Getting salt off your car.
- Thread starter Chris B.
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The lawn sprinkler suggestion is a good one; if you attach a broom handle to a board and mount the sprinkler to it, you can more easily position it under the vehicle.
I hate to drive even my old beaters in the PA salt. Some other ideas I have used to keep the corrosion at bay:
I hose off the vehicle several times a week, more often if roads are wet and salty. Most important is the undercarriage, especially the nooks that will harbor salt and slush.
If you jack the car up with a floor jack, those areas are much more accessible. Lying on a creeper helps too, and keeps you out of the water on the garage floor. If you wear a headlamp (available at any K-mart, etc,) you can see and use your hands as well. The long watering wands used for gardening have a variable spray head that you can position and also let you choose an appropriate spray pattern. They are long enough that you can reach well under the car if you don't want to jack it up.
You can adapt one of those hose-end fertilizer sprayers such as the Miracle-gro brand to mix in some car wash detergent; I used some heater hose and some hose repair fittings on the inlet and outlet sides, along with some quick-connect hose fittings so that I can fill the fertilizer cup with soap, snap the unit on to my hose, and then snap a variable-spray nozzle on to the fertilizer sprayer. The unit quickly snaps off the hose for rinsing with plain water. I think this is more effective than water alone, and the fertilizer cup hold enough soap to last at least through one wash. Wal-mart sells a big jug of blue car wash liquid rather cheaply and for what it's worth, it even has wax in it.
Mixing in a little hot water makes the job slightly less miserable in freezing weather, and makes hoses more cooperative.
Buy the best quality hose that you can afford to avoid aggravating kinks.
Use those quick-connect hose fittings if you use several hoses, nozzles, sprinklers, etc; they work well.
When you are done, be sure to open the doors and wipe dry the weatherstripping in freezing weather lest your doors freeze shut overnight. Don't ask how I know this. I give the weatherstripping a spray of silicone occasionally as well.
I am sure my neighbors have, while passing by of a brutally frigid evening, chortled on seeing me in frozen clothing and weirdly flashing headlamp desperately trying to rinse off soap suds before they froze to my car, but then there are few "88 Voyager minivans with 210,000 miles on them whose undercarriages are as nice as mine!
I hate to drive even my old beaters in the PA salt. Some other ideas I have used to keep the corrosion at bay:
I hose off the vehicle several times a week, more often if roads are wet and salty. Most important is the undercarriage, especially the nooks that will harbor salt and slush.
If you jack the car up with a floor jack, those areas are much more accessible. Lying on a creeper helps too, and keeps you out of the water on the garage floor. If you wear a headlamp (available at any K-mart, etc,) you can see and use your hands as well. The long watering wands used for gardening have a variable spray head that you can position and also let you choose an appropriate spray pattern. They are long enough that you can reach well under the car if you don't want to jack it up.
You can adapt one of those hose-end fertilizer sprayers such as the Miracle-gro brand to mix in some car wash detergent; I used some heater hose and some hose repair fittings on the inlet and outlet sides, along with some quick-connect hose fittings so that I can fill the fertilizer cup with soap, snap the unit on to my hose, and then snap a variable-spray nozzle on to the fertilizer sprayer. The unit quickly snaps off the hose for rinsing with plain water. I think this is more effective than water alone, and the fertilizer cup hold enough soap to last at least through one wash. Wal-mart sells a big jug of blue car wash liquid rather cheaply and for what it's worth, it even has wax in it.
Mixing in a little hot water makes the job slightly less miserable in freezing weather, and makes hoses more cooperative.
Buy the best quality hose that you can afford to avoid aggravating kinks.
Use those quick-connect hose fittings if you use several hoses, nozzles, sprinklers, etc; they work well.
When you are done, be sure to open the doors and wipe dry the weatherstripping in freezing weather lest your doors freeze shut overnight. Don't ask how I know this. I give the weatherstripping a spray of silicone occasionally as well.
I am sure my neighbors have, while passing by of a brutally frigid evening, chortled on seeing me in frozen clothing and weirdly flashing headlamp desperately trying to rinse off soap suds before they froze to my car, but then there are few "88 Voyager minivans with 210,000 miles on them whose undercarriages are as nice as mine!
