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For those of you who think salt doesn't work below 15 degrees you're crazy. Take a heavy salt water solution put a piece of iron/steel in it and put it in your freezer. Look at it in a few hours and report back. Sodium chloride is a fairly strong oxidizer and will oxidize uncoated ferrous metals rapidly. If you were able to do a comparison based only air exposure and exposure to salt and air you would likely find that the direct salt contact will oxidize ferrous metal thousands of times faster than air. If it's wet and salty it will be thousands of times faster than salt and air. Therefore every second salt of anti icing compounds are on your cars uncoated metal surfaces you can be sure it's oxidizing those surfaces rapidly. People are driving their cars way longer than years past and the cars drivetrains are lasting much longer than years past. I've replaced numerous oxidized brake components in the last 10 years on many different cars. You can tell where the cars came from and if the owner washed the undercarriage. The best car wash you will get is the one you do yourself with a high pressure spray..
 
There must be a lot of us crazy people around. lol

Do you really think someone didn't have anything better to do one day and decided to just say, you know what i think salt will stop melting snow and ice at... lets say 15 degrees that sounds like a good number.haha

I personally don't know that's why i ask those who do and don't just make up a number.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but that doesn't make it a fact.

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa120703a.htm
 
Do not continually wash your car and put it in a heated garage when it get salt on it ...it will rust out much quicker.
The salt itself is not the issue it is when it is mixed with water that the chemical reaction takes place.
We have salt mines in Michigan and the trucks last forever with no humidity and water once you bring them out of the mines...poof.
I also worked as a catering driver when I was younger and my boss did this ....the trucks rusted out in no time.
 
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you are wasting your money if you wash the car before the snow melts and you get at least one good hard rain to wash the crap off the roads. the washing might get some of it off, but the water also activates some of the salt and chemicals that's suspended in any snow that is hidden away on your car.. much like the protective layer of corrosion on the statue of liberty, it's best to just leave it alone.
 
Hey WhiteHot1 - I don't doubt the 15F thing but like I said, they use some special type of "salt"(not sodium chloride) around here that keeps working even below zero. Right now it's around 10F outside and the snow from this morning is melting on the roads with "salt" spread on them...don't know the content of this "salt" though.
 
In my area car washes close when below freezing. Is that not true everywhere?

Here in Upstate NY,they would have been closed for more than two weeks if that was the case here. Maybe some areas close. It was 21'F and I was in a line that was 8-10 cars long with my winter car.
 
Here is my take on this after dealing with Upstate NY road salt for years.. I would absolutely NEVER drive my GN on roads covered with salt. I'll rent a car first! Once that stuff get in all of the crevices and tough to get at spots,it stays there until you physically wash it out with a pressure washer. ...and you had better have a lift and a raincoat,or a pit and a raincoat because you had better get it all out.

Absolutely never put a salty car in a warm garage. The warmer,the more active it is. If you wash the car and plan on putting it in a warm garage,make sure you get ALL of it off of the undercarriage. Just washing the paint isn't gonna do you any good.

Salt spray from other cars gets in the radiator fins. I've had to replace radiators because there were just rows,no fins. ...and everything was corrosive green. Car was overheating.

Salt spray gets on the windows,then washes down in the doors. Good luck there!

In my area,road crews are mixing salt with green liquid. Yeah,all up in the frame...in the bumper supports.


For my winter beater,I have a $34.99 Unlimited/The Works wash program at my local automated car wash. 6 locations. Drive thru and it gives a powerful spray underneath,foaming waxy crap,soap,spinning brushes,then power dry. Wash as many times as you want...at any of the 6 locations.
***I NEVER pass one of those car washes. (unless it's 20'F or below forecasted soon) Wash that stuff off!

Even after going thru a multi-step automated,there is STILL residue. (see pic)

The best way is to power spray. But I can't do that every day.

I just washed this car twice in 4 hours. Yeah,it seeps out of everywhere.

Have this stuff all over the underside of my GN??? No way! ****DOOOM***

Pic: (and yeah,my drivers door won't latch tonight. Frozen internals. I'll just hold it shut!)

