I have been thru countless touchless washes and still marveled this past week when it warmed up how water beads up on the paint after Maquires NTX Tech wax in Sept-Oct. Am I just kidding myself though?

Nope, NXT is that good... mine lasted all winter and since we got a warm weekend I just refreshed it. It lasts longer than conventional carnuba in my experience and way easier to apply and remove... I love it and use on all my cars!

Well that is good to know as the stuff is like17 bucks. It went on and came off so easy I thought i was cheating!

I put on multiple coats of Zaino in the fall to help the cars make it through the winter.

Try finding a coin-operated DIY pressure-wash place. They are typically located outdoors, with 5 or 6 bays, heated pressure washer, and minimum starting cost is 3-4 dollars, which gets you 3-4 minutes of time.

The warm soap+water and warm water rinse modes are more than enough to get salt off your car. A thin layer of grime may remain on the lower panels, but salt and anything else that is soluble in mild soap and warm water would be removed.

Before winter starts, putting on a layer of paint protection would make it much easier to remove salt and snow from your car. Any product that bonds well to the paint, can last throughout the winter months (ie. not carnauba wax), and creates a super-slick coating would be great for winter protection. Any non-carnauba wax or sealant should work fine.

Years ago, I used NuFinish liquid on other cars and snow would easily slide off the surface. NuFinish results in an extremely slippery surface. In my experience, one layer of NuFinish typically lasted 6-12 months on a non-garaged car. I wasn't paying attention to micro-marring and light swirls at the time, so I don't know how good it is for that.

In my experience, Zaino doesn't repel snow/water/salt anywhere near as well as NuFinish, and Zaino is much too expensive to use for winter protection.

I do my yearly 3-day Zaino process when winter ends, for maximum shine during the spring/summer months. I don't do any paint protection to prepare for winter, as my car is driven once or twice a week and is garaged essentially 24/7.

For the LS430s without water-repellent glass, I would try Rain-X or Aquapel. I've used Rain-X on other cars and was satisfied with the result.

yep. I use it too - I have tried all different wax brands - NTX tech wax is worth the $$$

NXT- You still need a good cleaner for tar and grime it is not like the other Maquires products that do it all kinda well.

<<---Hand wash. 85 degrees or 35 degrees. I'll never go thru an automated car wash!!!!!!!

I agree, but we can go for a month or more and never see 35 degrees. I usually use the Subaru in the winter and don't have a problem taking that through an automatic carwash when the temps warm above about 25.

I am unlucky as i have so many other things going on with my families health, legal battles, work issues that I just like er to look clean more often than not. How it gets there without any damage like scratches or dents from the car wash keeps me plenty happy. I mean I am sure with a touchless wash there is grit and debris in the water but I wax it every six 8 weeks or so when i can and i got paint chips and crap from the road so big deal.