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-   -   Salty residue from snow left on car, how long before damage? (https://g35driver.com/forums/care-detailing/324123-salty-residue-snow-left-car-how-long-before-damage.html)

BolivianFuego 02-04-2010 04:39 PM

Salty residue from snow left on car, how long before damage?
 
I am scared, becasue after the snow that came down last week, its been 6 days since i've had this salty water on my car, which dried and all is left is dry white stuff which i am guessing is the salt.


I took the car to spray it down with a high pressure hose, but it didnt take it all off, it took off a good amount, but there is still residue there.

Here in VA we are looking at about 2 feet coming in over this weekend!

I wont be able to watch the car for god konws how long.....


What to do????

Holmes35 02-04-2010 04:51 PM

im not sure about how quickly it will damage your paint but i live in PIttsburgh, PA and during the winter i spray my car off either every day or every other day bc i am paranoid about keeping my baby clean with all the winter salt

BolivianFuego 02-04-2010 06:15 PM

Spray where?

I sprayed mine with that high pressure hoses they have for like 3 bucks in quarters lol Didnt help though, I still had residue as stated in my first post after the spray down.

mapleleaf13 02-04-2010 06:22 PM

you just can't spray it off , you have to wash it with the wash brush or use a wash mitt too.
Us Canadians know that from experience.
I don't drive mine in the winter though ... couldn't bear to see salt all over it ...eating away at it for days and days and days ..... :)
seriously ... wash it down really good with a wash mitt then spray it off.

jonnylaw 02-04-2010 06:39 PM

Not sure on length of time, but that's why I was sure that there was many layers of sealant on my car's paint before the winter hit in Chicago. I use Blackfire wet diamond paint sealant and am very happy with it. I try not to drive when it snows, but sometimes there's no choice

danielj 02-04-2010 09:07 PM


Originally Posted by mapleleaf13 (Post 4859525)
you just can't spray it off , you have to wash it with the wash brush or use a wash mitt too.
Us Canadians know that from experience.
I don't drive mine in the winter though ... couldn't bear to see salt all over it ...eating away at it for days and days and days ..... :)
seriously ... wash it down really good with a wash mitt then spray it off.

ya canadians ftw lol.

honestly i drive the car in snow all the time. its not bad at all, all of my families cars accept the old muscle car get winter driven and it snows regulary. just wash your car once a week or two atleast, make sure you do nice washes as well.

you can't just use water as he said, use a wash mit then spray off. thats what i do, its like 6 bucks for every 1 1/2, cause i only wash it every 10 days usually, so far no damage done to paint.

i would seal the paint however....i wax mine semi regularly

BuckeyeInMI 02-05-2010 09:44 AM

As a fellow northern driver, it's a pain in the arse to keep my car clean in the winter. Going to the self-spray car wash will get alot of the salt off, but there will still be a residue.

What I do is fill up a 5 gallon bucket with very hot water, car soap, and my washing mitt, put the lid on it and put in the foot well of the passenger seat. I then go to the self-spray car wash and put the minimum number of quarters in and soak my car on high pressure soap. After that round finishes, I pull out my bucket and hand wash the car. Once that's done, I run it through another minimum quarter car rinse. Car is sparkling clean at that point with all the residue gone.

As for drying, I squeegee off most of the water with a silicone water brush, then do the normal microfiber drying on what's left. I only need one towel when doing it this way. Total cost is $3.00 (2 cycles at $1.50 each) plus whatever small amount of soap I use.

This can be done in temperatures down to about 10F. Below that and it's difficult to get the car dried off before the water starts to freeze on the car. Make sure you go to a self-spray place that has at least one side with a door you can close, and dry the "open" side of your car first.

Wannabe6MT 02-05-2010 10:35 AM

^Our wash place has a heater and 2 doors. FTW

RADIOGUY21 02-05-2010 12:41 PM

ive heard salt is in its most corrosive state when wet and dry salt is not as corrosive on a painted/treated surface. Regardless it is very abbrasive and potential to do damage so it should be removed carefully asap. I usually go to a touchless wash at least once a week and include the underbody wash. I cant wait for spring/summer.