If you have salt under your Turbo Buick?...well,sorry.. This stuff is even eating parts of the inner wheelwell!

salt.jpg
 
"Salt" good on fries, bad on rides.

Bottom line, it will rot your car. The cleaner you keep it, the better.
 
Bison,

I think they are meaning the salt doesn't work on the roads when it is below 15. I might be wrong.

I don't bring the Buick out of hibernation until it has rained a few times and has washed all the salt off the roads. It has to be some really good downpours. On our everyday cars I only take them through a car wash when it is in the 40's. When I was a young and dumb teenager (19) I washed my Ford Escort (stop laughing) before I went to work a 11-7 shift and went to get in my car after work and all the doors were frozen shut! Had to go through the hatchback since that was the only place I could really yank on to get open. Windows were frozen shut too. Had to get the car really warm inside so I could get out! Lesson learned!

When it comes to washing the Buick I will go to a car wash manual bay and just use the rinse mode and bring a bucket with soap. The attendant has always been cool with me. He just doesn't want me to do it when they are busy.
 
Here is my take on this after dealing with Upstate NY road salt for years.. I would absolutely NEVER drive my GN on roads covered with salt. I'll rent a car first! Once that stuff get in all of the crevices and tough to get at spots,it stays there until you physically wash it out with a pressure washer. ...and you had better have a lift and a raincoat,or a pit and a raincoat because you had better get it all out.

Absolutely never put a salty car in a warm garage. The warmer,the more active it is. If you wash the car and plan on putting it in a warm garage,make sure you get ALL of it off of the undercarriage. Just washing the paint isn't gonna do you any good.

Salt spray from other cars gets in the radiator fins. I've had to replace radiators because there were just rows,no fins. ...and everything was corrosive green. Car was overheating.

Salt spray gets on the windows,then washes down in the doors. Good luck there!

In my area,road crews are mixing salt with green liquid. Yeah,all up in the frame...in the bumper supports.


For my winter beater,I have a $34.99 Unlimited/The Works wash program at my local automated car wash. 6 locations. Drive thru and it gives a powerful spray underneath,foaming waxy crap,soap,spinning brushes,then power dry. Wash as many times as you want...at any of the 6 locations.
***I NEVER pass one of those car washes. (unless it's 20'F or below forecasted soon) Wash that stuff off!

Even after going thru a multi-step automated,there is STILL residue. (see pic)

The best way is to power spray. But I can't do that every day.

I just washed this car twice in 4 hours. Yeah,it seeps out of everywhere.

Have this stuff all over the underside of my GN??? No way! ****DOOOM***

Pic: (and yeah,my drivers door won't latch tonight. Frozen internals. I'll just hold it shut!)

If you have salt under your Turbo Buick?...well,sorry.. This stuff is even eating parts of the inner wheelwell!

View attachment 213258
 
177k our grand am we had only had rust from the bit of paint peeling on the bottom and some slight surface rust on the bbottom. Surprisingly in good shape for sitting outside its whole life and my wife never washing it. I don't care how cold it is I wash the vehicles when they need it. I live in the hheart o the rust belt. It also hhelps to wax it once in a while and spray the underside with chain oil. Nice and sticky and doesn't come off. I leave some thin wax on the underside of the rockers and wax door jambs. I usually dry door jambs too
 
hello people; Talking about this with co workers the spraying or applying a thicker oil on the undergarage was brought up and it would probably work. It must be pretty messy. How did you apply your oil treatment on the undergarage? What I do do is just spray WD on the rust that I can see on my T.
IBBY
 
wd-40 in more a degreaser and does not last. It dries up and is gone in no time. I suggest a high silicone base product like slick 50 aerosol. Or Crown Royal rust proofing. You want something that lasts.

Rick
 
hello people; TurboRick do a search for (what does WD40 mean) as I just did. I knew it stood for water displacement but I didn't know that the 40 meant they perfected the concoction on the 40th try. I won't go on but it's all there. The stuff is thin and your correct as it dosen't last so maybe a thicker WD would be nice. I use that stuff in alot of situations.
IBBY
 
Another good one is KEL. It has a very strong smell but it is the best I have found yet. It will keep a squeaky hinge quiet for a year. Does a good job at preventing rust for a while too.
 
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