Fighting Salt
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Evolving Member
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From: Standing at the edge of the gene pool with a flamethrower...
Fighting Salt
Had my X at the tuners the other day and they showed me how clean it was compared to some other Evos there. They were blown away while they had it up on the rack.
So I thought Id do a quick write up regarding maintenance of cars driven year around that are exposed to salt.
1) Wash your care at least every 10 days in the winter at a touch-less carwash that has an underbody wash option (I wash mine every week)
2) Don't keep your car in a heated garage. When the temperature is above 32F oxidation starts on your dripping wet car and accelerates the rust process. Put a thermometer in your garage to monitor temperature and if you have an attached garage like I do open a window or open the main door an inch to let the cold in. It seems counter intuitive but trust me on this one.
3) Take your car to a self wash a couple times in the winter and really give it a thorough rinse through the undercarriage, suspension, wheel wells etc. Rinse the engine as well. This doesn't need to be a degrease, just a good rinse to get the salt off
4) Speaking of engine: rinse your engine compartment out at least a couple times a year and once or twice in the spring as the roads clear of salt. This is a mostly ignored area of peoples cars but think about it! The engine compartment is a large vacuum container that sucks in all that salt and grime year around. It needs to be cleaned.
My Evo X is now almost 6 years ol with 94,000 miles on it driven all over the country year around in the sow, ice, and salt. And no rust.
Living in the mid-West with all this salt sucks, but it can be dealt with.
Be safe!
So I thought Id do a quick write up regarding maintenance of cars driven year around that are exposed to salt.
1) Wash your care at least every 10 days in the winter at a touch-less carwash that has an underbody wash option (I wash mine every week)
2) Don't keep your car in a heated garage. When the temperature is above 32F oxidation starts on your dripping wet car and accelerates the rust process. Put a thermometer in your garage to monitor temperature and if you have an attached garage like I do open a window or open the main door an inch to let the cold in. It seems counter intuitive but trust me on this one.
3) Take your car to a self wash a couple times in the winter and really give it a thorough rinse through the undercarriage, suspension, wheel wells etc. Rinse the engine as well. This doesn't need to be a degrease, just a good rinse to get the salt off
4) Speaking of engine: rinse your engine compartment out at least a couple times a year and once or twice in the spring as the roads clear of salt. This is a mostly ignored area of peoples cars but think about it! The engine compartment is a large vacuum container that sucks in all that salt and grime year around. It needs to be cleaned.
My Evo X is now almost 6 years ol with 94,000 miles on it driven all over the country year around in the sow, ice, and salt. And no rust.
Living in the mid-West with all this salt sucks, but it can be dealt with.
Be safe!
Evolving Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 157
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From: Chicago
Had my X at the tuners the other day and they showed me how clean it was compared to some other Evos there. They were blown away while they had it up on the rack.
So I thought Id do a quick write up regarding maintenance of cars driven year around that are exposed to salt.
1) Wash your care at least every 10 days in the winter at a touch-less carwash that has an underbody wash option (I wash mine every week)
2) Don't keep your car in a heated garage. When the temperature is above 32F oxidation starts on your dripping wet car and accelerates the rust process. Put a thermometer in your garage to monitor temperature and if you have an attached garage like I do open a window or open the main door an inch to let the cold in. It seems counter intuitive but trust me on this one.
3) Take your car to a self wash a couple times in the winter and really give it a thorough rinse through the undercarriage, suspension, wheel wells etc. Rinse the engine as well. This doesn't need to be a degrease, just a good rinse to get the salt off
4) Speaking of engine: rinse your engine compartment out at least a couple times a year and once or twice in the spring as the roads clear of salt. This is a mostly ignored area of peoples cars but think about it! The engine compartment is a large vacuum container that sucks in all that salt and grime year around. It needs to be cleaned.
My Evo X is now almost 6 years ol with 94,000 miles on it driven all over the country year around in the sow, ice, and salt. And no rust.
Living in the mid-West with all this salt sucks, but it can be dealt with.
Be safe!
So I thought Id do a quick write up regarding maintenance of cars driven year around that are exposed to salt.
1) Wash your care at least every 10 days in the winter at a touch-less carwash that has an underbody wash option (I wash mine every week)
2) Don't keep your car in a heated garage. When the temperature is above 32F oxidation starts on your dripping wet car and accelerates the rust process. Put a thermometer in your garage to monitor temperature and if you have an attached garage like I do open a window or open the main door an inch to let the cold in. It seems counter intuitive but trust me on this one.
3) Take your car to a self wash a couple times in the winter and really give it a thorough rinse through the undercarriage, suspension, wheel wells etc. Rinse the engine as well. This doesn't need to be a degrease, just a good rinse to get the salt off
4) Speaking of engine: rinse your engine compartment out at least a couple times a year and once or twice in the spring as the roads clear of salt. This is a mostly ignored area of peoples cars but think about it! The engine compartment is a large vacuum container that sucks in all that salt and grime year around. It needs to be cleaned.
My Evo X is now almost 6 years ol with 94,000 miles on it driven all over the country year around in the sow, ice, and salt. And no rust.
Living in the mid-West with all this salt sucks, but it can be dealt with.
Be safe!
How do you rinse the engine properly? Without getting anything electrical or sensitive wet?
If you don't have a spark plug cover you might wana cover them just as a precaution tho.
Another good idea would be use some type of coating like POR-15 of Rustoleum Rust conversion agent in area's that are hit hard by rocks and where water can get into like the gaps between stamped sheet metal. If possible use some seam sealer in those area's after they've been treated to prevent salt and water to get into those area's.
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