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I looked around and most people said its ok but I did see some conflicting opinions.
What happened is I had two buckets, one for lukewarm/coldish water to rinse, and one for hot water with car wash soap mixed in.
I planned to let the hot water cool down a bit and left my wash rag in. but when I started I didn't realize how hot it was and dropped the rag on the hood so the hot water poured down. I would guess it was 120-130 degrees because it came from my faucet when I filled the buckets.
I wasn't in cold weather or anything I was in my parking garage probably about 65 degrees ambient temp and this was after I rinsed the car with colder water.
It shouldn't damage the paint or anything right? I didn't see anything after I dried off and put a light on it.
I am new to this so go easy on me haha, I'm not even sure if hot water is bad for the car
There is two issues related with hot water in very cold weather. If you put it on glass when it's really cold it could crack or shatter from thermal shock, while on the topic same potential risk exists with granite countertops when putting really hot pans on them. This really applies to anything, metal can warp but it's much more resistant to these problems. In any event using water that is closer to the temperature of the car is best practice.
The other issue is washing salt off with hot water creates other issues. That hot water creates a capillary action and hot water along with the salt with get sucked up into crevices....
There is two issues related with hot water in very cold weather. If you put it on glass when it's really cold it could crack or shatter from thermal shock, while on the topic same potential risk exists with granite countertops when putting really hot pans on them. This really applies to anything, metal can warp but it's much more resistant to these problems. In any event using water that is closer to the temperature of the car is best practice.
The other issue is washing a car in the winter. Common sense says get the salt off but this creates other issues. That hot water creates a capillary action and hot water along with the salt with get sucked up into crevices....
yeah I've heard about the cracking when temperatures rapidly change luckily I was in my garage haha
This is the only real risk. 120-130 degrees is not hot enough to have any impact to 65 degree paint.
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