Question for those who live with road salt...

How do you guys deal with the toll it takes on vehicles?

Do you have winter and summer vehicles? Maticulous about washing in spring?

Personally, to start, I would never buy a new vehicle unless I only drove it during non salt conditions. I would rotate out my vehicles if I could help it. Also, I would do everything I could to buy newerish used vehicles from southern states. Hell, might even buy salvage titles to drive for winter time.

I recently spent a week driving through that crap and would hate to deal with it....both literally and on the pocket book.

 

Undercoat it
Rinse it
Deal with it

 

This......
In the spring it's a power wash and recoat.
Then a recoat in the fall.
Clean and repaint rust u see.
That's all u can do...

 

This. Lived in MA my whole life and it isn't fun, plus I hate cold weather to begin with

 

I run it through a touchless car wash with underbody nozzles every time the temperatures go above freezing. Only way to deal with crap like this:

Tacoma In The Salt (T.I.T.S.)

 

Up here in pa that's just a way of life. Wash it off after every storm.

 

You're right, it's a miracle any of us in the northern states own vehicles for more than a year at a time... :rollseyes:

 

We have an almost unlimited amount of salt here in Salt Lake City. I've kept vehicles for 20+ years and haven't had rusting issues. I wash them every week during the winter snow season. Just make sure you touch up deep paint chips. The worst I had was an Acura vigor that I bought used from Texas. It started developing cancer around the rear tire wells. It was a 1991 and I replaced it with my truck in 2010. Not too bad for a 19 year old car with 240000 miles.

Wash it and it will be fine. Manufactures build these for salt conditions.

 

A few days after a storm/salt dosage, I'll run it through an automatic car wash that has an undercoat spraywash as you go in.... Just drive through it slow.

 

[FONT=&quot]I live in upstate NY but am lucky enough to have a company car that I keep at home and drive 90% of my miles in it. My 2013 Tacoma with 7000 miles is needed for things the car can’t do. We got a foot of snow last night. I plowed the driveway, the neighbor and drove 18 miles to camp on the wet, salty roads to plow it out. In the basement I have to turn one valve on and another off to get hot water to a spigot outside. I’m taking a quick break right now from giving all sides of the truck a hot water rinse. It’s different for me with the company car to drive but in an hour the truck will be in the garage for at least 5 days. I hate salt. The 1987 Astro van I just sold was getting a bit rusty but it would have disintegrated years ago if it weren’t for warm water baths.
[/FONT]

 

wash underbody and fluid film coating applied in the fall, washed after every storm, repair underbody coating in spring, repeat. been doing that on all of my family's vehicles and haven't had a spot of rust in 15+ years

 

Hey neighbor!

Yes, the salt is bad. My truck will look white for the next 4 months... I hate it and just try to rinse it as much as possible. It's absurd the amount of salt and sand they use here in Northern NY!!! I'll try and grab a shot of my truck on a typical day... You will all
The previous pics are 1/100 of the crap we have to deal with.
I just deal with the salt and flip off the plow drivers

 

Does the fluid film wash off when you go through the wash? Or does it last the season. I was thinking of doing that on my underside as well

 

it definitely 'washes off' if you take a pressure washer to it with the powerful nozzle. but it def stays on through a winter of going through salt/snow/car washes with underbody wash. by the end of the season, you can see where it no longer is on the frame. it's a slippery substance so I would discourage applying it in the warm months when you'd want to work on the underside of your truck. what i like about it is that you can apply it liberally, without fear of ruining anything else. it washes off paint if you overspray and burns off the exhaust if you get some on that. just easy to apply and seems to do a good job getting in all the nooks.

 

My dads trucks in the past had bars of zinc bolted to the frame...not sure if it works or it was just an old wives tale...I guess it's suppose to go after the zinc before the frame.

 

Salt is evil stuff. But if you prepare for it there aren't any issues. I used eastwood internal frame coating on the front inside rails, bought the chassis plugs Toyota started using on 09's for the holes in the front wheel wells, used KB coatings chassis saver kit on the outside of the frame, and I just fluid filmed the whole underside of my 05 yesterday. When it was about 10 degrees out... But it's done. Still need to do my wife's Venza. It's funny how some people wouldn't think of driving a new car in the salt. I think exactly the opposite. I have an 84 Capri RS and an 89 325is that I put away in winter. The way I look at it as much as I like my Tacoma it's pretty easy to replace and far more rust-resistant that my older cars. Not to mention way better in the snow.