[heatfan03]

Hey all,
Finally got my car to college and am now having some questions in regards to the snow.

What do you all use to remove the snow ? just a basic brush ? I dont want to damage the paint.
any other hints for car cleaning in snow to keep it good


also any driving tips are appreciated. I have 4 wheel drive at least

[2kaccordocoupe]

any soft brush is fine, snow tires are a must

[Payroll]

Originally Posted by 2kaccordocoupe

any soft brush is fine, snow tires are a must

+1. If you see a lot of snow at school, I'd definitely recommend snow tires. If it only snows once or twice a season, I'd at least suggest all season tires.

As for driving tips, to be extra cautious when it's slick, it's good to brake / accelerate before or after you turn. Doing either while you are turning will push the car to slide.

It's also good (and fun) to go to an empty parking lot when it's slick and find the traction limits of the car.

[jlstyle]

It's just a BMW

[ieicholtz]

just use the plastic brush on the windows dont brush off the paint with it especially since you have a black car if you even look at it the wrong way it will scratch

[bimmerbimmer]

I know it's Bayerische Motoren Werke,

but the bottom line is,

still, IT'S JUST A CAR !!

[MShao825]

The question is, why would you leave the state of Florida to go somewhere with snow in the winter for college?!

[WayneDoodle]

The sking is better up North?

[335inTO]

Originally Posted by Takashi

Be very careful when you get wet snow or freezing rain. A sheet of ice (or snow) might form on your car when it's cold. When you move your car to somewhere warm, the sheet of ice will slide off your car and land on the ground. If your car is dirty, you will get these vertical hairline scratches on your car as the sheet of ice slid off your car and rub the sand/rock/dirt on the car's surface.

Dammit!

That's where those scratches came from! I couldn't figure out how I could have a set of hairline scratches from the roof, across the c-pillar and to the rear all facing the same way. That must have been it. I hate winter...

[HermesRider]

Originally Posted by mshao825

The question is, why would you leave the state of Florida to go somewhere with snow in the winter for college?!

Better education system where it snows? Noone wants to study when it's sunny and 80

[GMT II]

For snow buy a product called "Snow Brum". It is a giant foam pusher on a telescoping rod. It will clean your entire car in about 5 mins and will not scratch the paint
For ice, the "Ice Dozer" It literally rips the ice off of your windows with minimal effort.

Best $30 (combined) I ever spent. I don't know what I did without them. My dealership also only uses Snow Brum.

[ENINTY]

Originally Posted by mshao825

The question is, why would you leave the state of Florida to go somewhere with snow in the winter for college?!

Dude, you live in Rockville, please!

[Andy M]

Originally Posted by heatfan03

Hey all,
What do you all use to remove the snow ? just a basic brush ? I dont want to damage the paint.
any other hints for car cleaning in snow to keep it good

I had the same question myself. Talked to one of my friends who is a body mechanic and detailer.

Even if you use a soft brush on the top of the car to remove the snow from the roof, the ice crystals in the snow will still create microscratches in the finish.

What I do is I just use a brush to brush off the windows so I can see. I'll then just drive with a bunch of snow on top of the car and when it falls down onto my rear windshield, I'll either melt it with the rear defogger or pull over and brush the rear windshield again.

I can't avoid microscratches in my paint job so before winter, I usually apply an extra layer of wax just to give the paint some extra protection and then detail the car in the spring.

As for washing the car in the winter, I use the automatic touchless car washes. Some people will disagree but the way I see it is that it does such a bad of cleaning my car in the first place that I don't think it'll cause any damage to the paint - if it can't take off some of the caked on dirt, it won't take off my clear coat. It does the job though of washing the surface of the car to get rid of some of the salt which is a good thing in the winter. I don't like using the high pressure wand washes because I don't want that high pressure to push the dirt and sand deeper into my clear coat. I DO use the high pressure wand washes though on the front of my car since I have 3M and that's the part that gets really dirty. In the spring, I'll do a full detail with the clay bar.

[UdubBadger]

Originally Posted by heatfan03

Hey all,
Finally got my car to college and am now having some questions in regards to the snow.

What do you all use to remove the snow ? just a basic brush ? I dont want to damage the paint.
any other hints for car cleaning in snow to keep it good


also any driving tips are appreciated. I have 4 wheel drive at least

where are you in school at?

DON'T USE A BRUSH ON THE PAINT!!!
Scrape the ice off windows and let the car run for like 5 min to heat up while you're doing all this... using the defrosters will help obviously.

I would suggest snow tires if you are somewhere up by me but if you aren't seeing constant snow, some A/S would work. I ran my OEM RFT's on my xi last winter and I was fine up here (part of the reason I got winters was because now I'm going snowboarding a lot more and have to take a lot of poorly plowed/unsalted roads to get there. Guess it all depends on where you are and what the climate is there.

[MShao825]

Originally Posted by ENINTY

Dude, you live in Rockville, please!

Uhhh ok? WTF does that have to do with ANYTHING?!

[heatfan03]

im at babson college in Boston


so basically use a scraper for windows
and dont use a brush on the paint


and yeah i have messed around in a empty snow ridden parking lot already