Welcome back to the Proje’ blog. The sun has gone in, the leaves are falling from the trees and we’re starting to look towards winter. It’s always a busy time in the detailing world, as large amounts of customers rush to get their final wash in before the cold sets in or worse – you get snowed in.
Most people have an idea that detailing is more important in winter than other seasons, but they don’t really know why. To be honest, it’s not much different to other seasons in that maintenance and high-quality cleaning always makes a positive difference. The main exception for winter is the type and amount of dirt that collects on cars. This doesn’t make the detailing process change much – it just means we’re going to take extra care and add a bit of time on to the process to make sure everything is in tip-top shape.
Cleaning
Dirt is just as prevalent in winter as other seasons, but it’s a bit heavier duty. In summer, it’s all dust and fine grit but in winter you get thicker, harder dirt caused by increased rainfall, the hardness of frozen dirt and standing water or snow that picks up loose dirt and causes it to stagnate.
For this reason, we’re going to recommend that you move away from the two-bucket wash method if you live in a colder part of the country and use the zero-bucket wash method. Check out our video here for an in-depth tutorial – but we’ll go over it right now too.
Minimizing the amount of contact with your vehicle is extra safe, because it avoids the issue of scratching your paintwork accidentally with a big bit of hard dirt, or introducing swirls. So, we’re going to use our pressure washer foam cannon. There is no better way to get maximum suds than with the Proje' Pressure Washer Foam Cannon. It’s a high-pressure cannon that will generate enough suds to cover your whole vehicle in one go. It will have your car looking like it’s been in a snowdrift, and this is great because every inch will be covered in fast-acting, pH neutral suds. The massive water reserve means that you can fit a whole 2oz. of Vital Car Wash Soap in with another 28 oz. of water, resulting in enough foam to cover your whole car without the need for a refill. Just unscrew, fill and reattach the container to your foam cannon unit and then watch the suds fly.
Here’s how to use the foam cannon.
Step 1: The foam cannon method is so effective because it maximizes the amount of suds that come in to direct contact with your vehicle and completely eliminates the possibility of any scratching or swirl stains caused by human error. As with the bucket method, fill the foam cannon with 2 oz of Vital Car Wash Soap, and the remainder with water.
Step 2: Shake the cannon well so that you agitate the Vital Car Wash Soap inside the cannon.
Step 3: Starting from the top and working towards the bottom, cover the entire car with a thick lather of suds. The difference here is that you will be able to cover your vehicle so thoroughly that it will almost be invisible. Leave it for a few minutes before rinsing using a high-pressure nozzle and finally drying using the Big Giant Drying 25 x 36 Towel.
Bearing in mind that cars can get a bit dirtier at this time of year, you might want to repeat the process one more time – it all depends on what you can see after you’ve rinsed and dried. We like to take our time and do the rinse-repeat dance in winter, just to be sure. But it’s your car, your time and your process! Either way, you’ll want to check out the kit we’ve put together specifically for foam washing; it’s our foam blaster kit, it’s a bargain at $77.96 and it’ll keep you and your car happy over the winter months and way beyond.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this week’s blog – stay tuned for more tips and tricks next week.
If you have any questions about any of the techniques or products that I’ve mentioned in this post, just add a comment below and we’ll post a reply! Remember that we stock only the best auto detailing supplies, so why not click some of the links in this blog post, or visit our products page to find out more? From all of us at Proje’, Enjoy the Process!
