Washing truck after snowfall?

So Ive read and heard contrary opinions on this matter. Some say to wash after every snow fall to remove salt and some say don't touch it until you know the snow/salt will stop for the season.

If you wash after every snowfall wouldn't you maintain moisture and constantly keep reactivating the trapped salt on the frame?

If you use an automatic car wash aren't you just soaking your entire truck with salt water from everyone else's car?(I hand wash btw)

If you undercoat with fluid film or comparable product, and are constantly washing the frame, you are just degrading your coating thickness.

If you wash within 3-5 days of the snowfall, the residual salt, and puddles will remain on the roads and find their way onto your frame anyway.

Dry salt in cold temperatures will not react with metal as much as people think.


So why does everyone keep insisting on frequent car washes during winter?

 

I like how meticulous Tacoma owners are when washing their trucks. Especially on the underbelly of the vehicle because we're all paranoid about frame rust.

 

Ive washed my tacoma about 6 times

 

The theory is the Fluid Film should act like a barrier between the winter slop and metal so going nuts cleaning it would defeat the purpose.

I take my truck to the self wash bays every couple or few weeks to knock off the grime and mud but it's mostly cosmetic to keep it looking OK. It's impossible to keep it really clean if you use it so I don't worry much about it. I spray the chassis enough to clean off the larger rocks and small rodents stuck in the Fluid Film. I don't want to clean off the Fluid Film but I also don't want things like shock shafts pitting either.

My last truck did 26 Colorado winters without getting too rusty and I'm doing about the same thing with the Taco. I do a Fluid Film on the underside in Sept/Oct and another in Jan/Feb depending on how the winter is going. I wax the paint usually once a year, sometime in the spring or summer.

 

I live where it snows but they don't salt here, just use lava rock. I spray mine down at car wash once a week to get most of the grime off but only hand washed it once in 5 months. Until it's done snowing and they stop putting down gravel it will be dirty in just a few miles. Don't want to keep pushing dirt into the paint once a week.

 

I was thinking the same. If it gets much worse, people will be hand-drying the undercarriage... But then again, given Toyota's reputation for rust, we all probably should be.

 

My responses are in red.

 

Yep. It's a truck

 

Well its white so dirt barely shows up and my job is highly labour intensive so its the last thing on my mind when i get home

 

Mines black....

 

I hand wash mine only and luckily this year we have had several warm days I can go out and wash the truck.

I do my best to keep the truck clear of all salt as much as I can. Even if that means I just take it to a self wash and spray it down with hot water/soap and rinse it to get exterior salt off (don't dry it obviously without doing a two bucket wash).

I'm not going to get super obsessive about it. I'll do that in the summer when I make sure everything is rinsed down and I clay bar it like 3 times to ensure everything is off LOL.

 

I use a pay n spray to rinse salt off. I don't think any of the car washes around here recycle water. Thankfully we had a warm winter so roads were only salted once or twice.

 

I wash mine at least a couple times a week.

There's an automatic car wash here that gives unlimited washes for $19 a month.

It does a great job especially on the under carriage. There's never even a hint of salt residue left behind.

 

I love your username

 

Absolutely......but sometimes you begin to wonder when you see things like this

 

I HATE when that happens..

 

Truck yoga

 

It's not so much the salt, but the combination of salt & brine (and it's additives) and how it's derived, is what I worry about. Fortunately it's been a relatively mild winter here for us so very limited washing this winter for me. Plus my model has the additional coating underneath the rockers which is added assurance. I've thought about undercoating but haven't found it necessary, maybe before next winter.

I always hand wash unless in a hurry I'll take it through the touchless.

This is what I am using currently and have not had better results. Meguiar's Ultimate Wash & Wax

tl;dr depends on your environment and how long you want to keep your asset in the best shape it can be in!

 

Yoda-yoga... lol