Winter
Car Care

Winter driving is tough on both cars and drivers—solvents splashing on your car from the road; acid rain hazing your glass, trim, and paint; rain wedging dirt into your ragtop; dank mornings and evenings; bleary, foggy, windshields; slick roads.

Auto Detail Los Angeles provides car detailing solutions that help you and your car stay safe during winter.

How Winter Driving Is Tough On Your Car

Contaminants Splashing

Driving on roads with puddled water causes contaminants to splash onto your car. This can lead to paint and trim damage and speed up rusting. Winter driving on high passes and mountain roads is especially bad for your car because of the salts used to clear the roads of ice. These salts are highly corrosive and will speed up rusting on any exposed metal surfaces, such as engine components, some bumpers, brake lines, suspension systems, and fuel lines. Left unchecked, these salts may also interfere with electrical connections.

Acid Rain

Acid rain is another Los Angeles winter issue that can cause permanent damage to your car’s exterior. The rain combines with dirt on the surface of your car’s paint, glass, and trim, creating an abrasive and corrosive mixture that slowly spots, etches and degrades these surfaces. This can cause fading paint; hazing glass. Besides etching and staining, acid rain can weaken wax sealants on your car, making your car vulnerable to the elements. Without strong sealant, rust sometimes becomes an issue with metal components like door handles or bumpers. This can be particularly concerning for classic cars, since many vintage parts are no longer made.

Convertible Top

Winter weather can also be harsh on untreated convertible tops. Dirt, dry leaves, and other tiny or even microscopic organic matter get trapped in your ragtop, and rain and dew activates and seeds those particles deep into the fabric. Untreated, this can lead to mold and mechanical degradation of your convertible’s top.

How Winter Driving Is Tough On You

Darkness

Winter driving is challenging for drivers for many reasons, including darkness. Darkness in the morning and evening hours makes it more difficult to both see and be seen, especially if your headlight lenses are hazy.

Low Visibility

The low Sun of Winter further hampers your winter driving, more so if your windshield or other automotive glass is spotted, etched, or otherwise hazy. Distortions cause by spotted, hazy, or etched glass can make headlights, streetlights, and street-lamps appear blurry, making driving more difficult.

Rain

Rain can also complicate winter driving. If glass is untreated, it can attract water. When rain or water falls on an untreated windshield, the water sheets instead of beads, reducing visibility for the driver. Even when using wiper blades, water on untreated glass sometimes smudges around the glass instead of clearing. Road-splashed water can also cling to untreated automotive glass, causing temporary blindness while driving.

Foggy Windows

Fog on interior glass and mirrors can also increase the difficulty of winter driving. Foggy windows appear at the worst moments, and defrosters take too long or don’t clear the side windows. The times you resort to cleaning the foggy windows with your hand nearby towel, you sometimes smudge it worse.

How Winter Car Care Can Help

Car & Undercarriage Wash

Consistent high-quality car washing during winter is probably the best way to avoid damage from acid rain, salt, and contaminants that may splash from puddles. If you drive through puddles or salted roads, an undercarriage rinse is advisable as it can help prevent premature rusting and wearing of break, suspension, and electrical components.

Sealant Waxes

Applying a strong sealant wax to your vehicle’s exterior is another way to protect it from winter wear. Sealant waxes are used to create a waterproof barrier on your car’s paint and other exterior surfaces that protect it from acid rain, road salts, and other contaminants that can cause permanent damage. Sealant wax is always important on your car’s exterior, but often-forgotten during the winter months since it is easy to equate sealant wax with shine enhancer and Sun/UV protector, not winter-wear protector.

Convertible Top Sealant

Convertible ragtop deep-cleaning and sealing is also always needed, but especially during the rainy winter months of Los Angeles. Deep-cleaning a convertible top removes any dirt or organic matter on or in its fabric or seams. After cleaning the top, applying a convertible-top sealant protects your convertible’s top from potential mechanical, mold, and UV degradation.

Headlight Restoration

Headlight restoration can help your winter driving by bringing your car’s brightness back to spec, increasing your visibility in the dark and your overall safety while driving.

Automotive Glass Polishing

Crystal-clear automotive glass also helps with safe winter driving. Deep-cleaning your glass is sometimes all that is needed for crystal-clear glass. Deep-cleaning your glass typically includes scrubbing it with specific cleaners and pads, and decontaminating it with a clay bar. Glass with hazing or etching caused by acid rain, hard water spots, or worn wipers often requires automotive glass polishing to clear.

Glass Coatings

Rain-repellent glass sealants and anti-fog glass treatments can also help you during winter driving. Rain-repellent glass sealants create a hydrophobic layer on the automotive glass that makes rain or any water bead up instead of sheet. This improves visibility even in heavy rain or when dirty water splashes onto your windshield. Glass sealants also protect your glass from acid rain and minor scratches. Anti-fog treatments create a hydrophobic and otherwise inhospitable-to-fog layer on your glass, keeping the interior-side of your car windows from fogging. Some anti-fog treatments also repel dirt and make subsequent cleaning of your interior windows easier.

Why Choose Auto Detail Los Angeles for Winter Car Care Services

Quality, Value, Respect

Auto Detail Los Angeles provides the best mobile car detailing services for winter driving. We field experienced International Detailing Association (IDA) member car detailing professionals equipped with the best tools, techniques, and solutions from professional car detailing supplies companies like Meguiar’s, Adam’s, 3D, AutoFiber, Griot’s, Mothers, McKee’s.

Headlight Restoration

If your headlights are foggy, we suggest our professional headlight restoration service to start. Our headlight restoration service can help you stay safer during winter by helping you see better while driving.

Automotive Glass Polishing, Coatings

Clear automotive glass is key to safe winter driving. For that, we provide our Crystal-Clear Glass Service. The service starts with glass deep-cleaning and progresses to polishing if needed. We then apply a glass sealant with rain repellency and an anti-fog treatment.

Mobile Car Wash Services

To keep the exterior of your car protected during winter, we suggest our Winter Mobile Car Wash, which includes application of a strong sealant wax, and undercarriage wash with de-ionized water.

Convertible Top Sealant

To keep your ragtop fit during winter, we recommend our Convertible Top Deep-Clean and Seal Service.

All winter car care service packages are customizable.

Prudence is key to safe winter driving.

Book your service below or contact us.