Holmes35 02-05-2010 05:03 PM


Originally Posted by mapleleaf13 (Post 4859525)
you just can't spray it off , you have to wash it with the wash brush or use a wash mitt too.
Us Canadians know that from experience.
I don't drive mine in the winter though ... couldn't bear to see salt all over it ...eating away at it for days and days and days ..... :)
seriously ... wash it down really good with a wash mitt then spray it off.

im not to sure about what type of wash station you canadians have but here in America there is a Pre-soak that will break up loose dirt and salt then you use the high pressure soap and high pressure rinse....if you have time to brush and use a wash mit every day then do that but if you want to get the most of the residue off regularly...try this

danielj 02-05-2010 06:28 PM

^^^i don't think you've ever drove in Winnipeg or a city similar during a snow storm. they lay down tons tons (literally and figureatively) of salt on our streets, along with gravel, and the streets become slushy when it gets warm.

I understand you can sometimes get that stuff off with a high perssure rinse, but as soon as it stays there for more then a couple of days then its pretty well stuck.

i wash my car with the carwash soap first, spend about 4 minutes or 2 dollars doing that. then i let the soap sit for about a minute. then i go at it with the rinse for about 4 minutes or 2 dollars, then finally i get out my bucket and wash mit and basically just slide it over the car, no pressure needed, finally i rinse it for another 2 dollars or 4 minutes. each carwash probably costs me about 8 dollars between the coinwasher and my carwash soap....sometimes i wonder if i pay more for washing the thing then for gas lol.

Holmes35 02-06-2010 12:54 PM

i understand and i'm sure we do not get as much snow here as you do up there so of coarse less salt is used........aside from the 2 1/2 feet we got last night in PIttsburgh....I just can't get myself to hand wash in weather under 30degrees F

danielj 02-06-2010 05:19 PM

^^^as instructed, fill a bucket with water and car soap, grab a wash mit and head to a local diy wash station. rinse the car off, go at it with the wash mit and then rinse it off, make sure to get under the side skirts etc.

for reference i do this approximately every 10 days or less, but i hardly drive my car....1000 miles in 2 months.

BolivianFuego 02-08-2010 06:44 PM

Well, its snowed like **** here again, and it is coming tomorrow night.


I am thinking of washing by body part.

My question is, how does this work?

I often see people say it, but never go into detail.

I am thinking of doing the whole bucket with hot water and soap and mitt, along with a water bottle of hot water to 'wet' each panel of the car i am doing. And I will have a towel ready to dry it off.

Wiht that said, anyone do it like this? Am I doing that right?

I will start at a fender, and work my way down to the trunk, and all the way around til i hit the other fender, then hit the hood and front bumper.

Will this work?

WhosRich 02-08-2010 06:57 PM


Originally Posted by BolivianFuego (Post 4868449)
Well, its snowed like **** here again, and it is coming tomorrow night.


I am thinking of washing by body part.

My question is, how does this work?

I often see people say it, but never go into detail.

I am thinking of doing the whole bucket with hot water and soap and mitt, along with a water bottle of hot water to 'wet' each panel of the car i am doing. And I will have a towel ready to dry it off.

Wiht that said, anyone do it like this? Am I doing that right?

I will start at a fender, and work my way down to the trunk, and all the way around til i hit the other fender, then hit the hood and front bumper.

Will this work?

Keep the hot water away from the windows. You could crack it.

BolivianFuego 02-08-2010 10:08 PM

Will do. On second thought i might just do it luke warm lol

BuckeyeInMI 02-09-2010 12:41 AM


Originally Posted by WhosRich (Post 4868481)
Keep the hot water away from the windows. You could crack it.

