NaCl

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Brake time. More like state inspection time. Old rotors had some non-critical rust on the face, weird wear pattern. Anyway. It's been between -3'F and +16'F all week, with blowing snow, sleet, melting/refreezing. A great excuse to salt the heck out of everything. In this overview one sees the plastic inner fender liner and, down by the caliper, where it interfaces with the subframe. I'm leery of this interface; feel salt wicks up behind the plastic.

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Salt attracts moisture! It makes interesting patterns, if you don't care that your car is chafing at its very existence. As it dries, it makes pretty snowflakey stuff. This is an 18 year old factory metal brake line, BTW, which still looks perfect (when clean).

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The strut-to-knuckle interface. The knuckle sloughs off a layer of rust flakes every once in a while, but survives. If I hit the big nuts with my impact there'd be salt dust all in the air. My Carhart jacket had white stains all up my right sleeve. The knuckles in particular had crazy white stains; I feel the heat from the brakes/ wheel bearings evaporated briny water, leaving just the salt behind.

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Another shot of the fender liner/ subframe. Salt tracks look like the dry river beds on Mars.
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Probably interesting for the southern members to view, but for us it's kind of sad. I'm sure my car is no different right now... too cold to wash it off, too.
 
Keep the fender liners!!! They are there for a reason, and its more important to have them there to prevent rocks and sand from eating away at the coatings, than the fact that salt may wick in. Remember that when spring comes it washes right back out again, sooner if you wash the car or drive through an area thats wet but no salt.

I remember a few years back reading that MB, Saab or Volvo did a study that found far lower corrosion rates on cars with fender liners. Some cars even have a coarse felt type! Talk about moisture wickage!

Id just use some salt away to help wash, and ensure that you clean any leaves or other junk under the fender liners... Then oil spray where it makes sense.
 
I'm lucky to have plenty of freshwater puddles come April! Deep, wide, long, and I hit 'em fast!
 
Thats like a horror movie. Brings back memories of being t'other side of the pond
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That looks unsafe man , please take care of it as soon as your able.

I sure would hate to live where you do , cars need to be replaced more often.
 
The salt can also cause a problem replacing a flex brake line. The steel section of mine snapped when undoing the flex line. Copper-nickel brake line in there now.
 
Yep, that's why I have sprayed both cars with Fluid Film before every winter. It's way more fun to work on stuff that comes apart just like it's supposed to instead of hammering/torching/cutting it off!
 
Originally Posted By: mikered30
I wonder if corrosionx hd would have worked in there?


I wouldnt want HD anything (corrosion, amsoil, etc). I wouldnt want the waxy coatings either holding water beneath them (which can happen in small pockets despite the self-healing claims), or causing impedance to water flow-off. Id want it to be oiled with a self-spreading oil to get into the crevices so water cant get there, and then leave it at that...
 
That strut looks awesome...looks to me like the heat of the working damping fluid keeps an area melted and damp enough to be an active rust location...
 
^ That's also by the tire tread. Though I like your geeky explantion better!
 
When I lived in Maine for 10 years I squirted oil on the suspension parts, in door cavities, and wheel well areas. My cars didn't have rust due to this oil treatment. I did this twice a year. Spring and fall.
 
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