Long stretch of cold clear weather. Figured my screw Lariat might stay clean for a while. I have a drain in the garage floor and hot and cold water plumbed into a hose bib. Can't get much easier. Thankfully I don't have to worry about the frozen door locks on the 15's.
Going back out after the floor dries to clean the interior.

 

A couple of times this winter I've pulled the truck just out of the driveway and given it a good rinse before a cold snap...and then have a nice 20x20 skating rink in the cul de sac

 

Unlimited wash plan @ the local Marathon Soft Cloth Car Wash only 5 minutes from the house. Fill up and get a wash every few days no matter how cold it is. I'm usually doing that on my way home, so she goes into the garage in under said 5 minutes. Never had any door lock issues in all my years of doing it this way.

 

I'm a Ford service advisor and wasn't even aware this was an issue, have never had a single customer complaint for it. but I was in an accident in my 2014 so I'm in a 2015 XLT supercrew loaner and I have to park the stupid thing with the window down whenever I go skiing. holy hell that's annoying.

 

And destroying your paint in the process.

Swirl marks galore from cloth car washes

 

I've purchased or leased 12 or 13 new vehicles in the past ~11 years, most of them black. Each and every one spent plenty of time through that car wash and there was nothing that an annual light compound rub-out and multiple-annual wax jobs didn't take care of.

The only vehicle that will never see the inside of that place is my '16 Z06 that I just picked up last fall. Hand wash only.

I've had many trucks before this 2011 F150, which I just picked up a month and a half ago. This truck was/is my winter ride, intended pretty much for the ~4 months of the year I can't drive the Corvette (or the ATS) and during decent weather if I need to haul something, I want to keep miles down on other vehicles or I just want to drive it. It's white, so it will hide whatever the wash throws at it and what it doesn't will get cleaned up each year.

 

All depends on the type of car wash and how you maintain the paint.

I personally avoid them and handwash my truck as I used to work at a place that had a car wash and they rarely cleaned the brushes. I was told they cleaned themselves during the process. Right....

 

Truck is looking good. Now that it's clean, the weather will likely change and it will be a mess again.
I suppose I would trade a clean truck for another foot of snow. Wanting to fork my legs over the snow go again.

 

The amount of salt and magnesium they put on the roads here is insane. Parking lots are literally white. Roads are too...looks like snow covering them but it's really just salt. Then a few days later it'll warm up and rain and then you're literally driving in salt water. Just wonderful..

 

Salt, et al., is the primary reason I wash my truck 2 to 3 times a week. I could care less about the swirls that get rubbed out in the spring.