Dealing with the salt.

[EdGs]

For those of you who live in the salt belt, what do you have to do to deal with the salt in all the nooks and crannies of your vehicles?

Car washes have the undecarriage spray, I know, but what else do you folks do to keep the exposure to as little as possible, aside from garaging it?

Believe it or not, my wife would like move maybe to MI someday, and the thought of issues from the salt and such has me a bit worried.

 

[NJMOPAR]

Having dealt with Jersey winters my whole life, my method is do nothing until end of March.
Watching fools come out of the car wash only to have the road spray whitewash their cars in two blocks has always given me a good laugh.

 

[GsRAM]

Well I'll respectfully disagree with that.

I don't use car washes, but I have a flex hose and after the storm when the roads are dry agsin, I spray off the undercarriage real good, especially the areas where I kmow road salt and slop gets slung up onto (inner fender areas, floor pans, suspension components.

Of course you need a day above freezing to do this, but I usually get lucky. Sometimes it takes a few weeks to catch a brake, but I eventually get it done.

Then in spring when all the road salt is gone, I do a real through wash down, sometimes up on jackstands. Works well for me but to each their own.

Yes having that all over my vehicles bothers me. Whatever you do, if you get behind a truck spraying liquid salt brine down before a storm, turn and go a different route. That stuff is highly corrosive.

I want to move to Florida to get away from the cold weather and high taxes. Why do you want to move to Michigan?

 

[caulk04]

The key is to get it undercoated with something oil based. Woolwax, FluidFilm, Krown etc. There will always be one or two prevalent options in a given area. The key is to get the coating into all the cavities of the body and frame. The exterior surfaces you can see are NOT the trouble areas.

In spring, get it hosed off well. In the summer/fall do it again then let it dry well before getting it resprayed each year. During winter, don't go nuts trying to rinse the undercarriage.

 

[EdGs]

I don't necessarily, but the wife might. She really hit it off with my side of the family that is still up there.

Bad thing about FL is everybody is moving here, to escape the crap up there. Then there are a few that want to change things to the same as up north.

I mean, you left there and came here, but then want to change things here to the way it is up there?

I moved here from MI in 1971 with my parents. This was a sleepy little area with lots of open country, maybe 60k people in the whole county. Now pushing a million it seems. Stripping out whole areas of flatwoods and trees. Urban sprawl. Sucks

Drives me crazy.

 

[Simpleman]

The key is to get it undercoated with something oil based. Woolwax, FluidFilm, Krown etc. There will always be one or two prevalent options in a given area. The key is to get the coating into all the cavities of the body and frame. The exterior surfaces you can see are NOT the trouble areas.

In spring, get it hosed off well. In the summer/fall do it again then let it dry well before getting it resprayed each year. During winter, don't go nuts trying to rinse the undercarriage.

I do the undercarriage every year right before the winter this stuff is the best

 

[joeygster]

I routinely run mine through the touchless wash during the winter months and also garage my Ram.

I've read though that garaging a vehicle in the winter is actually counter productive because the thaw out allows the salt to get more into nooks and crannies. I heard it's better in the winter to leave your vehicle out in the cold. I just dont' want to do that.

 

[EdGs]

So, you only fluid film once before the snow?

 

[CVX20]

I do the undercarriage every year right before the winter this stuff is the best

View attachment 238204

Do you do the inside of the body panels?Just doing the underside is only 1/2 the job.

 

[CVX20]

I routinely run mine through the touchless wash during the winter months and also garage my Ram.

I've read though that garaging a vehicle in the winter is actually counter productive because the thaw out allows the salt to get more into nooks and crannies. I heard it's better in the winter to leave your vehicle out in the cold. I just dont' want to do that.

Heated garage is definitely worse.

 

[Ludville1]

For those of you who live in the salt belt, what do you have to do to deal with the salt in all the nooks and crannies of your vehicles?

Car washes have the undecarriage spray, I know, but what else do you folks do to keep the exposure to as little as possible, aside from garaging it?

Believe it or not, my wife would like move maybe to MI someday, and the thought of issues from the salt and such has me a bit worried.

^^^this is what I do...

 

[CVX20]

So, you only fluid film once before the snow?

I get mine Krown Rustproofed every fall while it's still warm out.It creeps better when it's warm out and they do extensive coverage inside the frame and body panels.If you follow their once a year guidelines they warr. the body against perforation for 10 years.

 

[EdGs]

I get mine Krown Rustproofed every fall while it's still warm out.It creeps better when it's warm out and they do extensive coverage inside the frame and body panels.If you follow their once a year guidelines they warr. the body against perforation for 10 years.

How much does that set you back?

 

[Simpleman]

Do you do the inside of the body panels?Just doing the underside is only 1/2 the job.

Yes of course I even took off the rear plastic liners and sprayed inside the quarter panels I dont do a half ass job I coat everything and I even sprayed inside the frame how does that grab ya ?

 

[CVX20]

Yes of course I even took off the rear plastic liners and sprayed inside the quarter panels I dont do a half ass job I coat everything and I even spread inside the frame how does that grab ya ?

Frt fenders,doors,rockers?You don't need to remove the liners with the right tools.How's that grab ya?

 

[Simpleman]

Frt fenders,doors,rockers?You don't need to remove the liners with the right tools.How's that grab ya?

Grabs me by the balls real good and I have a lift

 

[CVX20]

Grabs me by the balls real good and I have a lift

What's the lift have to do with it?Can you stand up under the truck?Funny guy!

 

[Simpleman]

What's the lift have to do with it?Can you stand up under the truck?Funny guy!

Up on the lift I can clean & spray everywhere nice man

 

[CVX20]

Up on the lift I can clean & spray everywhere nice man

You still didn't answer my question about doors,rockers etc..

 

[GsRAM]

I don't necessarily, but the wife might. She really hit it off with my side of the family that is still up there.

Bad thing about FL is everybody is moving here, to escape the crap up there. Then there are a few that want to change things to the same as up north.

I mean, you left there and came here, but then want to change things here to the way it is up there?

I moved here from MI in 1971 with my parents. This was a sleepy little area with lots of open country, maybe 60k people in the whole county. Now pushing a million it seems. Stripping out whole areas of flatwoods and trees. Urban sprawl. Sucks

Drives me crazy.

Man that sucks. I completely understand. No good. I'm going through the same thing. I had a big open farm field behind my acerage and the farmer sold it to a developer and they are slapping up a ton of little crap box houses on it, totally ruining the feel of my property.

You have to keep moving farther and farther out to get away from the trash that's moving in. Very unfortunate.