Protecting/cleaning paint before Winter

[Nick1234]

I need to throw something on the Impala to help protect the clear coat, paint, and prevent rusting.

 

What steps and what products should i use. Not too worried about appearance, cause that will come, but i want it to be protected. Zymol? cleaner wax? what steps. Ill be aplying this by hand. Do people get the underbody sprayed with oil too??

 

Also i found out that touchless carwashes are aweful!!! the cleaner is straight acid and strips off anything that is on the paint including wax. not sure where to go this winter since it was so easy to do that after getting gas. are all car washes like that?

[Rdrckt_92]

I use turtle wax super hard shell wax, its the best stuff I have used. a couple coats and you should be alright. It wouldnt be a bad idea to get the car undercoated, but as long as you can keep it reasonably clean in the winter you really dont have anything to worry about

[Psych0matt]

what he said.

 

I'm going to look into undercoating since the cutlass may be seeing winter this year, but otherwise just make sure you wax it up good

[Grand Moff Joseph]

Wash, clay, buff(cleaner wax/light polisher if time allows), then follow with two coats of Meguiar's Polymer Paint Sealant.

[slick]

A good, thorough wash, then I usually apply a few coats of wax. Zymol seems to last forever, so that will probably be my top coat when it comes time for me to do it.

[1990lumina]

Use the wand wash if you can. It's much better (but you don't get the underbody spray either)..I like the wand wash for many reasons. One is I don't shoot at areas with flaking paint on my Lumina lol..Two, my trunk leaks so I can minimze leakage again. Three, doesn't seem to shoot water behind cladding or anything quite as bad (trapped water freezes/pops paint, etc..

 

 

[wildbill]

i guess i am spoiled. i use the power washer at work. bring my own soap and towels and everything. plus its heated so my doors don't freeze shut.

 

def do a wax before the snow flies. i just got done with mine and it looks sssswweeeeeetttttt!!!!!

[GtipGary]

Maguires NXT Is Freaking amazing. I used to use wizards and only wizards. Then my brother made me try this shit and omg works wonders.

[Regal_GS_1989]

Use the wand wash if you can. It's much better (but you don't get the underbody spray either)..I like the wand wash for many reasons. One is I don't shoot at areas with flaking paint on my Lumina lol..Two, my trunk leaks so I can minimze leakage again. Three, doesn't seem to shoot water behind cladding or anything quite as bad (trapped water freezes/pops paint, etc..

 

 

I only go to the wand wash too. Theres one here that has a wand about 4.5 feet long and it's designed to get the under body clean. It works great. And speaking of Wax... i still have to do the cutty and the silverado before the snow flies.

[Euro]

I need to another 3 step before winter. And a 3 step on my wheels, I'm afraid winter's going to fuxor them up. Seeing as how they were never on in the winter anyways with the last GP they were on.

 

I go thru the auto washes during the winter, mostly because of the underbody sprayer and at the end there are a handful of guys who dry the car off before it freezes

 

 

[slick]

Yep, during the winter, I use the auto wash almost exclusively, unless it's a warmer winter day out.

 

My Bonne wheels clearcoat is already starting to peel and chip, so I'm not even worried about them anymore.

[ns87]

One thing I do before almost every winter is clean and wax the insides of the doors. Other than that, do an extra fine job waxing the lower half of the car/fender/rocker panels if you can. It should be fine

[Euro]

One thing I do before almost every winter is clean and wax the insides of the doors. Other than that, do an extra fine job waxing the lower half of the car/fender/rocker panels if you can. It should be fine

 

I did that with my Lumina and it helped pretty well. It only started rusting in the last few months I had it

 

[1990lumina]

I go over and touch up and bare metal too...salt and bare metal love each other. I have to take the metal piece off above my rear bumper/below the tail lights and paint the bottom of it since it rubbed against the rear bumper and the paint is worn right through. Also, inside of my trunk lid needs to be painted up before it rusts. And bottom edge of both my doors are both doggie fucked lol.

[Regal_GS_1989]

What i find works well for the bottom of the doors is spraying on some white lithium grease. Actually you could pretty much spray it anywhere where you don't want rust. Sticks on there really well and doesn't come off until you clean it off. Normal washing doesn't take it off.

[pwmin]

my cobalt will never see an auto car wash. only time ive used high-pressure was just to rinse it off and that was at a good distance. i put a few coats of zaino on it and it snowed a lot last winter and i would just brush the snow off in the morning and the damn thing would be clean when i got home, no water spots or anything.

[Nick1234]

i heard touchless car washes, mostly at the gas station are no good. between the amount of pressure, and the soap i hear is pretty strong, it just takes off whatever wax you may have put on.....

 

im going to try the lithium grease in a couple spots. then just go to the store and get something just to put maybe 2 coats on so it is protected. not too worried about appearance. i know that this is by no way a substitute, and i still obviously wax my cars and take care of them, but i use wax as you dry after every wash. i love the stuff. beeds the water for a while. helps protect. gives great shine and really helps between waxes. i used it on my 93 lumina, and the paint was in such good condition and the clear coat still looks great to this day.

[chadz34]

I need to throw something on the Impala to help protect the clear coat, paint, and prevent rusting.

 

What steps and what products should i use. Not too worried about appearance, cause that will come, but i want it to be protected. Zymol? cleaner wax? what steps. Ill be aplying this by hand. Do people get the underbody sprayed with oil too??

 

Also i found out that touchless carwashes are aweful!!! the cleaner is straight acid and strips off anything that is on the paint including wax. not sure where to go this winter since it was so easy to do that after getting gas. are all car washes like that?

On a dry hot day......oil the FUCK out of the underneath of the car. drill holes in the rockers get some oil in there, and theres rubber plugs to filll the hole dfont worry it wont look bad......Just the basic idea is to prevent salt from reaching chips or damaged areas of the body and spreading the cancer....