How to Protect Your Vehicle from Road Salt Damage

Centerline Coliision Repair Shop Gives Winter Driving Tips

Road salt can save lives by removing snow and making our driving conditions safer, but the chemicals in the road salt can take a toll on your vehicle, especially if you are driving an older car.

Why Does Road Salt Cause Your Vehicle to Rust Faster?

Rust is the result of a chemical reaction, combining iron and oxygen to form iron oxide.

First, we have precipitation water which contains carbon dioxide and oxygen.

Then as the road salt melts the ice and prevents it from refreezing, it creates free floating ions in the melting precipitation on the road. This results in an iron oxide being sprayed on your car’s undercarriage, wheel wells and door jams as you splash through this mixture on the roadways.

Unless you are storing your vehicle for the winter, you can’t avoid road salt. So what can you do?

Pre-Maintenance is Key

Maintaining your car in the summer and fall is the most important thing you can do to protect your vehicle in the winter.

Before winter hits, apply wax to your vehicle to create a protective barrier from road salt. This means a high quality wax, not just the spray wax in a drive through car wash. If you need help choosing the right wax, contact a professional at Pole Position Auto Body at: 586-775-4825.

Also , clean and wax the inside of the door jams. That’s where a lot of damage will happen with road salt. This may seem like a lot of work, but it will prevent the road salt from sticking to your vehicle and causing damage.

Wash Your Vehicle at Least Once a Week

Be sure to keep salt off of your vehicle by taking it to the car wash at least once a week. Try to find a car wash that offers under body cleaning as most rust starts on the undercarriage and spreads to the rest of the vehicle from there.

Ideally you will want to wash your vehicle after every snowstorm, if possible, even if that means more than once a week.

Remember, if salt is collecting on your vehicle, it will rot away at the the car’s under body and other metal components. This corrosion is not only unsightly but it can eventually harm the exhaust and muffler systems and brake lines.

Also, if you can, try to safely maneuver around those winter puddles as they are saturated in road salt.

Looking for a Collision Shop in Ceterline, Michigan?

If your vehicle does have rust damage, contact the professionals at Pole Position Auto Body to learn more about our rust repair. Our state of the art equipment and trained technicians will make sure your vehicle is returned to you in pristine condition – inside and out.

We are located in Warren, Michigan just minutes away from Centerline, Roseville and Detroit.

Pole Position Auto Body: 586-775-4825

We will Provide MASSIVE Customer Service!