Chemically Wet

[TradesmanGuy]

See this all the time on Hwy Web Cams. I finally looked it up. It is a salt solution sprayed on the ground to speed up the melting of snow and ice. Described as a brine, and when driven over is pressure blasted into all nooks and crannies of your truck's underbelly. Nothing is spared a generous coating of this very corrosive brine mixture. It is no wonder cars have all kinds of slow developed accumulated electrical and mechanical issues.

Solution, rinse with a hose after every drive during wintery conditions. Who does that?

A rust preventative coating. I'm skeptical of that being effective. And it sounds costly to do right, requiring a lift of some sorts.

I'm considering this --> (slowly drive over this a few times before putting away into the garage).

 

[Dredger]

See this all the time on Hwy Web Cams. I finally looked it up. It is a salt solution sprayed on the ground to speed up the melting of snow and ice. Described as a brine, and when driven over is pressure blasted into all nooks and crannies of your truck's underbelly. Nothing is spared a generous coating of this very corrosive brine mixture. It is no wonder cars have all kinds of slow developed accumulated electrical and mechanical issues.

Solution, rinse with a hose after every drive during wintery conditions. Who does that?

A rust preventative coating. I'm skeptical of that being effective. And it sounds costly to do right, requiring a lift of some sorts.

I'm considering this --> (slowly drive over this a few times before putting away into the garage).

View attachment 578293

I served a season as a plow driver where I live. In Ohio, they'll pretreat the roads with brine (these are the white, salty stripes seen on the highway) before a storm as it helps prevent snow and ice from bonding to the pavement. The ODOT trucks also carry brine and salt for the roads during a storm. Once the temperatures drop below approximately 20 degrees, salt becomes less effective at keeping water from freezing so they'll switch to beet juice instead of brine. Mixing beet juice with salt lowers waters freezing point even more. Beet juice is also thicker, so it helps the salt stay on the road longer.
With all that said, I wash my truck once a week in the winter - this includes the undercarriage.
They make all kinds of "undercarriage pressure washers" (search that term) which are much more effective than the lawn waterer you're showing.

 

[Mlarv5]

You have a few choses to use, or do.

1st leave vehicles parked outside until it is warm enough to wash them. If parked in a garage they thew each time they are left in the garage, which leads to water salt etc getting into every crack and craves. Most city and state DOT trucks now sit outside because of this.

2nd wash the undercarriage after each drive (not likely on really cold days). Use a water broom on your pressure washer to clean the undercarriage. If you setup the sprinkler to wash the undercarriage before you enter your garage each day, (unless you can do it your garage), you will make a pretty cool ice rink in your driveway.

When I lived in OH I would park in the driveway until it was warm enough to wash it, then I would use the garage unit it was hit with salt again.

 

[Grams]

This is the best method to wash the underbelly…IMO: A pressure-washer attachment for the undercarriage:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0878QXTX7?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_4&th=1

Amazon.com : undercarriage pressure washer attachment

 

[06 Dodge]

I served a season as a plow driver where I live. In Ohio, they'll pretreat the roads with brine (these are the white, salty stripes seen on the highway) before a storm as it helps prevent snow and ice from bonding to the pavement. The ODOT trucks also carry brine and salt for the roads during a storm. Once the temperatures drop below approximately 20 degrees, salt becomes less effective at keeping water from freezing so they'll switch to beet juice instead of brine. Mixing beet juice with salt lowers waters freezing point even more. Beet juice is also thicker, so it helps the salt stay on the road longer.
With all that said, I wash my truck once a week in the winter - this includes the undercarriage.
They make all kinds of "undercarriage pressure washers" (search that term) which are much more effective than the lawn waterer you're showing.

When I lived in IA in the winter we would just go to the car wash ( unless it was below 20 degrees and too cold for them to be open) we made sure too use the undercarriage wash that can be part of washing your car/truck at the car wash

 

[Burla]

Wool wax will prevent nearly 100% of this, and lasts longer then fluid film but that will also prevent this.

 

[TradesmanGuy]

This is the best method to wash the underbelly…IMO: A pressure-washer attachment for the undercarriage:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0878QXTX7?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_4&th=1

View attachment 578302

Amazon.com : undercarriage pressure washer attachment

Thanks, and is a great price. In my basket.

 

[DanAR]

Fortunately we have little snow or ice in central Arkansas and I’m retired so I usually just stay home and off the roads anyway until they clear up. Few around here know how to drive on ice and snow which is an added incentive to just stay home. Not practical for the vast majority I know.

 

[TradesmanGuy]

Fortunately we have little snow or ice in central Arkansas and I’m retired so I usually just stay home and off the roads anyway until they clear up. Few around here know how to drive on ice and snow which is an added incentive to just stay home. Not practical for the vast majority I know.

I'm the same way, up here in Montana. In the winter I mostly hang out by the wood stove, and go out for essentials when the roads are clear. The thing about Chemically Wet is it don't take much (a 100 feet) to saturate the underside with the brine. There is just no way to avoid it except to take extreme measures and NOT drive for the 3 or 4 months that the roads are treated.

 

[Wild one]

I'm the same way, up here in Montana. In the winter I mostly hang out by the wood stove, and go out for essentials when the roads are clear. The thing about Chemically Wet is it don't take much (a 100 feet) to saturate the underside with the brine. There is just no way to avoid it except to take extreme measures and NOT drive for the 3 or 4 months that the roads are treated.

