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Automobi?i ziem?Freepik Yesterday, 14:21 Transport Authors: LSM English (Latvian Public Media), Uldis Birziņš (Latvian Television) To wash or not to wash your car in winter? That is the question. Drivers have different opinions on the matter, and it turns out that experts do, too, according to Latvian Television. In winter, both dirty and freshly washed cars can be seen on city streets. This raises the question - is it advisable to wash a vehicle in the winter cold, or is it better to leave it dirty until spring?

One school of thought is that you should get potentially corrosive salts and other anti-ice agents off your car's bodywork whenever you can. But another school of thought says that a visit to the car wash in sub-zero temperatures could end up forming excessive ice on the car that presents worse problems than looking a bit scruffy.

U?is V?tols, president of the Latvian Used Car Dealers Association, said: "Opinions are divided - to wash or not to wash. I hold the view that it is necessary to wash, although I myself am not up to the task. I don't always manage to wash it. But we all see that white coating on the sides of the car in winter, which is salt, a mixture of salt solution, which has dried and which promotes corrosion."

V?tols explained that salt has a big impact on the bodywork in the long run. "It should all be washed off. If we're lazy in the winter, we should definitely do it in the spring," he added.

Gundars Zalcmanis, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Riga Technical University (RTU), finessed the salt argument with some additional physics and chemistry: "Corrosion occurs most effectively when the temperature is above +5 degrees [Celsius] and the relative humidity of the air is 60%. In such a big freeze [as at present] the immediate effect of salt is less pronounced."

If you do decide to wash your car in the winter, it is important to follow several important rules, the experts emphasized. Rapid temperature fluctuations can damage the car's paintwork, creating microcracks that are initially invisible to the eye but gradually worsen.

Zalcmanis explained: "It is often said that car paint is designed for beween-35 C and +50 C. That is true. But a car's paint is not designed for it to cool down to -20 degrees and start washing it at +40. That is a very sharp temperature difference. At the car washes, we don't really know what the temperature is at each one."

V?tols pointed out: "It's like a cold jar. We take the jar outside, pour hot water in, and the jar breaks. It's the same physics effect that happens if we drive into a car wash and the water is hot."

The situation is also complicated by the fact that there is no single universal permissible temperature contrast that would be safe for all cars.

Zalcmanis pointed out: "The temperature difference should not exceed 20, 30 or 40 degrees. The permissible value for each car will be different depending on the type of paint."

Experts point out that in the cold, the safest way to wash a car is to wash it in a closed car wash, allowing it to warm up beforehand. This takes extra time, and is not always possible. After washing, it is recommended to drive for a while so that the excess water can dry. It is best to wipe the car with a soft cloth after washing. It is also worth treating the door seals with a special silicone product to reduce the risk of them freezing.

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