Winter and salt set the pace
In Montreal, brine flows on the asphalt from November through April: five months of chloride wicking into rocker panels, drying on wheels and whitening exterior trim. A car parked outside takes that cycle twice as hard as one kept in a heated garage. That is the first variable to settle before talking frequency: two identical cars do not share a schedule if one sleeps on an Ahuntsic street and the other in a Saint-Laurent garage.
Salt does not scratch paint directly: it makes the surface porous, and porous paint traps iron contamination that then bites into the clear coat. A full detailing after the thaw, around mid-April, strips that layer before summer heat bakes it in. Skipping one year breaks nothing overnight, but two or three winters in a row without decontamination show up on door pillars and under the handles.
The baseline: two visits a year
For most daily-driven vehicles, two full detailings a year are enough: one in spring to take the winter out, one in fall to put the car away clean before the first frost, around mid-October. Spring decontaminates and re-glosses; fall feeds the interior plastics and seals the paint ahead of brine season. That rhythm serves looks as much as mechanics — window seals and door joints harden when grime packs into them.
A ceramic coating does not double that interval, whatever marketing says: it makes washing more efficient, it does not replace vacuuming seats or degreasing the engine bay. A ceramic-treated car returns on the same two-visit schedule, but each visit shifts from correction time to finishing time. Conversely, a weekend car driven 6,000 km a year can live on a single annual visit, in spring.
The signs that it is due
Three clues do not lie. First: rain no longer beads on the hood, it sheets in grey patches — the sealant is gone. Second: a dull film stays on the paint after washing, a sign of light oxidation and embedded contamination. Third: the interior smells damp when the heater starts, and windows fog from the inside in cold weather — the cabin has absorbed winter and the fabric holds moisture.
On the wheels, a brown or white powdery film that resists regular soap is salt already bonded: past a few weeks it attacks the wheel clear coat and leaves permanent pitting. That is the most common spring damage we see at the shop, and the easiest to avoid: decontaminating at the thaw, before the deposit cooks under hot wheels, costs one visit; pitted wheels cost a refinishing job.
Between visits: what holds the interval
The six-month interval holds if basic care keeps up. A wash every two weeks through salt season, focusing on rocker panels and wheel arches, keeps brine from settling. Inside, a monthly vacuum of carpets and seats stops the sand tracked in by boots from working the fabric like sandpaper. These habits take an hour and visibly stretch the life of every detailing.
Leather seats need a conditioner twice a year or they crack at the flex points; technical fabrics mostly need quick attention to spills, within the first hours. A damp microfibre cloth on the dash every week — never dry — keeps dust from polishing the vinyl dull. The full detailing then goes over everything in depth, without having to catch up on a year of neglect.
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