How Often Should You Wash Your Car In The Winter?

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I don’t know about you, but I like winter a lot. At least I used to when I lived in a place with a lot of snow during the winter. However, there are two things everybody hates about winter. It’s cleaning the snow and trying to keep their car clean. So, today I decided to write about how often you should wash your car in the winter. 

In the Wintertime, you should wash your car at least twice a month, depending on weather conditions, your location, and if you keep a car in the garage.

Well, the answer wasn’t hard, right? However, I want to dive straight into some more detailed answers and give you all the details you need about washing your car in the winter.

Also, be sure to check out the effects of road salt on your vehicle!

Let’s see some factors affecting your vehicle’s condition during the winter.

Weather Conditions

This is the most important factor when it comes to washing our car during the wintertime. Winter is the worst time for our cars. Snow and rains are very often during the winter, so how will that affect your car maintenance?

Snow

No doubt, the snow is the worst weather condition for your car. Not because of the snow, but because of the salt that’s being spread all over the roads to prevent frosting.

If it’s snowing, I would recommend you to wash your car every week. You can do just a quick wash to clean all the salt and grime from the roads. 

Rain

If it’s raining, that’s good for your car. If it’s raining, there is no need to wash it so often since the water from the roads will clean everything in your undercarriage.

Washing it once in two week period will be fine. 

Sun

If it’s sunny, or at least there are no rain and snow, then keep up the main suggestion, and wash your car twice a month. 

Location

Location is probably the most important factor in how often you will wash your car during the winter. For instance, now I live in an area where the temperatures never go even near freezing. And, of course, there isn’t snow.

If you live in such an area where temperatures are high, there aren’t snow and icy roads, that’s great for your car. 

You don’t need to wash it too often; even only once a month is more than enough. (Unless you want to drive a shiny car all the time!)

However, if you live in a colder place, then wash your car more often because of the salt or mag-chloride on the roads.

Where Do You Park Your Car?

Well, you should agree with me that having a garage is a great advantage for your car. A car in the garage won’t be exposed to any weather conditions. 

So, if you do have a garage, try to keep it inside when you don’t use it – especially if you won’t drive it for a few days.

You Don’t Have a Garage?

Well, if you don’t have a garage, don’t worry. Yes, it’s best to put a car in the garage, but there are plenty of products that will protect your car even outside.

For instance, check out this all-weather car cover on Amazon. It’s for covering the entire car and protects it from UV and all weather conditions.

Also another great thing for winter is having a windshield cover, which will prevent the freezing of your windshield.

What Type Of Car Wash Service To Get?

You need to know that just having a shiny car doesn’t mean that it’s really clean. Maybe from the outside, but what’s with the undercarriage?

During the winter, you should always get a car wash that has undercarriage washing included – this will clean all the salt, sand, and ice from the undercarriage of your car.

The best way to wash your car is to take some high-pressure car wash since you will easily reach all the parts with it. Just be careful with the undercarriage – you could mess some things up if you don’t wash the underbody correctly.

Is It Bad To Wash Your Car In The Winter?

I think that by now, you will realize how important washing your car in the winter is. There’s not a single thing that’s bad about washing your vehicle during winter. Just follow this guide on washing cars, and you’re good to go.

Furthermore, if you forgot to apply paint protection to your car, make sure to apply it as soon as possible since paint protectants (waxes, sealants, ceramic coatings) are especially important for making your car shiny and easy to keep clean.

Conclusion

Having a clean and shiny car during the winter is a mission impossible. You wash it, and just the moment you get to the road, the car is dirty again. 

But you will agree that having a clean car without rust and corrosion is more important than the car’s look. Just keep your car clean without salt, sand, and ice – and wait for the spring!

Then the real detailing comes, haha. I hope that I have helped you with the question of how often to wash a car in the winter. Now you have some general information, and depending on the mentioned conditions, you know whether you will wash it once, twice, or 4 times a month.

Maintain your car and keep it clean! See you in the next article 🙂