Well the roads are clear here. However, the parking lot at work salted EVERYWHERE (guess to avoid getting sued if someone slips and falls).

Needless to say, my car has salt all over it It ruined my day to come into a parking lot of salt.

Sorry I'm a newb about this. But what takes the most damage when you have salt on the car? I had a few layers of Z5 on the car if that helps. I know the bumpers, ground effects, mirrors and spoiler aren't metal. The hood is aluminum. The suspension is aluminum (right?). So what exactly will rust???? Will salt screw up my paint?

I've talked to a few other guys who said dont worry about it. As long as you hose car down I should be ok. They also said undercarriage is coated to prevent corrosion. Shouldnt be an issue in newer cars. Is this accurate?

Anyway, I hosed the car down and the undercarriage too when I got off work. It is freezing outside mind you.
Kevin where are you?

 

It won't hurt anyting, a good coat of polish makes the salt come right off when you hand wash it. The only thing salt can do quick damage to is to pit highly polished bare metal like custom wheels.

 

in chicago we have a ton of salt here, and you will be fine. i am more worried about a chunk getting sprayed onto my car from a truck, or kicked up from a car in front of me. Alittle off topic, but my family's buisness is construction, and in the winters we used to plow/salt parking lots, and one women slipped on the salt that was put down to prevent her slipping, and she tried to sue because the salt was "too big" luckily the case was thrown out.

 

Hey , buy a second hand shitty car and drive it when it snows . You won' t have to worry about your Z.

 

How did hosing it off work out? Did it freeze right away. I didn't want to wash it for fear of soap freezing on it. Did you just leave it wet and drive off?

My Z has salt residue all over it just from SITTING in my parking lot. I haven't driven it since new years! The salt put down on my complex's driveway just kicked up all over it. Unfortunately I had to leave it since I didn't have time to wash it. Also it was low teens out. It snowed a couple inches today and I left it on there (I'm not home for a few days). Hopefully that won't do any damage. Maybe it'll melt and take some of the salt with it??? BTW have a couple coats of Z5 also so hope that will help.

 

<---- has washed his car outside in 15 degree weather with -10 wind chill. Water freezes on contact! My car is my daily driver in NJ aka Saltville. Here are my two methods.

1. If the car is loaded with salt, i take it to a DIY car wash place. It's like a car port, little to no protection from wind. Bring a scalding hot soap water mix with you. Two gallons at least. Use a huge chenille sponge and cover the car in a soap water mix. Do not touch the car. You just want to dump soap water everywhere you can. Let it sit for a minute. Anything longer and it will freeze. Then take the high pressure rinse and go to town. I rinse the undercarriage also. Then wash the car regularly. Soap will freeze on the side you started with first. Nothing you can do about it. High pressure rinse at the end takes care of it though. Blade your car immediately after you are done! Try to buy a friend dinner to help you. Do not drive off with a wet car. It will freeze all over your car after a mile. I recommend washing the rims at home with a huge watering pot.

2. If its not too salty, but requires a wash, I do it at home. I store my hose in my garage because the leftover water will freeze outside. I park my car up on rhino ramps. Buy a hose nozzle that mixes soap as you spray. This is great for cleaning the undercarriage. Just soap everything up. Then rinse. Pull car off ramps and wash car as normal. After the final rinse, immediately pull the car in the garage. Then blade and wipe dry. If you try this outside, your rinse water will freeze on you before you get a chance to dry. If you don't have a garage, get a friend to help you. A really great helpful friend. Free dinner isn't enough for my friend's to help me wash my car in the winter.

 

Salt will not hurt your paint. This may have been in the case years ago....but not today. Even your undercarriage is ok. The ONLY thing salt damages on newer vehicles is high polished wheels as Kevin mentioned. Don't worry about it

 

Salt - when mixed with water (snow) is a corrosive. While low grade, it will eat at whatever it sits on. Nothing is impervious. Want to try pouring some diluted battery acid on your paint too?

When I lived in the rust belt, I kept my car waxed, but most importantly, I hosed it off reqularly - most importantly under the lip of the wheel wells, in the corners of the wheel wells and under all the door sills. Bend that high pressure hose around the back of the fender lip (the area that people roll in order to fit larger tires. That will save your car.

Salt won't hurt eh? My Honda had a hard rubber seal that had metal inside it for rigidity, that molded around the fender lip. The salt got through the rubber and rusted the metal. That caused the rubber seal to bulge, allowing salt to get trapped underneith it, and then started rusting the sheetmetal.

Don't kid yourself into thinking new cars are impervious to salt. Until there are no longer metal based parts on cars, they will always be open for damage.

 

Yes, salt may hurt the paint, but it depends how you remove it. Spray it off by fine spraying the car before washing it. This is to remove most of the salt before hand washing.....if you don't hose it off first, it'll be like washing the car w/ high grit sand paper.

 

My Z is my daily driver so I cant prevent winter salt. At least once a week I drive 15miles to a self service wash. The high pressure soap&wax does a good job of getting all the salt out.

 

Yea I can attest to the damaging properties of salt. It scratches puts micro scratches into the clearcoat.

It's just not good alltogether.

 

You are a maniac!

Hehehe loved your post as usual, Afr0puff. We had a snow/ice storm here this week and you made me happy to be living where I do.

What do you use on your hands, dish-washing gloves?

 

i wish i could wash my car..but my damn hose is frozen...i feel like the salt is absolutely killing the paint but i cant do anythign about it...i refuse to go to a car wash and i cant find any brushless car washers or DIY places around here...afropuff is there a place near new brunswick....im also home in brooklyn during the weekend..anyone know a place?

 

If you bring the hose inside and let it defrost, and wait till you have a day where it's above 25 degrees you could wash it.

 

im gonna try and do that...unfortuantely i just smashed up my car...still gonna wash it though

 

No! What happened? Pics?