Originally Posted By: Chris B.
Originally Posted By: Drew2000
Anyone try Salt Away?
Looks like good stuff! Anyone use this?
I've used it since hitting the market over 10 years ago. It also works on magnesium chloride and calcium chloride deicing chemicals that are popular now. Never had any corrosion issues. Now that I've moved south, it mostly sits on the shelf
.
Originally Posted By: Drew2000
Anyone try Salt Away?
Looks like good stuff! Anyone use this?
I've used it since hitting the market over 10 years ago. It also works on magnesium chloride and calcium chloride deicing chemicals that are popular now. Never had any corrosion issues. Now that I've moved south, it mostly sits on the shelf
I often wonder about the quality of the underbody wash of auto carwashes. Some underwashes are just a fine mist, while others seem to be more of a powerwash.
The underbody wash is one of my main reasons for going to a carwash (salt in the winter and mud in the summer). I'm going to try the garden sprinkler idea when the weather gets warmer. Unfortunately I don't think it would work too well in this 15 degree/25 inches of snow December we're having here.
The underbody wash is one of my main reasons for going to a carwash (salt in the winter and mud in the summer). I'm going to try the garden sprinkler idea when the weather gets warmer. Unfortunately I don't think it would work too well in this 15 degree/25 inches of snow December we're having here.
It gets pretty cold here, and we do get our fair share of snow some years. I have a portable hose reel, and a nozzle that can easily reach the center of the car from the sides. If we get a fair day I put on a pair of divers gloves and wash the car, then use that long nozzle to wash the underside. The sprinkler works OK, but this has more pressure and is easier to regulate and aim.
Frank D
Frank D
CDOT suggests washing your vehicle under carriage after each snowstorm to reduce the corrosive nature of liquid mag chloride (spray deicer) to steering and suspension components. I have already lost my nerf bars on my pickup to mag chloride. Liquid mag chloride leaves a greasy film on vehicles. The white residue is from a different deicer called ice slicer (looks like brown sand and is made from a company located just south of Boulder on Hwy 93) also used by CDOT. Granted both are salts, I would worry more about the greasy liquid deicer than the ice slicer. Just my 2cents.
Originally Posted By: Yazmeister
CDOT suggests washing your vehicle under carriage after each snowstorm to reduce the corrosive nature of liquid mag chloride (spray deicer) to steering and suspension components. I have already lost my nerf bars on my pickup to mag chloride. Liquid mag chloride leaves a greasy film on vehicles. The white residue is from a different deicer called ice slicer (looks like brown sand and is made from a company located just south of Boulder on Hwy 93) also used by CDOT. Granted both are salts, I would worry more about the greasy liquid deicer than the ice slicer. Just my 2cents.
Hello Yazmeister -
So, have you tried the Salt-Away?
Have you found anything that removes the mag chloride and ice-slicer (200 miles per day on I-25 gets to be a mess)?
Has anyone found a no-rinse product (for painted surfaces and glass) that works on mc/i-s?
Regards,
GEWB
CDOT suggests washing your vehicle under carriage after each snowstorm to reduce the corrosive nature of liquid mag chloride (spray deicer) to steering and suspension components. I have already lost my nerf bars on my pickup to mag chloride. Liquid mag chloride leaves a greasy film on vehicles. The white residue is from a different deicer called ice slicer (looks like brown sand and is made from a company located just south of Boulder on Hwy 93) also used by CDOT. Granted both are salts, I would worry more about the greasy liquid deicer than the ice slicer. Just my 2cents.
Hello Yazmeister -
So, have you tried the Salt-Away?
Have you found anything that removes the mag chloride and ice-slicer (200 miles per day on I-25 gets to be a mess)?
Has anyone found a no-rinse product (for painted surfaces and glass) that works on mc/i-s?
Regards,
GEWB
JHZR2
Staff member
What I dont yet grasp is if there is a benefit to using a powerwasher to remove salt and grime, vs. just using a jet spray coming from a regular 60psi home service.
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