That's why you buy a winter beater,and leave the good vehicles parked during the winter

 

[Curmudgeon]

I won't try to understate the brine, I really hate that stuff, and I have no science to support that hate.

I will say it has been used very regularly here in Pennsylvania where I live, and also in Maryland where worked and drove, for at least 10 years, and probably longer.

Two years ago when I took my truck to have it undercoated, including inside the panels etc., they showed me just how good my truck looked for being untreated for the 1st 100k miles. Of course it looked even prettier after treatment.

I retired Jan 2022 so prior to that I was pretty well stuck driving over the evil truck eating substances. Both MD and PA are extremely paranoid about bad weather and they would treat with brine even when the forecast was for a 10% chance of winter weather.

There is a car wash nearby with both a tunnel with undercarriage spray, and the self-serve bays. I use both regularly in the winter.

My 2014 just hit 121,000 miles, still looks nice on top and underneath. As is, nicer than it should. If you have the option to stay home then that is ideal and we do the same. Hard to pry away from the wood stove!

I posted all that crap just to say you should be OK if you have to go out on the odd occasion. Just rinse it off, maybe look into undercoating if you want to keep it a long time, like your FJ .

 

[TradesmanGuy]

I won't try to understate the brine, I really hate that stuff, and I have no science to support that hate.

I will say it has been used very regularly here in Pennsylvania where I live, and also in Maryland where worked and drove, for at least 10 years, and probably longer.

Two years ago when I took my truck to have it undercoated, including inside the panels etc., they showed me just how good my truck looked for being untreated for the 1st 100k miles. Of course it looked even prettier after treatment.

I retired Jan 2022 so prior to that I was pretty well stuck driving over the evil truck eating substances. Both MD and PA are extremely paranoid about bad weather and they would treat with brine even when the forecast was for a 10% chance of winter weather.

There is a car wash nearby with both a tunnel with undercarriage spray, and the self-serve bays. I use both regularly in the winter.

My 2014 just hit 121,000 miles, still looks nice on top and underneath. As is, nicer than it should. If you have the option to stay home then that is ideal and we do the same. Hard to pry away from the wood stove!

I posted all that crap just to say you should be OK if you have to go out on the odd occasion. Just rinse it off, maybe look into undercoating if you want to keep it a long time, like your FJ .

One of the many last maintenance jobs I did on my former Toyota FJ was replacement of a leaking rear axle seal. The amount of rust was to much. Just removing the fill port on the differential was an experience. My first attempted to remove was with a hand impact driver. It would not budge. Coated it with penetrating oil and finally fixed my air impact driver to work on setting #1 and it came off. Next job was to top off the transmission fluid, but from what I could understand it was again going to take an air impact driver, but I had no clearance to use the driver. New tool? The Toyota dealer wanted $500. Say WHAT??? To remove a fill plug and squeeze some 75w90w oil. Gots to be kidding? That was the final straw and I set out to get a new truck. The FJ lasted me 17 years, but all kinds of things were going wrong and I attributed all to the Chemically Wet roads.

My goal is another 17 years or 20 on this Ram. The FJ was a lesson.

 

[TradesmanGuy]

Yesterday, I had to travel over the mountain pass. It was dry, but was white looking. Dry salt was covering the road surface. Couldn't wait to get home and hose it off. Unfortunately, the hose was frozen solid. Took me a good hour to get the hose working again.

I did order and now have the attachment for the power-washer for washing/rinsing the undercarriage. Haven't used it yet, but will be a nice tool for keeping the Ram in top shape for many many years. Thanks for the suggestion @Grams

 

[mikeru]

Yesterday, I had to travel over the mountain pass. It was dry, but was white looking. Dry salt was covering the road surface. Couldn't wait to get home and hose it off. Unfortunately, the hose was frozen solid. Took me a good hour to get the hose working again.

I did order and now have the attachment for the power-washer for washing/rinsing the undercarriage. Haven't used it yet, but will be a nice tool for keeping the Ram in top shape for many many years. Thanks for the suggestion @Grams

View attachment 578739

Simple solution to keep the hose from freezing is to thoroughly drain the water out of it after each use.

 

[TradesmanGuy]

Simple solution to keep the hose from freezing is to thoroughly drain the water out of it after each use.

I do that regularly. Either I didn't do a very good job, or forgot.

 

[mikeru]

I do that regularly. Either I didn't do a very good job, or forgot.

I find the latter to be true more and more each day. CRS is real!

 

[Wellcraft]

Just go to a car wash with a undercarriage rinse and you should be good to go which is what I do when they put down salt and brine on the roads. I'm not sure a lawn sprinkler has sufficient pressure to wash away salt/brine on the bottom of your vehicle.

 

[joesstripclub]

I do that regularly. Either I didn't do a very good job, or forgot.

If you have an air compressor, use it to blow out the hose during the winter and you'll never have to worry about it being frozen

 

[TradesmanGuy]

If you have an air compressor, use it to blow out the hose during the winter and you'll never have to worry about it being frozen

Good tip. I should have brought the hose inside and put it in the tub. Instead, I resorted to putting the hose atop the modified water tank, that I reconfigured to burn trash.

 

[fireflymedic]

I used this on my boat, trailer and truck after being in Salt water. It's like magic somehow chemically dissolves dried on (or wet) salt residue. I'm would run this in the rolling sprayers others have shown. It really works ans is safe.