How much salt is usually on your vehicle in the winter?

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Jul 14, 2020
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And how often do you wash it and at what temperatures? This is a week since the last wash when it went above freezing. I don't wash it below freezing.

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Too much salt. I waxed our vehicles before winter as a minimal preventative measure to make it easier to spray off with the power washer if there is a warm day in the 40's but that seems unlikely for now.
 
Looks about right. Tomorrow is the only day next week that it will be above 32F. Rest of week low 20's. So this is staying put until we get a break. I usually won't wash when it's below 40-45F. All I have on my car for the most part is Wet Coat which really isn't sufficient to get me through the winter.

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I am not sure about other parts of the country but here where I live the big drive thru tunnel washes recycle a lot of the water that they use. This means that the salt ends up in solution in a certain concentration with the wash water. Chemicals are supposedly added to negate the concentration, but non the less salt is still in the wash water to some degree. Some people don't mind this just want the salt off their cars because it gets on their clothing, shoes, gloves etc. I am only mentioning this fact for those of you who consider using tunnel wash commercial systems as a minimum for keeping the salt off your cars.
 
Not too much. I waxed it and applied Mothers CMX a few months ago on the paint. Undercarriage, I mean, majority of it is covered by the plastic belly pan. Suspension components are the only things visible.

I usually hose the undercarriage the best I can when I hand wash it at work.

I haven't washed it yet since it snowed (last week). Going to wash it Friday at work since I get off early.
 
I did a wax at some point this past summer. And it was sprayed by rust check and I've been under touching up areas of the frame and floor etc. Anytime I wash I will spray some more undercoating at some point soon after as I'm worried about washing too much oil off.
 
Here in MN it rarely gets above freezing for 3-4 months. I have a hose in my garage so I will hose the salt off and occasionally do a rinseless wash. I hate salt and slop...
 
If we got a dry day i will go and wash my truck. I dont get it why the US carmakers dont galvanize the frames and body like moust of the Europeans do. I love US trucks but hate the way they rust away.
The frame is holding up really well on this one. I did have to have the rocker panels and cab corners replaced. This truck was undercoated every 2 years at a Krown dealer (with a poor reputation for quality). Then there was a few years where it wasn't undercoated (because my boss thought it should be on it's last legs) but I would occasionally buy a can of krown and spray certain parts of the frame myself. Then I ended up buying it almost 2 years ago and undercoat it twice a year. A new fender is going on in the spring but everything else is pretty well rust free including the doors.
 
I run the F-150, Jeep, and the Honda through the automatic car washes on a regular basis. I have unlimited washes and pay every month however it doesn't keep the vehicles from rusting. I usually get rid of them before any rust shows up. Generally around here the vehicles show rust in 7 to 10 years and there is not much you can do to stop it.
 
I rarely wash my cars (period). Just seems like a waste of time, hit one dirt driveway and it’s trashed, let alone any dirt road. And that’s in summertime.

My driveway slopes downward, which is nice, but I’m not sure I want to hose something off and then have a skating rink—that would have me sliding out into the road. 10+ miles drive to a local carwash, which would allow it to drive off on the way home—oh wait, does that make sense, since it’ll just get dirty again on the way home?

I’ve tried to FF my vehicles but that stuff doesn’t stick. But if I drive 20+k per year, after 10 years the car has high levels of wear on everything. At what point do you just accept some slow rate of decay as the cost of living here?
 
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