How to clean the salt off your car in the winter the cheap and easy way.

It’s cold, freezing, and salt trucks are coating your car with loads of salt! Well, it’s time to take action and uncover the real beauty of your paint job once again. Oh and get all that slush and chalky white salt off once and for all. No need to get in line at the local car wash. I have a simple method that won’t take up your time and will give you amazing results!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Warm clothes you don’t mind getting dirty
• Nice warm hat
• 1 Warm glove
• Pair of boots, warm socks and a warm coat you don’t mind getting dirty
• 1 Small bottle of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo
• (2) 2 Gallon sized buckets or similar. Something you can carry easily
• Large fuzzy car washing mitt – kind of looks like a mop except it is a washing mitt

1. After the snow has fallen and white (salt) is the new color of your car. Wait to do this after you had a fair amount of snow accumulation. Only try this when the temps are 35˚ F and above. Then, go to the store and get yourself a small bottle of baby shampoo. Just the plain standard stuff. You don’t want to rub conditioners and additives all over your car. Basically you want a very mild surfactant that will give your car the touch of a baby’s bottom!
2. Johnson's Baby Shampoo - don't use too much. Just a few squirts. Get all your accessories ready for the quick wash. Line them up near your car. Fill 1 bucket up with ¾ of water and just two small squeezes of the baby shampoo. Swish it around with the washing mitt. Then fill the other bucket up with plain lukewarm/warm water. Just don’t make the water too hot for either bucket.
3. Water and cold don't mix while you are working out in winter weather. Time to bundle up! When I tried it, at the end I got kinda wet. Also, the car is coated in salt and I’m sure you will brush up against it like I did a couple times and you might get some dirty slush on you, so keep warm and don’t wear something trendy you won’t want to stain. Put on some grungie stuff and get into it. Oh, and wear boots because the water will splash on your feet and you don’t want to have wet feet in the cold! Head to toe preparation. You can change your clothes later. The reason I tell you to wear one glove is that you have to dip the washing mitt in the warm sudsy water – hence don’t dip your glove in the water like I did! 1 hand stays warm, 1 hand dips the mitt in the warm water and wipes the car down. You might want to wipe your dipping hand dry with a towel and warm it in your pocket from time to time.
4. Scrub-a-Dub Dub just a light swish Prep your car by dusting accumulated snow off. We are dealing with salt, not snow here. Quickly brush the warm washing mitt on your car with very little pressure. All you need to do is run the mitt along the sides of your car, mirrors, hood, trunk area so that you can see what your car really looks like underneath all that salt! This is a fast process. Take your time, but just swipe and dip the washing mitt in the sudsy water from time to time to clean it and keep going until you are done.
5. Bling! Got my baby back! Wring the washing mitt so it is dry and put it away or to the side. Now, here is the fun part . . . but you have to stand back a bit from the car. Take that sudsy water and throw it towards the roof of your car! Yep, get all your frustrations out of the day and chuck that water around. Finally rinse off the sudsy water with your second bucket of water. Use about a third of it on one side of the car, aiming at the roof again, then move to different sides of your car repeating the slapping of the water against your car like a waterfall! Presto, you are done! And hopefully not too wet. Get back in the house and put some nice warm fuzzy clothes on and relax. You just saved yourself a good $5 to $10 dollars on a car wash that only takes approximately 20 minutes to do yourself at home. Also, I like to be earth-friendly, that is why I went with the baby shampoo. Baby shampoos are designed to have low alkalinity and be gentle to sensitive skin. Perfect for your car – what I consider MY baby shiny and new!

Tips & Warnings

• Step in the house and have some warm cocoa if you need.
• Have fun. Don’t spend a lot of time on it. Swish it around to get the salty stuff off and you’re done!
• Beware of frostbite! The temperature should be bearable in the upper 30s, and keep yourself warm!
• If you do get wet, change your clothes immediately. This process should go fast, so you shouldn’t linger outside getting wet, etc.
• And remember . . . don’t use HOT water! Extreme temps can crack the surface of your paint job and it won’t be good for your skin either. Keep it simple.