Road salt, can any car be saved from it? November 11, 2010, 12:28:36 AM Ah road salt. Us northern guys hate it. I was bored at work today and wondering if any car that gets driven all year round in the north can be kept from rusting away. Most people say weekly washings help but I don't believe it. My 88 T-bird sits in the garage all winter to keep it away from the salt. I really want to buy a nice car as a dd but winter is what keeps me from doing it. I'd rather have the 95 get eaten away by salt than get something nice and try to save it. The problem is the other 9 months of the year when the roads are clear I'm still driving that POS because I'm worried about the 3 months of road salt season. I hate road salt. Being a car guy I can't ruin a nice car by exposing it to salt in the winter. What do you norther guys do? Can I have a nice car I really like as a dd? I can't figure out a way to do it with out ruining a nice car... Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #1 – November 11, 2010, 03:14:16 AM Oil the body down? Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #2 – November 11, 2010, 03:59:40 AM There's the undercoating stuff, I guess one could go ape-shiznit with it and spray down the entire underside of a car, wheel wells, gas tank, etc...probably not so cheap.Vigilant washing and stuff too.There's plenty of Chevies to drive in the slick and salt...no need to kill a Ford lol Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #3 – November 11, 2010, 07:45:10 AM I think it's useless to try to stop it.... you can coat the entire underneath, but there will always be a way for salt to get to something that you can't coat.Nuts, bolts, brake lines, linkage, shocks, springs,.... no mater how hard you try, you will always get rust on these. it only takes a scratch or pinhole in paint, or coating to start rusting in the north. you would spend all your time checking and recoating the car.... just get something that you expect to not have in 15 years, it easier to deal with when you know that it's not going to be a permanent DD, that's just the way life is up here... The best you can do is slow down the eventual death of your car. Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #4 – November 11, 2010, 07:59:26 AM Quote from: bhazard;341257Oil the body down? I had a SLIGHT rear main seal leak when I got my car for about 3 years; so slight it never left anything on the ground. The oil WOULD get caught by the wind and coated the underside. Between that and the huge amount from an intake manifold leak the car was coated with old, used, thick oil underneath for a few years that withstood just about anything. When I cleaned it off some surface rust pooped up. Had to scuff the undercarriage and paint it.I'd recommend washing the undercarriage and then wax/polish everything you can reach as well as possible. Treat the undercarriage and everything else as if it were the hood. I wax the underside of the Mustang every 3 months. Everything to include the springs. Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #5 – November 11, 2010, 08:39:10 AM I'm gonna say it again even though I already have. YES. As said already, the car is not gonna win the battle scot-free. The biggest thing is you're gonna have to inconvenience YOURSELF. Knowing the setup of your place, if I do correctly, you don't have water at the garage? And surely not hot water at a spigot on the side of the house. Surely the basp00get has windows? Get a garden hose hook it directly to the hot water heater, run it through the window to outside, and get one of those lame-ass (I say lame-ass because for a house or deck or something it's not enough but its perfect for a car, not TOO powerful as to damage wires or connectors or something) Husky or whatever brand 1600 PSI pressure washers. $100-$150 bucks. And get out there and suffer through the cold and spend a good 20 minutes at least blasting every square inch you can get to down. Ever look underneath your car after a trip through the wash? Yeah, don't even see a speck of salt. Then you get home and it's picked up fresh salt. Wash it off at home, it stays off while it sits in your driveway. Ideally, jack the front and rear up one at a time so you can really get at everything. Do it once the engine has cooled down. Then you can also blast out the engine bay and not worry about cracking manifolds or something. And blast those front subframes like crazy. The drainage is terrible, that's clearly why they rot. PITA? Yeah, pretty much. But that's your best bet if you reeeeally want this. The next best thing being also oiling the underside. Worked really well with my crown vic when I owned it. But just TRULY get the most of the salt off 1-2 times a week and you'll be good.On a side note, yeah cars can be actually saved. Undercoating from the factory as it's assembled. My friend has a '94 Lexus ES300. Was his dads. Has well over 220,000 miles on it. And I know he's not as crazy about upkeep as any of us are. I looked under it once. Looks good. Everything has undercoating on it. And you can bet that that company is *detailed* about it. Like I said, it's probably done as the car is assembled. The only real way to get in everywhere, which is otherwise impossible as Jerry said. Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #6 – November 11, 2010, 10:32:13 AM If you daily drive your car in salt, it will eventually rust. Period. Thorough washing sure helps (I nearly froze to death washing mine everytime it was in salt) but there are crooks and crannies that you can never get perfectly clean. My car was only driven in maybe 4-5 winters and I was buttstuff about cleaning it. It had very minor rust bubbles starting when I had it painted. They were easily fixed...but had I kept winter driving it, the car would have been a rust bucket by now. Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #7 – November 11, 2010, 11:18:46 AM My problem is kinda two fold. I'm going back to school so I need a reliable car but I can't afford a new car right now as I'm, ya know, paying for grad school. My 95 is reliable but the rust is getting bad on the door bottoms and rockers. I'd like to replace it because of the rot but it's only got 89,000 miles on it. Any car I can get to replace it for $3000 that has no rust has a lot of miles. So I either go with high mileage car with no to little minor rust or a low mileage car with rust. At this point I think I'm stuck with the 95 as I'm figuring low mileage and rust > high mileage and no rust. Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #8 – November 11, 2010, 12:19:25 PM This sure makes me glad that they only use sand around here. Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #9 – November 11, 2010, 12:48:49 PM Lou, we went through the same thing with the wife's dd. She had a 94 Bird we bought in 96. Although she loved the car, we had to get rid of it a few weeks ago. She got a flat and when I went to change it, the severity of the problem showed up. I put the scissor jack under the front and started turning. The jack went up and up, I heard lots of crunching sounds, but the car never moved. It took me three tries to find a spot solid enough to actually lift the car. If you drive a car in the winter in the north, it will rust. That's just the way it is. I think you're on the right track with keeping your bird though. Stick with what you know for now and buy something newer once you're out of school. And keep that 88 tucked in for the winter!! Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #10 – November 11, 2010, 02:14:07 PM Lou, I would just sacrifice the MN12 to the salt gods and be patient for when you get out of school. After you get done with school, you can buy a nice DD. I remember how it was being in school and driving POS's to keep my T-bird nice. I had a '88 Grand Prix that was a complete piece of garbage. I couldn't wait to make some money and buy a nicer DD. Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #11 – November 11, 2010, 04:11:31 PM I have considered buying/having one of these installed . Any one had or know of experiences with this type of product?http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4/Auto/AutoBodyRepair1/AutoBodyRustControl/PRD~0477905P/CounterAct%252BElectronic%252BRust%252BProtection%252BSystem.jsp?locale=en Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #12 – November 11, 2010, 05:00:38 PM Yeah knowing those details just keep beating the hell out of the '95. Jeez, ya only have a PERFECT '88 sitting there that only sees the nice weather!!!! Who cares what you drive day to day, that's what it's about, *not* sacrificing the nice one. Props to you for deciding to put up with grad school lol. Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #13 – November 11, 2010, 06:11:41 PM I guess I'm stuck with the 95 till school is done. Thank goodness that will only be a year or so. I was at the point where I could buy a new car or go to grad school. School seemed like the better choice as when I'm done with school I can make a bunch more money. A car will just get older.Just so you guys know I was in no way shape or form thinking about driving my 88 T-bird over the winter. I'm crazy just not that crazy. Plus FLSTCI71 has seen it in person and would probably kill me for the two times it got caught out in the rain this past summer.If someone wants to sell me a less than 100,000 mile decent but not perfect Mark VII for a DD let me know though............;) Quote Selected
Road salt, can any car be saved from it? Reply #14 – November 11, 2010, 06:13:31 PM Quote from: FLSTCI71;341316Lou, we went through the same thing with the wife's dd. She had a 94 Bird we bought in 96. Although she loved the car, we had to get rid of it a few weeks ago. She got a flat and when I went to change it, the severity of the problem showed up. I put the scissor jack under the front and started turning. The jack went up and up, I heard lots of crunching sounds, but the car never moved. It took me three tries to find a spot solid enough to actually lift the car. If you drive a car in the winter in the north, it will rust. That's just the way it is. I think you're on the right track with keeping your bird though. Stick with what you know for now and buy something newer once you're out of school. And keep that 88 tucked in for the winter!! Mine has rocker rot but at least the frame is still solid..... Quote Selected
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