moorejd

Just how bad is it to drive on salted roads in the winter?

I live in NYC and the (pot-hole riddled) roads here get doused heavily in salt during the winter. Other than fitting 18" rims and a set of winter tires (to a 997.1 S Cab), anything else I should be doing to prevent rust? Does the underside need to be sealed?

This is my first winter with the car, so I'm planning to have her washed weekly (the nearest car wash seems to be about 10 blocks from the garage where I park).

Anyone have any experience with either of these places? I notice at least one offers an "undercarriage wash" and "rust inhibitor."

http://westsidecarwash.com/site3/
http://www.broadwaycarwash.com/car-wash.html

Macster

When I lived and drove in areas where the roads were salted I located a DIY car wash that had heated rinse water and used this to rinse my car's exterior and undercarriage.

The car comes from the factory with a real nice underbody protection. Some kind of rock chip resistent paint/plastic coating. Run a bare hand over the bottom of the rocker panel to get a feel for this stuff. Tough.

About the only way I've seen it damaged is if one uses a shop to service his vehicle and the shop lifts the car with no rubber pads to protect the painted lifting points from damage from the lifting. Over time this can damage the paint at those locations, compromise the paint, and this can expose the metal it protects to corrosion.

Anyhow, no need to apply any underbody sealer, rust inhibitor, etc.

Just every once in awhile when the weather is warm enough rinse the car front to back top to bottom and including the undercarriage area and the radiator air intake ducts.

Be sure to drive the car after this and use the brakes enough to dry the brakes to keep them from rusting.

When warmer weather finally arrives treat the car to a thorough washing and rinse all over and under too.

Sincerely,

Macster.

TommyV44

Been driving 911s in the snow for 11 years with no issues!

Tom

Edgy01

Porsche put on stainless steel exhaust systems (mufflers, Cats) to shed off the effects of the salt but the headers will be shot and the fasteners, in about 6 years. It's the price you pay to do that. The body is undercoated and shielded rather well, but fasteners will take a hit.

Jay H

Use only "touchless" wash systems and avoid automatic car washes like the West Side Car Wash and Broadway Bridge places where rags and brushes touch your car. Those rags and brushes they use to wash cars are rarely cleaned and the last 14,762 cars that have gone through the wash still have the remnants from their grime on those rags. You'll mar the finish something fierce using washes like that.

In my area, we have car washes that use a laser to guide an apparatus around the car using only high pressure water to clean the car. While they won't get the car as clean as a good hand wash at home in the driveway or at your detailer's shop, for winter, these are excellent for keeping the salt away.

Laser Wash Example

I have a couple local detailers that will hand wash cars for $20 a pop and they come out cleaner than any car wash place will get the car plus you are insured that the car's finish won't get marred. Try the daily driver out (or the spouse's car) at the detailer's shop to insure they are competent.

Of course, convertibles can't go through automatic car washes.

Be extremely careful about automatic car washes that have a wheel guide to drive into to help place the car in the car wash bay. We have such low profile tires and large rims that may get damaged from the wheel guide. The two laser wash bays near my home have no wheel guides. Nothing touches my cars in those bays.

If you are really **** about your cars you can do the following. When I put my winter tires on, I take wheel bearing grease and rub a thin layer of that on fasteners that are exposed (open to wheel wells) and made of metal that will corrode. Road grime attracts to it in due time which then forms a very good protective barrier from the salt. In spring, you can remove the grease and dirt with a good power wash or a de-greasing agent. Of course you can't do this on any exhaust component or anything that gets hot.

I have a cheaper, electric powered pressure washer that I bought purposely for it's low output. I use that on a regular basis on warm days to rise off the bottom of my car. At 900 psi, it's not strong enough to do much damage (unlike a 1500 or 3000 psi gas powered pressure washer on a cart), but removes salt really, really well.

I've seen guys use separate wheel lugs for winter wheels to keep their summer set of lug bolts rust free. I'd do this too, but at $7 a pop times 5 lug holes times 4 rims, it's not worth it to me since I wash my car quite often in the winter.

While I completely understand 100% why people store their cars during the "salt season" (I have three cars in storage during winter), I tend to think these M97 motors do better being driven everyday, all year long (Yeah, I'm jealous of you guys that get to do year round salt free driving!).

Good luck!

Jay

997_rich

Agree with Jay H.

Even most handwash places in the NYC area use really dirty mits to wash the car. I had a black BMW that was totally swirled even though I handwashed myself most of the time- even just a few washes at the hand wash swirled the paint with micro scratches. The volume of cars going through those places means that they just can't keep using new wash mitts all the time so they start to pick up sand etc in the wash mitts which swirls the paint.

Recommending weekly the laser touchless wash with a clean rag wipedown or DIY or going to a custom detail that will wash the car with clean rags/sponges. I try to hit the underside/wheel-wells of the car every time I wash.

I drive through the winter in the NYC area and the exhaust/fasteners seems to get the worst of it. The rest of the car seems totally fine so far.

MLindgren

I store my car in the winter not because of the road salt but more because of the potholes created by the road salt.

onetrickpony

I suggest heading out to Edgewater NJ (right across the Lincoln Tunnel and GW Bridge) and going through the hand car-wash on River Road. This is what I did before I had access to a hose. I live in Manhattan so I understand your concerns...

kev_song

I would be more concerned about the pot holes and bent rims.

vern1

It has been suggested that the best thing to do is to not wash the car at all during the winter as the constant freeze/thaw cycles do more damage then just leaving it alone. Pressure washing salt (which will then disolve in the warm/hot water) just blasts it in to places it might never get under normal usage. Here in Toronto once it freezes it generally stays frozen till spring. Then one good wash to get it all off

Makes sense to me

Macster

If the climate is cold enough that the snow/ice stays frozen for the duration there is some truth to what you say. The frozen ice/snow is not very corrosive simply because it is not liquid, obviously.

But where I lived there would be warm (above freezing) spells once in a while and I used these as an opportunity to rinse the car thoroughly to remove any salt spray top side and and underneath.

Also, what I noticed is even when it was quite cold when I parked the car in a attached but unheated garage or even left the car outside heat from the radiators, brakes, and rear running gear would cause some of the snow/ice that froze under the wheel wells to melt and rain down salty water on the wheel hubs, wheel bolts, and brake hardware.

So even a few times when the weather was not that warm, I'd visit the DIY car wash and use the heated rinse water to melt the accumulated frozen snow/ice from the wheel wells and other places.

Sincerely,

Macster.

aaks38

Like yourself, i live in an area where we get a lot of salt mixed with slush during the winter storms, it is corrosive if you have any exposed bare metal.

The only prevention you have is to make sure you have a good coat of wax on the car before the bad weather hits and if you see any bare metal, to touch it up. Check the fender well areas.

kyrocks

I kind of feel bad posting this....but...

I don't have to worry about that anymore!!!
(I used to live in Canada and Iowa)

Mbiondo

You should feel bad for poking us. In NJ, I've got 3 inches of snow and 5 inches of salt on the roads! LoL...