Road Salt Tips?

[Known-Background]

The season is here for salt all over the place I hate it. Any recommendations for dealing with it anyone notice damage, and under what conditions? I’m thinking about wrapping clear for the winter,thoughts?

Sponsored

 

[Tallgeese179]

I would look into the following, stepping up in aggressiveness:

-Rinseless Wash/pH Neutral Car Soap
-SprayAway Glass Cleaner
-Isopropyl Alcohol (99% pure is my preference)
-Citrisurf 77 (regular, not plus)
-Blendex Sanding Discs (high Initial cost, but you're arguably set for life)

Any "damage" to the exterior is surface deep. For rust spots, an acidic cleaner like Citrisurf 77 is ideal since it should get rid of the rust and help to repassivate the stainless. Some have shown success with Iron Remover as well.

Long story short, the exterior is wildly resilient and can be returned to show room finish at any time. Unlike a clear coat with fractions of a millimeter to work with, you have functionally limitless depth. Short of using an angle grinder, you will be removing very negligible thickness to any panel you sand even with the Medium Blendex pads. Speaking from first hand experience here btw.

 

[plaidmodelx]

Didn’t cause any problems for me last year

 

[RonSol]

You have nothing to worry about. Second winter with my CT and it just doesn’t care.

 

[SlegMD]

All depends on you and where you want to spend your money. If it were me I’d see how it goes, like mentioned before it is an easy fix for superficial corrections that would be cheaper than the ppf.

PPF would prevent the issue though…

 

[Dazureus]

I went last winter without washing my truck just to see how the exterior would behave with our salty roads in Michigan. I received my truck the in June '24 and didn't perform any acidic treatments so the stainless steel should have had a good passive oxidization coat by winter.

In general, when I did my first detail wash in spring, things looked good. There were some "rust" surface contamination spots that I frequently had to clay bar off my white Model X. I used a synthetic claybar to remove them, which required less effort than I've done with painted surfaces. There were two areas that required additional attention, which I'll be keeping clean this winter. The front left and right quarter panels, down where the front of the wheel flares meet the bumper, had odd surface contamination or texture that requred additional scrubbing with a scotchbrite pad. Also, inside the doors, there are weep holes near the bottom. I found some surface rust near these hole that could easily be wiped away. I don't think these could be attributed to external contamination, so I'll be keeping my eye on this area.

 

[CTCotopaxi]

WASH FREQUENTLY!! We have salt and Mag Chloride in Co , went 8 weeks without washing due to frequent snow and below zero temperatures, corrosion pits all over , and pretty deep!

 

[Gundo]

Buy the monthly exterior wash pass at your local car wash and use it.
We get a lot of salt and I run the truck through the carwash every week or so.
All good and looks like new.
(28,000 miles and many of them salty)

 

[RobertWarren]

I recommend a Mallory 8" squeegee, small bucket, and extra windshield washer in the frunk so you can do the windows and mirrors when you are supercharging or before leaving the garage in the morning. It gets a little claustrophobic not being able to see out and then it throws salt inside if you roll down the windows to see.

 

[Gundo]

I recommend a Mallory 8" squeegee, small bucket, and extra windshield washer in the frunk so you can do the windows and mirrors when you are supercharging or before leaving the garage in the morning. It gets a little claustrophobic not being able to see out and then it throws salt inside if you roll down the windows to see.

That is a LOT of salt!

 

[Known-Background]

This is my second winter in Pennsylvania salty salty roads, I just get nervous and now that there are more people than just us FS owners I was curious to hear what people are during year two… thanks for everyone’s responses. I’ll stick with weekly washing maybe get the touchiness pass for the next 3-4 months!

 

[Tallgeese179]

This is my second winter in Pennsylvania salty salty roads, I just get nervous and now that there are more people than just us FS owners I was curious to hear what people are during year two… thanks for everyone’s responses. I’ll stick with weekly washing maybe get the touchiness pass for the next 3-4 months!

I'm in Pittsburgh and just got my CT in September so this will be my first winter with it. So far I'm just taking it to the coin operated wash to do a high pressure soap spray down followed by a rinse. I prefer this way since it means I can get the lance into all the nooks and crannies of the undercarriage and control arms. It's more hassle, but I just wait for a warmer day to do it.

 

[RonSol]

I'm on the other side of the state and do the same thing. Worked well for me last year.

Sponsored