Salt or car wash?

[nat88]

I did have 6 cars..with many experiences. All of them are branded new from beginning. Noted: inside are heated garage. Daily driving. Every car treated by anti-rust oil or others under warranties from 5-10 years.

- Avalon: park inside, clean at coin op around 1-2 times/ mo. Hand wash 1 time per month interval => no rust after 5 years like that.

- Civic sedan: outside parking like others said...no warmer, no rust??? Wash at co-op 1 times per month or 2 months, only cleaning ice, snow by brushes => Rust from inside to outside, everywhere around the body. Not big hole, but enough to see it when you close to the car after 6 years

- F150: parking outside, did nothing at all until spring => RUST and RUST after 2 years and half.

- CX9 Mazda: Parking inside, coin-op 1 times per 2 moths => Rust after 3 years, but no hole is bigger than 25 cents then it's worthless with warranties. In here, most people complains about Mazda metal..rust like to eat them

- Black Camry V6 sport: inside parking, clean at coin-op and then hand wash more at home, maniac hand wash every week. NO rust after 5 years but swirls a lot every year. Mistake? No 2 buckets due to time limited.

- M3: inside parking, only drive outside if needed or clean street. Even that, it still be dirty due to melted salt on the street from the city. No coin-op, rinseless or waterless until now for every time back home..only 1 year and no rust at all 1 season and half of winter.

- MDX: coating PBL, just several months testing. Foam canon, rinseless, waterless...inside parking...of course no rust until now

In general, if you have time, take care the baby that you love. It's worth for every penny that you spent. Good luck!

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

I'll go to the pay and spray and use the high pressure water to knock off the heavy stuff. I might go home and do a rinse less after that or I might just leave it like that, depends how the roads look and what's in the forecast.

I don't worrying too much about the salt unless it gets wet, that's when it starts to do damage.

In the spring I do a massive decontamination of the whole car.


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[nat88]

I did forget to mention that every car is always coated by sealant, wax before the winter.

[vet]

I use the coin op when the vehicles get coated with salt and grime, usually the manual bay. Sometimes use the touchless to get the undercar wash. I don't like having a dirty vehicle.

[Sunder92]

Oh man. It's gonna be snowing for most of next week.

Still worth it to do a rinseless wash?

More than half my car is completely white (I have a black car).

Edit: It's 26 degrees today! Too bad with the windchill it feels like 8..

[Dogfather]

I choose salt.
No garage, no frost free hose bibs, no coin-ops nearby.
I count on my Winter LSP doing its job the best it can.
That's life for a DD.

[peter hurcos]

I did forget to mention that every car is always coated by sealant, wax before the winter.

Well, at some point I think you have to trust the sealant to do its job. Prudence suggests you should knock of the dirt with plain water, but that's about it. It may not look good but if its there, its protecting. The undercarriage is a different issue.

In my experience the car was just fine with a good waxing in the high forties, low fifties. (I was using a liquid sealant Jetseal 109 at the time for what its worth). You might be uncomfortable but your car doesn't mind one bit.