It's getting VERY cold out there. Unless you have a heated garage, you may want to consider putting everything in an interior room so that freezing isn't a possibility.

Once some car chemicals have frozen, they are generally useless as they may separate or take on different chemical characteristics.

Chemicals are expensive... take care of your investment!

Just a friendly reminder...

RP

 

Good info RockPick. Another one to add would be to drain and roll up your water hose, and put it in a heated garage or put it up in your house out of the way. I had to get a new one last Spring because I left my old hose out in the tool shed last Winter, and it busted all to crap. Lesson learned.

 

Will the chemicals be ok if they stay just above freezing? Say, I keep my garage at 40-45 degrees?

Also, can I still wax my car at 40-45 degrees with the porter cable with out problem?

Thanks RP,

Duke

 

Yes, they should be fine. My chemicals stay in a garage all year round and I have not noticed any adverse effects from it.

I've done 40-45 degree waxing before. Give the wax more time to cure on the paint before buffing off (depending on what wax you're using of course... I'd still do P21S like it's suppose to be applied. But I'd let any synthetic cure longer.)

If you're having problems with the temp, then just pull your truck into the sun and let the sun heat up a side of your truck. After it's nice and warm, wax that side of the vehicle. Repeat on the other side.

 

I have to chuckle at this.
Winter is the time of year I put my chemicals back out in the garage... They don't like the 130-150 degree garage temps in the summer very much either. In the winter is when I get to wax my trucks. In the summer it is way too hot.



Sure depends on where you live.
Chris

 

Lol, you're joking right? Sunlight when it's 19 degrees outside won't warm my truck. Here in MN 19 degrees is a norm, actually even a high sometimes. For example, in the month of February it won't be uncommon to go a week where the temp never gets above 0.

 

Uhh... I think Intel would agree on this one (I'll point him back here if I see him on AOL IM)... you probably don't want to wax or even think about waxing when it's 19 degrees.... it's just not going to work. LOL!

45 - 50 degrees is as cold as I'll go when working on a vehicle. Even then, you'll run into problems with the wax setting up (at least in the same day) because cold air temps simply don't hold as much moisture and thus, the products don't dry nearly as fast. 50 is actually more of a rule of thumb for me... 50 and sunny.

Have access to a heated garage Duke?

=RP=

 

Yeah I have a heated garage, and I can get it to 45 degrees without spending a fortune. For some reason, going to 50 degrees costs a LOT more. I wouldn't go out there unless it was at least 45 (in the garage) and give everything twice as long as normal to setup and dry.

 

Just brought all my stuff inside the house. It went from 80 the other day to 25 tonight, didn't think it was going to drop this quickly.

- Chris

 

Thanks for the advice RockPick!! I thought about bringing them inside but decided not to. Im gonna go out and get them right now, hope its no too late. Now I just have to find a place to put them.

 

I was speaking about 45 degrees... Not below freezing... I wouldn't be outside working on my truck in 19 degree weather.

And the sunlight does warm the paint.. I bet the side in the sun is warmer than the side in the shade...

 

Oh yeah, sorry I misread you. I thought you meant 19 degrees. Maybe in 19 degrees sunlight will warm the paint, never wanted to go out and check because 19 with sunlight is still too cold for me.

Bad part is, sunny days are few and far inbetween up here.

 

Once again, RockPick has saved me from a dreaded visit from the fine folks at PETDC- People for the Ethical Treatment of Detailing Chemicals. Man, that was close. Thanks Brad!

 

You'll get my bill in the mail.

 

Yesterday was the first day here cool enough for me to clay/wax out in the sun. It was a blustery 65 degrees or so.