winterizing against salt/rust

[///M42 sport]

I just recently moved from TX to MI. Wondering what you guys do to protect your cars from salt and rust in the winters?

[Mastrcruse]

Can't do much. Just make sure about every month you give a good rinse of the under side (jack it up) and then I waxed mine at least twice a winter. I think I did it 3 times one really bad winter. Never got rust. What part of Michigan did you move to?

[guibo09]

keep in the garage... all winter.

there is no good solution. it will rust no matter what. alot of people get an oil treatment, but that causes other problems and leaves the car very dirty.

[///M42 sport]

Sterling Heights which is just north of Detroit. I read on the SUV forums they used a petroleum oil mix. I don't remember the exact product but it was similar in idea to waxoyl which they sell in europe.

[allwheeldrive]

Clean it, and get it undercoated. Then after that, pray. Its hard to avoid the rusty mess, but garage it and clean it as often as possible during the winter.

[///M42 sport]

undercoat with what product?

[allwheeldrive]

No idea if there are different formulas, i figured they were all tar-like.

[Adrian_Visser]

Has anyone ever tried those electric rust prevention boxes? They sell them up here in Canada at Canadian tire, they say that they are used on snowplows and shit but they cost like a $160 bucks and I have never heard any testimonials about them. Basically you just mount them to the firewall in your engine compartment and the box sends out a low voltage electrical signal through the chassis snake oil or what?

[guibo09]

Has anyone ever tried those electric rust prevention boxes? They sell them up here in Canada at Canadian tire, they say that they are used on snowplows and shit but they cost like a $160 bucks and I have never heard any testimonials about them. Basically you just mount them to the firewall in your engine compartment and the box sends out a low voltage electrical signal through the chassis snake oil or what?

only works if the object is imersed in a conductive medium. ie, it works for ships, not for cars.

[Cobra Jet]

If the vehicle has never had undercoating, the only issue is, if there is ANY rust present, the undercoating will not prevent the rust from rusting from the inside out. Meaning, if there is hidden rust, the body panel or sheet metal will continue to rust from the inside out, even w/ undercoating on it.

What I would do is whenever encountering snow covered roads and/or slat covered roads, the day after, go to your local car wash and run the car through their system and have the chassis "bathed" as well. Most car wash joints have the systems where if elected, the car will be rinsed from underneath it as it goes through the normal wash process. This will remove alot of the salt/grime from under the car.

If in a warm enough location, you too could do this as well by jacking the car up and thoroughly cleansing/rinsing w/ Simple Green and water.

There is no simple solution to stopping rust once it has already started, even if it's the simplest form of surface rust, never coat over it.

[guibo09]

There is no simple solution to stopping rust once it has already started, even if it's the simplest form of surface rust, never coat over it.

is it actually worse if you coat over it (oil/wax/grease)? wont the coating at least reduce contact with air and slow the rust down?

[Toms73NovaSS]

Well, from my experience in the rust belt do NOT use tar based undercoating it WILL make things worse.

What I have used and it has done a good job is every year I apply a non hardening emulsion type corrosion preventor. It goes on like a heavy oil (it is not an oil) and it then dries to a waxy like consistancy. It is self healing and last throughout the winter. It has to be reapplied every year, but it works very well.

Some examples would be:

TC11 Car coat
CorrosionX HD
amsoil MP Heavy-Duty Metal Protector

[guibo09]

Well, from my experience in the rust belt do NOT use tar based undercoating it WILL make things worse.

explain why?

i just tarred my wheel wells, but my bmw wont see winter anymore.

[Toms73NovaSS]

The tar does not bond fully with the metal underneath and small cracks DO appear overtime (tar does not remain flexable enough in the cold weather). The salt will migrate into the cracks and cause rust from under the tar coating.

A flexable self healing coating (they do not last more than about 6 mo) sacrifice themselves to protect the metal and have to be renewed before each winter. They remain flexable and prevent salt creep.

I don't know how much salt they use in montreal, but here in buffalo, the streets are white in the winter time when there is no snow on the road from all the salt. I have been combatting salt for on my cars for 25 years and this is definately the best that I have found for self applicaiton.

[guibo09]

I don't know how much salt they use in montreal, but here in buffalo, the streets are white in the winter time when there is no snow on the road from all the salt. I have been combatting salt for on my cars for 25 years and this is definately the best that I have found for self applicaiton.

i dont think there is a place in the world that uses more salt than montreal. trucks constantly pass with salt sprinklers, even when there is no ice. ex, they just plowed out 1 foot a snow, a less than an inch is left because the plows cant get to it. salt truck comes and melts it away.

everything in the city has salt marks over it, cars, bus stops, signs, lights, people's shoes, driveways, etc.

apparently we can fill montreal's olympic stadium once a year with all the salt we use.