For Anyone Who Has Ever Dealt With Liquid Salt

[FIRECAT7000]

I Am New Here. I Am Extremely Impressed With The Wealth Of Knowledge On This Site. I Have Been Lurking For About A Month And Have Learned A Lot Of Good Information. I Am Planning On Purchasing Many Meguiars Products I Have Learned About. I Love To Detail My Vehicles And Make Them Look The Best. I Am Also After Durability Of The Paint Because I Live In Such An Extreme Environment. I Am Located In Central Colorado. My Paint Sees Alot Of Salt And Dirt (it's Hard To Keep Them Clean). The Question I Have Has To Deal With Washing Technique. If Any Of You Are Aware -liquid Salt- Is Also Very Sticky. The Liquid Salt In The Winter Time Holds Onto Little Silica Particles Also Used In Sanding The Ice And Snow. Sooo - When It Is Time To Wash -it Can Not Be Hosed Off Well. A Person Can Rinse All They Want But There Has To Be Physical Contact With A Brush Or Mit To Get The Liquid Salt Off. I Use A Two Bucket Method With Meguiars Crystal Wash And A Chennelle Mit As Of Right Now And Have Developed Swirls In The Paint. I Do Wash From The Top Down. Can Anyone Recommend A Great Brush Or Mit To Help My Paint? Or Is My Method All Wrong?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: For Anyone Who Has Ever Dealt With Liquid Salt

Hi FIRECAT7000,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

This is a tough problem because of the bonding issue of the salt to the paint, no matter what type of brush or mitt you use, the potential exists to push the abrasive salt particles against the paint and thus instill swirls and scratches.

First thoughts are to find some type of chemical or soap you can apply to the car that will loosen the bond of the salt particles from the paint so they will rinse off, the idea being to find a way to remove the particles without directly touch them but instead rinsing them off.

A chemical, or a soap coupled with a strong spray of water but not a pressure washer as a high pressure spray could cause the same problem as wiping the particles against the paint.

Off hand we don't know of a perfect solution for this type of problem, perhaps one of our awesome forum members will chime in with more experience with this problem then myself.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: For Anyone Who Has Ever Dealt With Liquid Salt

I've asked our DOT to ask R&D if they have any suggestions.

[FIRECAT7000]

Re: For Anyone Who Has Ever Dealt With Liquid Salt

Thank You Very Much Mike. It Is Very Appreciated!!

[BlueZero]

Re: For Anyone Who Has Ever Dealt With Liquid Salt

I've heard others on the site speaking highly of NXT wash for salty cars. I have yet to try it myself. I deal with a far amount of salt here also.

[Mister B]

Re: For Anyone Who Has Ever Dealt With Liquid Salt

My red truck is practically white at the moment due to all of the rock salt, liquid sodium chloride and sand that they have been using on the roadways around here over the last few weeks. I have never found a good solution for dealing with the salt on my vehicles during the winter. Basically I just go to the coin operated car washes in the winter and use the high pressure soap and water spray to remove as much of the salt and sand as possible and then go home and do my normal hand wash (when the weather permits) being careful to constantly rinse the brush or wash mit clean, keeping the potential for swirls or scratches to a minimum. I suppose the high pressure spray from the pressure washer has the potential to instill some scratches, but I figure that it has to be better than washing my truck without pressure washing the major stuff off first. The build up of salt and sand on the vehicle can get pretty nasty. It would be great if someone knew of a better solution though.

[Black Bart]

Re: For Anyone Who Has Ever Dealt With Liquid Salt

My red truck is practically white at the moment due to all of the rock salt, liquid sodium chloride and sand that they have been using on the roadways around here over the last few weeks. I have never found a good solution for dealing with the salt on my vehicles during the winter. Basically I just go to the coin operated car washes in the winter and use the high pressure soap and water spray to remove as much of the salt and sand as possible and then go home and do my normal hand wash (when the weather permits) being careful to constantly rinse the brush or wash mit clean, keeping the potential for swirls or scratches to a minimum. I suppose the high pressure spray from the pressure washer has the potential to instill some scratches, but I figure that it has to be better than washing my truck without pressure washing the major stuff off first. The build up of salt and sand on the vehicle can get pretty nasty. It would be great if someone knew of a better solution though.

That is similar to what I do.
I have a heated garage and my own pressure washer so I can wash in cold weather but if I set my wand on wide spray and hold it about 12" away it is not strong enough to damage but it will remove the salt and sand.
My washer has adjustable soap injection and I set it to use plenty of soap while cleaning. After using the pressure wash I use a Meg versa angle brush to wash it. This works as good as anything that I have tried to date.
Three of my vehicles are BLACK so if I scratch it I will know it .

[Mike Phillips]

Re: For Anyone Who Has Ever Dealt With Liquid Salt

I have a heated garage and my own pressure washer so I can wash in cold weather but if I set my wand on wide spray and hold it about 12" away it is not strong enough to damage but it will remove the salt and sand.

My washer has adjustable soap injection and I set it to use plenty of soap while cleaning. After using the pressure wash I use a Meg versa angle brush to wash it. This works as good as anything that I have tried to date.

Three of my vehicles are BLACK so if I scratch it I will know it .

This sounds like a pretty good procedure considering all the factors involved.

The feedback I received from Mike Pennington is that if there were a strong chemical cleaner that could be sprayed onto the car to loosen and remove the liquid salt and sand mixture effectively that it would also remove any protective wax in the process.

Kind of a Catch-22