How to protect your car for winter? Tips and tricks

Winter is without doubt the most dreaded season for "Maniacs". Bodywork, seals, plastics, and interiors are heavily stressed and can deteriorate quickly if not protected.
There are many cleaning/protection products for all surfaces, but how do you choose the right ones, apply the right techniques, and know the tips and tricks to avoid any mishaps.


Things you should not do:

There are already certain absolute rules to follow if you do not want to damage elements of your car because of the cold or frost.

If the outside temperature is below 0°C, do not wash your vehicle. Indeed, water will progressively freeze, especially around seals and window rubbers, which is very bad for these flexible materials. The same applies to brake pads, which do not react well to freezing once wet.
At best, and if you absolutely must clean your car, proceed with a waterless wash using suitable products and microfibers. The product Wash & Finish by KOCH CHEMIE is perfectly suited, along with several fluffy microfibers such as the COCKTAIL MICROFIBERS Bloody Mary.
If the vehicle is too dirty to adopt this method, then postpone your wash until temperatures and weather conditions are more favorable.

Never pour hot water on your windows/bodywork to defrost the car. Everyone is supposed to know this, but it is worth repeating. The thermal shock caused by boiling water on frozen bodywork or glass can cause serious damage: broken glass, paint cracking, etc.
If you need to defrost your windows, handles, or window rubbers, then use de-icing products to spray on directly and wipe with a microfiber after letting it work. The product Frozen by FICTECH is highly recommended.

In the same vein, avoid at all costs using ice scrapers on your windows. Glass surfaces can be dirty beneath the frost, and by scraping you will inevitably micro-scratch your surfaces. Also, these scrapers are often made from plastics that are too rigid and can damage the glass and surrounding surfaces. Yes, glass scratches — we tend to forget this too quickly. Once again, use the de-icing product mentioned above (FICTECH Frozen).



If you want to go further with the work on your windows, treating them can prove beneficial: less frost on the surface, better visibility thanks to the hydrophobic effect created above 70km/h. However, you will need to properly prepare your glass surfaces, with at least a decontamination and ideally a polish.
SOFT99 offers very interesting products for polishing and protecting windows, notably the Glaco range (Compound and Ultra Sealant).
The kit shown below (Ultra Glaco Super Set) is very interesting.





Leaving the saline road film on the bodywork for too long. Road salt in winter is very harmful to all elements of the car: bodywork, underbody, rims, plastics, seals, etc. We cannot prevent road salting in winter, so the reflex is to rinse the vehicle as quickly as possible (if temperatures allow). You must have this reflex to clean the vehicle quickly, as salt attacks bare uncoated metals (brake disc hats, suspension arms, etc.)
For the bodywork, ideally use a Traffic Film Remover (TFR) sprayed on the lower sections before rinsing. This will more easily lift the saline film that adheres to paint. The product Citrus Power by AUTO FINESSE is highly recommended. Ready to use, it will greatly help in removing the greasy film and salt during rinsing.




Elements that absolutely must be treated during winter:

Seals:

The rubber elements of the car (tires, door seals, window rubbers) are certainly the parts that suffer the most from cold and frost. They must be treated to help them get through winter smoothly.

The first step will be to clean them thoroughly using an APC (All Purpose Cleaner) such as APC-150 by FICTECH. Use the correct dilution of the product (1:10 for APC-150).

Then treat your door, hood, and trunk seals to prevent them from sticking due to frost. An excellent product that will nourish while creating a film to prevent sticking to the surface: Rubber Care (Gummi Pflege) by NEXTZETT.



The Bodywork:

Although the weather is often cold, rainy, or even snowy, you must clean your vehicle regularly in winter. Even more regularly, in order to remove all surface contamination. We mentioned earlier the benefit of TFR (Citrus Power by AUTO FINESSE) for easily cleaning the greasy road and saline film. It will then be wise to quickly protect the surface with Quick Wax products, ideally ceramic-based for better resistance to bad weather. We therefore readily recommend Car Gliss - 601 by FICTECH.
The primary purpose of these Quick Wax products is to make future washes simpler and faster, while also providing a significantly higher level of shine.



If you want to go further in terms of bodywork, consider washing your car with a hard or alkaline shampoo to boost cleaning power during this more demanding climate period.


Rims:

Wheels (wheel arches, rims, tires) collect a tremendous amount of contamination and dirt from salted, muddy roads. To get to the essentials during these demanding periods when these elements are heavily stressed, the ideal is to use an all-in-one product compatible with rims/tires/wheel arches. The product TURTLE WAX Wheel Cleaner & Tire Prep is perfect for this. Simply spray, ideally brush onto the tire sidewalls and rims, and then rinse.



The benefit of using TURTLE WAX Wheel Cleaner & Tire Prep on tire sidewalls is to prevent the yellowing of rubber during this period when roads are often salted. It prevents the rubber from deteriorating too quickly due to salt ingestion.

The interior:

In winter, it is also difficult to keep the interior spotless with dirty shoes, often wet clothes, the cold inside the cabin and the humidity.

The ideal solution remains a complete leather treatment to protect against the harshness of winter: complete kits exist and can also be reused as summer approaches. The one offered by COLOURLOCK with the Gentle Cleaner and the protective lotion will be truly suitable and very easy to use. The idea is to clean the leather and then nourish it.
This type of treatment generally needs to be renewed every season and is even more recommended during the two harsh seasons of winter and summer, where leather is put under greater strain.

For the rest of the interior (carpets, dashboard, hard and foam plastics, GPS screens and others), it will be appropriate in this case to use a single product for everyday use: an interior quick detailer. A product that will also protect surfaces after each application: Total Interior Cleaner & Protectant by CHEMICAL GUYS. You can choose to apply it on a microfiber cloth and then wipe the surfaces as you would with a quick detailer, or opt for the version of the product in pre-impregnated auto wipes.

It is an excellent product with a fresh scent that will help simplify life in winter when you are short on time or it is cold. Neutral visual finish as well.

Conclusion:

Using a vehicle in the middle of winter requires ongoing maintenance both on the interior and the exterior. Surfaces are put through a very tough test, especially in the harshest climates. Using the right products and the right methods is therefore strongly recommended.

Overall, a meticulous user spends an average of 1h30 on their vehicle between exterior cleaning/finishing and the interior. In winter, this average is reduced to a maximum of 30 minutes.
The products presented in this article are therefore both very easy to use and will be suitable for maintenance that is faster than during the summer period.


Advantages of following a regular winter maintenance routine:

- Easier washes.

- Materials that age better.

- Avoids sometimes costly parts replacements.

Disadvantages of following a winter treatment routine:

- Requires spending time even in cold weather conditions

- Laborious wiping of certain products if applied outdoors