Rust Belt: Wash my car or wait until spring?

[Mr_Accord]

For people living in the rust belt. Do you wash the salt residue off your cars when its mild out or do you just wait until the spring? I've never washed my car during the winter months even when its mild out, but my car has never had this much of a salt coating from top to bottom before (they threw down a lot of the roads!). We're supposed to be getting a mild weekend coming up and I'm contemplating either going to a car wash or a hand wash place. Thing is ... I'm worried getting it washed would remove the rust proofing? The car was sprayed with Krown in the fall and I applied 3 coats of The klasse twins with 2x coats of collinite for protection over the winter. So just wondering if its protected enough to leave it till april or wash the salt off?

 

[ThirdeYe]

I try to wash them off when it's above freezing, especially the undercarriage. I do it myself as I believe most car washes use recycled water that probably has salt in it. I'm sure it's best to let it dry first before driving it again so you're not kicking up salt onto wet surfaces, thus activating the salt/rust again. Not sure about the undercoating, though, as I've never tried that stuff.

 

[Wolf359]

I like to wash it as soon as there's a break in the weather so I can get the salt off the undercarriage. I've never bothered with rust proofing and have only had minimal rust on cars up to 21 years old. I usually try to get the car washed at least one or twice a month on a regular basis and that includes the under carriage wash. I think if you wash the car enough, you don't need any rust proofing. Plus considering the cost, I'd rather have a clean car than one that has had rust proofing, I still get comments my 2001 car on how it looks like it's in pretty good shape because I keep it washed and waxed on a regular basis.

 

[daves87rs]

Wash mine as much as I can....

 

[RISUPERCREWMAN]

I wash mine at least once a week in the winter.

 

[Turk]

It was 13F yesterday and I washed my car and wiped it off including door jambs.

The touch-free wash in town has a STRONG bottom blast!!

 

[Oil Changer]

Only when it is above freezing.

 

[bradepb]

You gotta get that salt off whenever you can. If I went all winter here in Michigan without a wash my cars would be more rust than metal.

 

[eljefino]

I have to turn my outside spigot off due to freezing, so I let it be.

Remember, WET salt is what eats your car. I let my crusty white car cruise through Jan and Feb when it's never above freezing.

If I had the means, and it was above freezing, sure, I'd go for it, particularly if I felt the cleaning would "stick".

If I knew I'd be commuting through salty puddles again the next day, nope.

I'm in for a month of melting snowbanks and the resultant overnight black ice, so washing would be a fools errand.

I get a good March rain storm every year and I feel that blasting through puddles and ruts gets my undercarriage as clean as a car wash could, anyway. Talking about a couple-inch rainstorm that pre-rinses all the salt off the roads. I monitor for same, and if I don't get one "on time" I'll break out the hose.

 

[ronbo]

I have a unlimited car wash plan for $25 a month at a touch-free wash in town has a bottom blast. I get a wash every 2-3 days from Dec 1 to Mar 31. Doing this for the last four years.

 

[JustinH]

My brother also has the delta sonic pass in Buffalo.

His acura looks great, and it is 6 years old, not a spot of rust.

He goes every 2 days I think.

 

[sicko]

I like to take it to get washed to get the salt off it.

 

[demarpaint]

I wash it when weather permits.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
My brother also has the delta sonic pass in Buffalo.

His acura looks great, and it is 6 years old, not a spot of rust.

He goes every 2 days I think.

Every two days sounds expensive depending on what type of car wash.
I go a couple times a year when the roads are going to be clear for a while. I also go to blow out the ice or snow inside the wheels when they cause an imbalance. This year we've had some deeper snow so I've had a few imbalances.

 

[EuroGS]

I wash both mine whenever I get a chance of nice, above freezing, weather here. However this year my Regal hasn't been washed since October..and in previous winters it had been washed as much as possible. For a (now semi-) rust free California car, we'll see what it looks like when the spring detail happens.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I oil the car underneath, apply grease to threads,etc and I put a GOOD coat of wax on the car in the fall.

I don't wash it until it's warm and the roadsalt is gone.

Most car washes around here recycle the water. So .... you're getting your car sprayed with saltwater.

 

[Donald]

I go to some kind of car wash with undercarriage wash. I do have CarWell applied in the spring.

 

[Donald]

Also if your not washing your car often in the winter, keep out outside where its cold, not a warm garage.

 

[dlundblad]

Even if the water is recycled, isn't the salt removed through filtration and the reverse osmosis process?

I received a back stage tour of a little car wash in town. 3 bays plus a small automatic thing. The filtration system was huge.

 

[xxch4osxx]

I only wash mine a couple times all winter. When its mild enough to wash, the roads are always wet and its pointless to wash. When the roads are dry, its way too cold to wash as the doors would freeze shut.