Colorado Rust

I would have to say potholes in colorado springs is more likely to damage your truck than rust

 

Or the overpopulation. That'll damage your truck too

 

On second thought RUN!!! The rust in Colorado will eat your truck and leave you walking...and chupacabra is waiting to get you

 

Mag chloride loves chrome it will make it peel and it is not nice to plastic. Just pressure wash it at one of those drive up places after storms and you will be good. I am lucky we have a heated pressure washer at work and I do my truck once a week.

 

You shouldnt have rust issues. Lived there for yours with no problems. Move to VA and my truck is overwhelmed with rust.

 

A few weeks ago there was a very detailed write up by someone on here that used fluid film on his Tacoma. I bought a couple of gallons and did my fleet along with my Dad's Forester. Each vehicle took about an hour (and that included pulling all the plugs and shooting in the door panels and such). With a quick search you could find the thread.

 

I bought my Tacoma here in CO in 2009 and have 91k miles on it now.

I have started to see some bits of rust on welds there weren't treated well enough, and on a few bolts. I just splattered RustoLeum on those bits.

I play in mud sometimes and play a hell of a lot in the snow. I also wash all that stuff off whenever I get a chance, and once every couple of weeks the rest of the time.

 

Not true anymore. Colorado, the state that decided to go to sodium chloride when other states are trying to use less of it. It'll save them some money this year and maybe next but in a few years when everyone's cars are destroyed, their plow trucks are swiss cheese and the already crappy infrastructure of bridges and spalling concrete are even worse they'd wonder why. Duh.

CDOT crews prepare to use salt brine on roads

 

Man, I had no idea that was coming. I always try to get a rinse as quickly as possible after a big snow, need to make sure I stay on top of it.

 

Anyone else in the Denver/Metro area already getting crushed with salt? It's accumulating all over my floormats when they dry out and the last few reasonable snows both my wifes car and my truck have been caked in salt. Guess this summer I'll have to apply some sort of corrosion inhibitor like Fluid Film. Just not something I've ever had to even think about, still can't get over it - seems so short sighted to switch from mag chloride to salt - but I read somehwere it's 1/8 to 1/6th the cost so the budget hawks can justify it easily and in the name of "safety" and "being more proactive". I know everyone else has been dealing with it forever, but for us CO folks it's just something new to worry about.

 

Any cost reduction is going to be eaten up by how much of the crap they are spraying. Pavement gets more slick from the brine than it ever was from the snow, it's ridiculous. Used to be the precip would just melt or sublimate in a couple of days but now it's making sheets of ice at night instead.

 

Salt is salt whether its sodium or magnesium. They still use less than many other states.

 

It really seems like they are going way overboard with the amount they're using, but I'm not sure what is "normal" for salt application. They also claim to have mixed in some sugar which will "reduce corrosion by up to 70%". My floormats fill up with huge crystals from getting in with wet feet and I've had literally piles of salt caked on the front bumper, clumps probably 1/8" thick.

 

But in Magnesium Chloride form, there is literally zero rust. I've never had any issue with rust on any of my vehicles here, but I've also never seen actual white salt crystals caked on my bumper and accumulating in my rubber floormats.

 

Virginia slammed the roads with salt a few weeks ago and guess what? No snow, or rain or anything. We are constantly overloaded with salt and get no adverse weather. The roads look white with so much salt and if you walk in it its all over your shoes and in your house and everywhere.

I lived in Colorado for many years my truck was 20 years old, it saw no rust until I moved to VA.

Magnesium Chloride is more water soluble, so it washes off easier. Thats all.

 

Did notice this article, which is really helpful and they tell you not to hit puddles, really feasible advice.

http://kdvr.com/2016/12/16/salt-brine-mix-great-for-the-roads-damaging-to-your-car-if-not-washed/

 

I thought there was a difference in when magnesium chloride and sodium chloride were active, mainly that the MgCl wasn't active during as many conditions while NaCl is more aggressive. Neither of them is ideal but I'm mostly worried about rusting steel, the pitting of aluminum and electrical corrosion is easier for me to deal with. I just don't want my truck to turn into a perforated rust bucket like our cars did back in Missouri as a kid, particularly in light of the constant Tacoma frame corrosion problems.

https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2001/deicers.pdf

https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2002/magautocor.pdf

If I read these right MgCl is perhaps more corrosive but easier to keep from causing rust because it's less aggressive, giving you time to wash the stuff off after it's dried.

 

I'm disappointed to see Colorado going this route. I'm planning to move back and would have been nice to get away from the east cost salt.

 

Hey, so I live in GA and we do not ever really have snow, but it bothers me that my frame on my truck is part of the frames that experience rust. I plan to sell my current one and trade up to a 2011 that doesn't have the reported issue.

Does anyone in the rust belt states still have issues even with 2011's or newer??

 

Time will tell. Toyota didn't admit the 2nd gens had issues until the 2005s were something like 8 years old. The class action suit that is coming through includes 2009 and 2010 Tacomas which the limited service campaign that ended last year did not. So I would expect the 2011+ trucks will have the same corrosion issues, too.