you to get any bugs that spot welded themselves to your front end as well. My Tar Remover: CarPro Tar X
- Clay Bar: A clay bar is an option at this point if you do not have a ceramic coating. Personally, I will never clay if I am not going to follow up with a polishing step of some kind. A polish step is out of scope for what I am trying to do with this checklist, but if you are wanting some extra credit or plan to install a new ceramic coating this fall. Go right on ahead and mechanically remove any remaining bonded contamination and move on to a paint correction/ polish step.
- Dry: If you have a good layer of protection you can use forced air from a leaf blower or dedicated car dryer to halve your drying time. Them follow up with a twisted loop microfiber drying towel. Now you are ready for the best part of detailing- adding protection! Twisted loop microfiber is the way to go for drying towels and my favorites are: Rag Company Gauntlet, Autofiber Dreadnought. I mean, how can you not with names like those!
Touch up Paint
Did you pick up some new rock chips in the last year? Now is the time to take a good look over the car. It is really important to protect any newly exposed metal before the salt gets to it and makes it a much bigger problem. Here is how I deal with small rock chips:
- Prep the chip: I really like the Duplicolor all in one touch up kits mainly for their abrasive pen tip. This tip will give you a very precise abrasive point that I use to sand off any rust that has formed and scuff up the chip to promote touch up paint adhesion. I always keep the caps from these so I have that abrasive tip even if I don't always use Duplicolor for the touch up paint.
- Alcohol wipe: I will follow up with a panel prep spray to remove any debris kicked up from the abrasive tip and any oils or residue in the area again to promote paint adhesion. My Panel Prep: CarPro Eraser.
- Apply Paint: The key here is to NEVER USE A BRUSH. You aren't painting a house, there is no need for a brush. You want to apply a very small amount of paint very precisely. You can use something like a toothpick or a safety pin but I prefer a fine line paint pen as even with the aforementioned tools, you can wind up with far too much paint applied. You will want to apply just a touch of paint at a time and build it up. Once you have the paint built up you can then apply clear coat if desired.
- If you are experienced with wet-sanding you can build the chip up a little more then sand it level with the paint. Polishing from there can improve the final finish and make it harder to see the blemish. If you have never wet-sanded before- now is not the time to practice. Practice on some junkyard panels or take a class. Don't learn the hard way here.
Add or Boost your Protection
Now that you have reset your paint it is time to get the protection you need for the winter elements. This is the fun part!- Ceramic Coating Maintenance:
- If you have a ceramic coating installed now is the time to implement your coating maintenance program. Most coatings have a recommended regimen to follow periodically which usually includes a maintenance topper to boost hydrophobic properties. Having these properties in tip top shape will make it harder for the salt to stick and much easier to clean up when the weather warms up. If your coating does not have its own specific topper product, you can try one of these:
- No Coating- No Problem:
- There's nothing wrong with a standard wax or sealant regimen! These are still fantastic forms of protection, just a little more labor intensive. They can be really satisfying to apply though. You can go with an easy to use spray sealant, a hand applied sealant, or a good old fashioned paste wax. If its me personally, I am grabbing some Jescar Powerlock which is a really durable and easy on and off hand applied sealant. Here are all of my favorite products for this step:
- Paint Protection Film?:
- Is now the right time to add paint protection film or a new ceramic coating? If you have a new car you don't want to wait for spring to add these things if you are planning on it. Even used cars can benefit from preserving the paint where it is now. If you are thinking about it, start a conversation with a quality detailer near you: Find a Detailer
Glass Coating
Most of this article focuses on protecting your exterior surfaces from the elements but this next tip is more function over form. If you have never had a hydrophobic coating on your windshield, then when it rains the only way you can see where you are going is when the wipers push the sheet of water off your glass. This can become very dangerous in heavy wet conditions and when driving through road spray. When you apply a hydrophobic coating the water beads instead of sheets and you can see clearly the entire time you are driving in wet conditions, and sometimes even forgo wipers at a certain speed as the water beads and runs off the glass so fast there is no point!
