RALEIGH -- The ice and snow is melting, but the grit and grime on cars is still there.
"My car looked like dirty snow, just like the side of the street," said Raleigh resident Nina Lawley.
Many of those soiled cars will shine again once they roll through a car wash. Now that North Carolina is thawing out, car wash owners in the Triangle such as Men At Work Car Care owner Mike Phillips expect the cars to never stop coming.
"Of course it takes a couple of days for the snow to melt, but once that happens it's like opening up the floodgates," said Phillips.
Phillips says the extra business will be a good thing since his car wash is coming back after a few snow days.
"What happened is they haven't been doing anything for a couple days,” said Phillips. “When you don't do anything, you get soft, but we'll snap back real quick."
While the big rush hasn't happened yet, the workers washed and waxed what they could to get their own rust off. The soap and water was flowing, and the drivers of the formerly dirty cars got to see their rides sparkle.
"It looks pretty amazing now,” said Lawley. “It's nice, shiny and clean."
As Phillips put it, the business heats up when the ice melts away.
"I'm predicting tomorrow through Saturday we're going to do a couple hundred cars easy, and we are ready," said Phillips.