Salt on car for entire winter storage period

[grashoper]

Well, well well. I know i'm gunna get hammered for this one.
This past fall, we had a bit of a sudden snowstorm about 2 days before my car was put away for the winter, followed by some rain. Of course, I never moved the car until 2 days later. I store my car way out in the country, about 2 1/2 hours from my home. My car has never seen salt before. Now.. on my way out, for about an hour 1/2 or so, in the higher elevations, there was a fair amount of dried salt on the highway, and I had no way to wash it, or even rinse it off. The cloest town stilll would have been no good, because it would have gotten re-salted again in the drive back. So.. It was real hard to do, b ut she got stored with dry salt all over the place. It is stored in a non-heated building, but VERY dry.

I'm wondering if anybody can give me some insight as to what I may find, or expect to find, in the spring time? I am 'extremely' picky with every inch of my car, inside and out.

Here is what she normally looks like


Here is what she looks like now!

Thank you for your input!
[

[Mark2]

Maybe some QEW, although it looks a little too dirty for that, at least the lower parts. But you could always try it carefully.

[Mike Phillips]

Interesting question, I see if I can dig anything up...

By the way the forum is set-up to not allow attaching photos, instead you have insert them using the [img] tags like this...






If the rest of the paint looks like the driver's side mirror, I think there is reason to be concerned as salt is very corrosive, dry or not... My gut instincts tell me there is a better probability that the car's finish will look worse, not better, if this salt coating is left on the finish over time.

Like the other forum member recommended, you might want to try using one of these limited water washes like the QEW, or Optima has one also that Scottwax says works as well or better, and wash the car as best you can to remove the salt coating.

Then if if were mine I would wipe it down further with a quick detailer and whip out the dual action polisher and go over the entire finish with some M80 Speed Glaze and then a coat of your favorite wax.

Then close the door and say goodby...

[JG_Detailing]

If you can get some before washing and after washing picture's.

[Five Star]

the main thing you want to do when dealing with salt is to neutralize it as soon as the water hits it

Baking Soda is good for this.

I would add it to the QEW prior to cleaning the car, optimum no-rinse wash is probably the best QEW

Let me add this.

Disclaimer


This is a theory only, I use a Baking Soda and water mixture to neutralize the salt in Carpeting when i detail.

I dont know the exact mixture or the effect it will have on previously applied wax.

[grashoper]

Hello Mike, thank you for your reply.
It pretty much does look like the back side of the mirror. The Upper 1/2 isn't quite as bad. I was going to try some of the QEW, but i didn't want to ruin my paint, as there is a fair amount of grit attached to the salt. As it stands, there is several layers of Wax on the paint, likely 5 have been applied over a 3 month period or so. I also wasn't sure if it would still currode and 'eat' thru the wax if there was next to no moisture present. So thanks for clearifying that. I really can't introduce much liquid to it at all anymore beacuse it will be well below freezing until spring, and will freeze almost instently on contact with the car. Do you think any 'damage' will be reversable with some elbow grease?? I'll likely remove all the wax(es) down to bare paint with clay and start from scratch again in the spring anyway. Do you think that it will be that minimal of an impact that clay will erase any noticable damage?

Thanks!

Also thanks for clearifying what to do with pictures.

[Tom Weed]

Grashoper,
Just my 2 cents on this topic, but we deal with lots of road salt here. I am not sure I would use a QEW on your car with it being as dirty as it is, especially with it being black or your asking for marring. I know salt isn't good for it and is highly corrosive, but I think you have to pick the lesser of two evils here. If your car has several layers of wax on it already, then IMHO you should be okay. I would try to hold off until it warms up enough to take it to at least a spray wash somewhere. Is that an option to where you are? How long of a time period where you are before you could possibly do this? I know where I am it's not nearly as cold or snowy, but anytime we see a snow flurry here they go crazy with the salt and sand on the roads and I sometimes have to go weeks on my black car before I can get the salt sprayed off of it and it's fine. When spring comes, just break out the claybar, 80 with the PC and your LSP and you should be good to go.

Tom

[grashoper]

Originally posted by Tom Weed
Grashoper,
Just my 2 cents on this topic, but we deal with lots of road salt here. I am not sure I would use a QEW on your car with it being as dirty as it is, especially with it being black or your asking for marring. I know salt isn't good for it and is highly corrosive, but I think you have to pick the lesser of two evils here. If your car has several layers of wax on it already, then IMHO you should be okay. I would try to hold off until it warms up enough to take it to at least a spray wash somewhere. Is that an option to where you are? How long of a time period where you are before you could possibly do this? I know where I am it's not nearly as cold or snowy, but anytime we see a snow flurry here they go crazy with the salt and sand on the roads and I sometimes have to go weeks on my black car before I can get the salt sprayed off of it and it's fine. When spring comes, just break out the claybar, 80 with the PC and your LSP and you should be good to go.

Tom

Cool. Exactly what i was hoping for. There is so much salt on the roads now, if you even drive on the outside white line, you'll be leaving about 100 feet of dust behind you. So, would be pointless to drive it anywhere now to a wash bay. The cloest running water would be 15 mins away. Running on well water in Summer months only. Its -18 rite now, and won't be above freezing for about 3 more months, and won't be til End of May or so before she will be coming back outside. Thankx for your reply!

[Tom Weed]

Three more months? wow, maybe you will have day somehere along that time that it warms up just a bit, then try to spray it off. If you can get the major stuff off, then QEW would be fine. I wouldn't want to use that stuff on a filthy car, especially a BLACK car.... If you can spray it off, make sure you take care of the underneath parts too.


Tom

[Mikeyc]

Personally, I think you'll be dealing with some marring on your paint no matter what you do. You covered a very dirty black car with what look like old table cloths. So, you'll likely see some marring from that anyway. Personally, I would go out there with some QEW or Optimum No Rinse Wash on a warmer day and get that thing clean. You're going to have some marring no matter what you do. So, better to have the salt off your car. If you have any chips in your paint down to the metal the salt will definitely facilitate the formation of rust in these spots. Then in the spring whip out your buffer and favorite polish to correct the marring.