I have had a glass coating on my vehicles for years but recently rode through a storm in a friends car without one and was reminded of how bad visibility can be. It should honestly be required for your glass to be hydrophobic in my opinion. Its there is a night and day difference in visibility and it is so much safer. So for this step I recommend a full proper glass coating but will provide some other options as well that will cover you for the winter.
My personal recommendation is to apply Gtechniq Clear vision Smart Glass. I have had this on my car from 2019 and my truck from 2020. Both coatings still perform well after the 5 years and 25k miles on my car and 4 years 35k miles on my truck. Really impressive durability and the beading performance is top notch.
Here is how to apply:
- Polish: After your wash your glass will be quite clean but just like paint, there can be bonded contaminants. I like to prep with a light polish using a white pad and whatever your favorite finish polish is. I find that most of the time, this is all you need. Now you can get more aggressive here and use a cerium oxide glass polish with a thin glass cutting pad. This can help take out very fine windshield wiper scratches etc. If that is something you are looking for, you can do that now.
- Clean: Remove remaining polishing oils with a penal prep alcohol wipe down.
- Apply G1: Wear gloves and apply G1 in small circular motions using the applicator pad provided. You will wait 30 min if the temperature is under 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 15 minutes if it is over. You will see the product become opaque when it is cured and time to remove.
- Use G2: G2 residue remover is why I like applying this product so much. Using G2 makes the removal of excess coating truly effortless.
- Repeat: Gtechniq recommends 3 coats for your windshield. So repeat steps 3 and 4 above to follow their recommendation. The recommendation was 2 coats when I applied mine years ago and it has held up really well.
If you aren't wanting to DIY, this is an easy and inexpensive add on at most detail shops so take a look at the find a detailer map and get booked in.
If you are a DIY'er but want something quicker to apply, I would recommend something like Gyeon Q2 Quick View. Simply apply to clean glass and wipe away after 5 min and you will have up to 6 months of protection and visibility. That's enough to get you through winter and will save you some time.
Don't forget your Interior!
It is natural to focus on exterior protection but your interior surfaces are about to be inundated with salt and slush as well. This may be the right time to consider some coatings for your carpet, cloth and leather surfaces. Like anything, you first need to clean the surfaces thoroughly, then you can apply the protection. Carpet and leather coatings work on your interior just like coatings do on the exterior. They make it harder for gunk to adhere, making it easier to clean up. This will save you some time de-salting your interior once the winter weather breaks. Below are the interior coatings I have used on my own vehicles:
Bonus Tips
- Check your battery: Batteries typically last 3-5 years and they struggle in cold temperatures. So if yours is on its way out, you likely wont know it until the coldest days of the year, which is exactly the worst time to have to replace it. Auto parts stores can test your battery to measure its cold cranking amps. This will let you know if you need to replace it BEFORE the cold weather hits. Your battery should have a sticker on it with the month and year it was manufactured. If it is turning 5 or older, I would recommend getting it tested to make sure its got enough juice to get you through winter without leaving you stranded.
- Check your tires!: Do you have enough tread to give you the grip you need to tackle the snow and sleet? Don't leave it to find out at that first stoplight! Grab yourself a tread depth gauge and measure the tread at all 4 tires. If you are under 5/32 you should consider new rubber. Better yet, maybe this is the year to get a dedicated set of winter wheels and tires. The increased grip on snow and ice with winter tires is unbelievable if you haven't experienced it before. All seasons have enough grip to get you by, but a dedicated winter tire gives you tremendous confidence and is much safer in inclement weather. For many years I drove the absolute worst vehicle possible for snowy conditions, a rear wheel drive Ford Ranger. I had a set of winter wheels and tires for it though, coupled with a water bladder in the bed for added weight and I could drive around town at normal speeds in the heavy snow while everyone else crawls around at 20mph. AWD is great and lets you have 2 more wheels pull you away from a stop, but increasing the grip at all 4 corners improves all aspects of driving: acceleration, turning, and stopping.
Get to Work
Well... What are you waiting for!?!? You've got a lot of work to do! Get to it while its still nice out. Let me know in the comments what your winter rig is and what you are doing to get it ready this year.
Products Referenced:
Koch Chemie Reactivation Shampoo
Meguiar's D101 All Purpose Cleaner
Shine Supply Cherry Ceramic Wax