Road Salt

[CaribMon71]

This is my first experience living in an area in which the roads are sprayed with salt. The other day I had washed my car and drove a few miles on wet roads (it had rained). The next morning, my car - and many of the other cars in my lot - were covered (bottom half) in what appeared to be road salt.

Will this hurt my paint job? I know these cars are undercoated, but should I be rushing out to the nearest carwash to have my car washed? How about the underside? What do folks in these parts normally do with road salt on their cars?

I wish I could just get under it with a pressure washer and just spray it down. Any opinions?

[Timmbo]

This is my first experience living in an area in which the roads are sprayed with salt. The other day I had washed my car and drove a few miles on wet roads (it had rained). The next morning, my car - and many of the other cars in my lot - were covered (bottom half) in what appeared to be road salt.

Will this hurt my paint job? I know these cars are undercoated, but should I be rushing out to the nearest carwash to have my car washed? How about the underside? What do folks in these parts normally do with road salt on their cars?

I wish I could just get under it with a pressure washer and just spray it down. Any opinions?

I live in Green Bay and we get tons and tons of salt (literally) every winter. I usually get mine washed about once a week, that is probably a bit more often than the average Joe, but I like a clean vehicle. Now, I will say that even if you don't get it washed frequently, you should not have any problems with a Nissan or an Infiniti. I do see many vehicles that get rusty components on the underside of the vehicle, but in my many years of owning Nissan products I have yet to experience this. Also, if you are in a region where salt is used on a regular basis, you want to make sure you give your car a good wax job at least once during the summer, twice is even better (spring and fall).

[rianklong]

I think the biggest salt issues are with the under-carriage of the vehicle and not as much with the paint. Although if you scratched the clear coat somehow the salt would certainly speed corrosion.

I would definitely consider getting it washed regularly somewhere that can spray off the underside as well! I saw a show recently that said in areas that use salt car washes do more business in winter than in summer...exactly for this reason.

[EX35_bernard]

I hear ya, I was from a tropical country originally and 10-15 yr old cars will not have a single rust spot except for a couple of screws maybe. Moving here to Canada wher the roads are salted has definitely changed my cleaning/maintenance habits.

My mazda before the EX was basically waxed spring and fall during the first 2-3 years. It was also protected with underbody coating and paint protection. So when I traded it for the EX this fall (4th yr) the dealer was happy it had no rusting on panels. During the winter months I maybe washed it once every 2 weeks, and touched up stone chips to prevent slat penetration.

On this EX I didnt bother getting underbody and paint protection since it is on lease. But I do plan on washing it once a week if possible, if not maybe once in 2 weeks. Probably wax it once a yr only. Most drive thru carwashes here have underbody wash which is a quick blast of water on the underside as you're driving thru to get rid of salt.

A little tip: My brother is from Virginia too and he often drives here during Christmas and when he gets back he puts the lawn sprinkler under his car to get rid of salt. 10 mins on every corner or for every wheel well is enough he says. Just make sure temps dont reach freezing when you do it so you dont get freezing problems.

[CaribMon71]

Thank you, guys!