Gallery: Trail ‘n Thrash Gets A Winter Wash With Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax


Who says you cannot keep a vehicle clean in the winter. It is not an easy task. We do not keep our vehicles looking perfect everyday, but we do take time through out the winter months to clean our vehicles when we can. Project Trail ‘n Thrash had seen a few days of salty slushy snow on the roads and needed a bath. 

The biggest and most obvious issue when washing your vehicle in winter is the cold temperatures. Water freezes at 32 degrees and in Ohio during the winter months there can be weeks where the temperature never reaches above 30. Other northern states it is even worse. We have found a few tips and tricks about washing in the winter. 

Above Left: Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax is the perfect soap whether its summer or winter. Above Right: Our electric pressure washer is a life saver in the winter by keeping salt and mud off Project Trail ‘n Thrash.

First step is to pick a day that it is as warm as possible. It was only 25 degrees out the day we washed Project TNT. It was far from warm, but it was also sunny which made it feel warmer. Also, the sunlight will help dry the water off and keep it from icing instantly. We have washed vehicles in colder temps on a sunny day without any issues. 

Next, we were off to gather our supplies. We grabbed our electric pressure washer, two buckets, wash mitt, our long handled soft bristled brush and of course Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax. The electric pressure washer is a must have in the winter. You can quickly clean off the majority of dirt and grime leaving minimal hand and/or brush washing. 

Above Left: Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax smells great and suds up nicely. Above Right: We use a two bucket method to keep the dirt our of our clean soapy water. 

The dual buckets keeps the majority of the gunk in the rinse bucket and the soap in the wash bucket. You would not wash and rinse your dishes in the same water, so why wash your vehicle with the same water. Our soft bristled brush is kept clean and only used for vehicles, not floors or trailers or anything else. You do not want other chemicals and debris trapped in the bristles and damage your vehicle’s paint.  

In the winter it is important to keep the vehicles paint protected and that is why we chose Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax. It is safe for all types of paint and leaves a deep shine like it was just waxed. The soap’s hybrid carnauba/polymer wax protection will help bead off that salty slush and keep our paint protected all winter. Not to mention the incredible sudsing action that easily lifts dirt and grime.

Above Left: Project Trail ‘n Thrash was overdue for a good scrub. Above Right: Luckily orange seems to hide dirt better than other colors but really shines when its clean.

With everything gathered, we started with our pressure washer first. Removing all the mud, salt, snow and ice off the Project TNT in preparation for our soapy wash. Once we were done with the pressure washer, it was off to our buckets for hand/brush washing. We poured some Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax in our bucket and then filled them both with warm water. Using warm water will keep our hands warm as we wash and will not freeze as quick. 

When we hand washed Project TNT we wore rubber gloves to keep our hands dry which kept them warmer when they were not in the warm water. We threw another pair of Grease Monkey gloves over top our rubber gloves when we used the pressure washer or our wash brush to keep our hands even warmer.

Above Left: Pictures do not do Project Trail ‘n Thrash justice, we promise it is filthy. Above Right: Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax really makes our paint shine like it was new. 

We did not wash to the perfection we do in the summer but, Project Trail ‘n Thrash still looked a hundred times better. Also, getting that dirt and grime off the Jeep will prevent rust and make things easier to work on in the future. The biggest MVP was Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax. It really does shine like it was just waxed. We could even see the water beading up while we were rinsing the Jeep off. 

A few minutes every week or two through the winter months will go a long way for your vehicles paint. Please do not let your vehicles go all winter without being washed. This took us less than an hour and we did not get frost bite. It stinks that only a day later it became dirty again. In the end it was time well spent that will help keep Project Trail ‘n Thrash protected and looking great for years to come. 

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Gavin Wollenburg

Gavin grew up around Mopars in his lakeside home in Ohio, his father showing him nearly everything he needed to know about haulin' some serious rear in his '72 Dart Swinger. Since then, he's made his little A-Body a serious autocross contender and regularly shows the modern boys how an old Dart does it!

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