Road salt

[thelinja]

I know a lot of you guys store your cars in the winter, but for the ones like me, who don't, what do you do to your car to keep the salt from building up on the underbody?  Do you just take it to a brushless carwash every once in a while?  It started snowing here last night and that means the city is going to start salting this week.  I got under my car to see if I could find any rust and the only thing rusting is the stock muffler..but it will hold until the spring when I get my 5Zigen.  Any suggestions?

[Yoshi]

I bust out the power sprayer once or twice a month, and give it a good once over, then leave it in the garage to dry so it doesn't get that cool ice shell on it <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

[xLSTONEx]

move down south....its better down here anyway.

You can go threw the touchless wash, and make sure you get the best one where it sprays the underbody when you drive in, but go as slow as you can when you pull in, so it washes it as much as it can.

[thelinja]

Around here we have Mike's express car wash which is the BEST there is. &nbsp;They have a good underbody cleaning system. &nbsp;But it kinda sucks because they don't have then in terre haute...where I go to school. &nbsp;I wish I could move to SoCal or Florida but that won't happen for a while. &nbsp;I think I'll just go with the power hose method, and run it at Mike's when I'm home. Thanks Yoshi.

[burgy240]

1st...get the car reundercoated. &nbsp;Then just go to one of those do it yourself power wash places that costs like 1.25 for 4 minutes and simply turn the nozzle upside down and spray under the car from all sides. &nbsp;Just don't ever use that stupid brush!!!! &nbsp;I do it like 2-3 times a week in the winter on my winter ride and it works really well. &nbsp; <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':thumbsup:'>

[Frappe]

A few more questions from a fellow dirty-winter-driver:

1: What's undercoating and where can I get it re-undercoated? (yeah yeah, I'm as newb to body as I am to audio...)

2: I'm not home or able to drive my car because of school most of the winter anyway. Anything I should do if it's not going to be driven all winter? (lets say Dec. till March.) If not, why do folks say it's bad to let the car sit?


-Frappe

[burgy240]

Undercoating is the rust proofing the factory puts on and you can probably find any number of local shops that do it. &nbsp;Just ask around. As for the question of not letting it sit.....as far as I know the reason is that what salt is on your car will eat at the paint and eventually the sheet metal if you let it sit to long. &nbsp;Anytime you will be letting your car sit for awhile you should give it a reall good cleaning first.

[Frappe]

I meant engine-wise. I heard somewhere that it was bad for the engine to leave the car sitting unused for long periods of time. I didn't hear it from any particularly reputable source mind you, just wondering.

[Yoshi]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Frappe @ Nov. 30 2002,05:38)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I meant engine-wise. I heard somewhere that it was bad for the engine to leave the car sitting unused for long periods of time. I didn't hear it from any particularly reputable source mind you, just wondering.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
I've never heard anything about engine... just make sure that you check/replace your fluids when you get back to the car after letting it sit. &nbsp;Some people I know that store their cars will put it on jack stands before they go and take the wheels off... something about it being better on the suspension and not getting flat spots on the tires. Also they either disconnect the battery, or put a float charger on it if they'll be around to check on it.