Salts Gone/salt neutralizers

[avacado11]

Saw an ad for Salts Gone. Interesting but just can’t find a suitable application for me. I can just pressure wash road salt off...unless salt neutralizers have a benefit that I don’t know of. I can only assume it will “melt” salt off the vehicles surfaces, wouldn’t this still leave road grime behind? If it can strip road grime wouldn’t it also strip wax?

Sounds a lot like snake oil unless there is some benefit of using it. Their site doesn’t really advertise anything other than dissolving salt.

 

[PimTac]

My understanding is that a salt or sodium neutralizer has a acid component. How that would affect the surfaces is a good question. I would assume it would affect any wax or sealant you had applied. How it affects the clearcoat is a bigger question. It’s not something I would use.

 

[Kestas]

From a technical point of view I don't see how salt can be neutralized. When you talk about something benig chemically "neutralized" you're trying to get rid of its acidity or alkalinity. Salt is neutral... neither acid nor basic. The best you can do is dissolve it with water. Adding surfactant may help, but that's about it. I believe these products contain a surfactant.

Just a good flushing with water will "neutralize" salt.

 

[kschachn]

This topic has come up before and I found this:

https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/SPR/Research/Training/Documents/2014_Presentations/134718SaltNeutResultsPres.pdf

I too struggle with the notion that the salt is somehow neutralized, the only way you would truly neutralize the NaCl is to somehow cause the ions to precipitate out as some harmless substance. That's not going to happen easily with sodium and chloride.

 

[The Critic]

Home | ValuGard: Rust Inhibitor Spray

www.valugard.net

https://www.valugard.net/wp-content/uploads/ProGard-VG-502.pdf

Not sure how this works either, but the product appears to be very alkaline.

 

[Kestas]

It has 1-5% butoxyethanol, which is a solvent and surfactant. It is alkaline (pH=12.5). I'm pretty sure the rest is water.

 

[PimTac]

I am thinking these products have a specific use. The average consumer doesn’t need them.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

How well does Krown Salt Eliminator work?

 

[BISCUT]

I'd stay away. A quality carwash with an underspray is what I do.

 

[AutoMechanic]

I always just wash the car afterwards. We don’t get nearly as much down here as far as salt goes but it sticks to cars still.

 

[Donald]

I see this used to spray down boat trailers after a dunk in salt water. And integrated into an engine flush after running a raw water cooled boat engine in salt water,

 

[avacado11]

I'd stay away. A quality carwash with an underspray is what I do.

that’s what I’ve been doing for years and has never let me down. Doesn’t seem to be much talk of salt eliminators on passenger cars. Seems it’s mostly meant for big vehicles(semis, RVs, trailers etc.) that cannot be easily washed.

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

Krown Rust Control ( Canadian company ) sells product called “MR35” salt eliminator. You can buy it in a spray can ( clean salt out of floor mat ) , in containers or bring your car in to have them spray it on your car.

The products breaks the molecular bond and makes it much easier to remove salt from the underside ( or wash car with ) of vehicles. Some cities use it on their salt trucks, it’s that effective.

I don’t wash my car in the winter anymore ( tired of waiting in line, car is dirty two days later, windows freeze ) but I bring it in to Krown in the spring and get them to wash the car ( high pressure hose ) and get all the salt off underneath and on the body. Costs something like $40.00.

 

[kschachn]

Krown Rust Control ( Canadian company ) sells product called “MR35” salt eliminator. You can buy it in a spray can ( clean salt out of floor mat ) , in containers or bring your car in to have them spray it on your car.

The products breaks the molecular bond and makes it much easier to remove salt from the underside ( or wash car with ) of vehicles. Some cities use it on their salt trucks, it’s that effective.

I don’t wash my car in the winter anymore ( tired of waiting in line, car is dirty two days later, windows freeze ) but I bring it in to Krown in the spring and get them to wash the car ( high pressure hose ) and get all the salt off underneath and on the body. Costs something like $40.00.

No it doesn’t do that. That’s made up pseudo science.

 

[JHZR2]

Ive used salt away before. It’s essentially a weak acid, a surfactant, and a corrosion inhibitor. I spray it on then rinse it off before washing a car. Haven’t used it much in years, but I probably have a gallon of it someplace.

I suspect that a weak, dilute organic acid like citric acid helps to remove the mineral crusts that are on surfaces (same way you might use CLR), and to slightly pasivate any exposed metals/rust. Acids dont have to be fuming liquids that burn and dissolve anything they touch.

Couple that with some surfactants and something else thst will inhibit oxidation seems like a reasonable idea. A weak acid thst will donate a proton to heal with the OH that is looking for an Fe in water droplets or semi-hydrated salts might reduce the amount of metal that gets reacted...

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

No it doesn’t do that. That’s made up pseudo science.