Very unlikely, but a wise precaution anyway. If you were pouring hot water on cold windows it might be a problem, like if it's well below freezing and your car has been sitting outside overnight and you do it. But if your car has been driven for more than maybe 15 minutes, your windows are warmed up from the inside heat, and won't crack. Snow and water don't freeze on your windshield once a car is warmed up, and hot water isn't going to crack warmed up windows made of very strong glass. Otherwise the entire car wash industry would shut down during the winter. Besides, you're pre-spraying the car with warm/hot water from the self-spray anyway.

I fill my bucket with hot water so it retains as much heat as possible before I actually get to the car wash. It's very warm, but not nearly as hot as when I filled the bucket.

danielj 02-09-2010 04:27 AM

^I can almost give you a billy mays garauntee that the windows will not crack, i've washed my windows with hot water right after driving it into the carwash when it was -40 outside and nothing happened.

here is what i do.

fill 4 milk jugs with water, then add desired carwash soap such as meguairs gold class (its what i've been using) then, take a 3 to 5 gallon pale, put that in your car along with the milk jugs, and grab a washmit or 2 and a drying cloth of some sort.

make sure all of these things are in your car, then proceed to drive to carwash. at carwash skip ringsing and that bs and get straight to soap with the pressure washer, i want you to soak it in soap from top to bottom and underneath the car for about 3 minutes minumum, 4 minutes max. then let the soap sit for 1 minute exactly, no shorter no longer, this is so that the soap can begin to dissolve the salt on the car and other dirt, helps it lift off the paint, any more time and your just wasting your time.

then rinse you car off this should take you approximately 4 minutes to do it really nicely...make sure you get the wheel wells and rims nicely, if you have snow then much more dirt then usual will make its way there.

once rinsed, take your milk jugs (1 gallon btw) and pour them compeletly into the bucket you brought along. Now your car is basically clean already, so what i want you to do is start on the very top with the wash mit. scrub a dub dub all the way down to about half the height of the car while occasionally rinsing your wash mit off and getting more soap on it by dunking and shaking it around the bucket. once your at half, just spend about another minute or about 50 cents to a dollar rinsing the car down once again, also spray the presssure washer on the wash mit.


Then, take your completely clean wash mit, and redunk it into the bucket and finish off the bottom half of your car including underneath the sideskirts, and right on top of the exhaust, everything.

now spend about 3 minutes rinsing the car completely, shouldn't need much water up top, because you have already washed that down. once again, get in the wheel wheels and get nice and close to the paint...approximately 16 inches away as much as possible, this will pressurize the last soap and salt away.

Procede to drying your car.

Your car will now be free of salt for approximatly 5 minutes if you are lucky since you are driving back home lol.

it is still good however to rinse it off regularly, many say that wet salt is bad for your paint, but its much worse when your paint hasn't been able to shed it for so long and can't breathe or whatever....all i know is its good to wash quite regularly.

Anyways, this is the method i use, sorry its like a novel, but hopefully this straightens things out for all people. Some coin washers get upset when you use a bucket to wash your car, if you half to just give the car wash attendee like 1 dollar and he wont bug you.

This whole process costs about 7 dollars, sometimes a bit less but no more then 8 dollars ever. Takes a little under an hour to do all of that nicely.45 minutes is a good target time, add in the drive to the wash place and back and its a solid hour and a bit, unless you live right next to one?

Oh and please don't use that foam brush they give you at the coin washers place, no matter what anyone says, those things scratch your vehicle like a semi sideswiping you. there bristles are made out of plastic. I used to use those things to clean mudd of my truck tires and rims, is that really what you want on your paint?

BolivianFuego 02-09-2010 11:15 AM

^^^Well done dude! Thanks for the tips!


I might just try my way though in my garage. lol

danielj 02-09-2010 09:07 PM

^^^no problem, helped re-inforce that i'm doing something right atleast.

if you are doing it in your garage, use the 2 bucket method, meaning before you dunk your wash mit into the soap bucket, have another bucket sitting right by thats filled with either water or water and soap, though the soap will not really help very much, just help lift some of the dirt out of the wash mit.

I still strongly suggest a rinseoff before attacking the job, and its good to rinse the soap off obviously although you can always buy ONR (optimum no rinse) meaning you don't have to rinse it off.


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