Why is SALT an issue?

[Tinster]

I had a nice 1 1/2 hour test drive in my Six this
early afternoon. (Checking out the fuel additive, Tony).

Everytime I take my car out, I'm driving on salt roads
and in salt air. My car is in a constant salt environment.
I wash it with clean water after almost every use.

Why is SALT such an issue that most LBC owners fear it more than the IRS audits?

Putting a car in storage for months on end because of a
little salt on the roads sounds kinda wimpy to me.

I drove my little P.O.S. Hillman Minx all over the place
during severe Maryland winters. It never got stuck and
the Hillman never rusted to dust.

So why all this worry about salt?

(or is it really the cold temps? je,jeje,je,??

<span style="color: #660000">Edit: I can't believe I had a very used, $300, Hillman
Minx for a daily driver for three years and my fancy pants TR6 will
hardy make it to the gas station and home without breaking down.
Were the Hillmans actually a more sturdy, reliable car to begin with? </span>

d

 

[tony barnhill]

I had a nice 1 1/2 hour test drive in my Six this
early afternoon. (Checking out the fuel additive, Tony).

Everytime I take my car out, I'm driving on salt roads
and in salt air. My car is in a constant salt environment.
I wash it with clean water after almost every use.

Why is SALT such an issue that most LBC owners fear it more than the IRS audits?

Putting a car in storage for months on end because of a
little salt on the roads sounds kinda wimpy to me.

I drove my little P.O.S. Hillman Minx all over the place
during severe Maryland winters. It never got stuck and
the Hillman never rusted to dust.

So why all this worry about salt?

(or is it really the cold temps? je,jeje,je,??

<span style="color: #660000">Edit: I can't believe I had a very used, $300, Hillman
Minx for a daily driver for three years and my fancy pants TR6 will
hardy make it to the gas station and home without breaking down.
Were the Hillmans actually a more sturdy, reliable car to begin with? </span>

d

<span style="color: #FF0000"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 14pt">RUST! RUST! & MORE RUST!</span></span></span>

 

[jackq]

Being from upstate NY....our roads were..and still are..covered with salt in the winter. Cars rust out in a couple of years as keeping them clean isn't very easy. You get them coated with salt, slush and crud..then try to rinse them off when its below zero(most people there don't have heated garages to pop them into after washing) and then you have a frozen car...locks, wipers etc. So yes..rust is a huge problem where salt is dumped on the road in large amounts.

 

[texas_bugeye]

Its not like in PR. I lived in MN. for 15 years the differance is it doesn't really get carried in to every nook and cranny along with sand rocks and such. The soup of snow ice and salt and sand gets into the panels and plugs up the drain holes.
It then turns into a steam bath like conditon when it warms up a little and your parked in the sun. get the whole inside of the panels wet. It also gets carried into your car along with snow and Ice and sand you then turn on your heat and melt it into the carpet pad and seal it under the carpet to rust out the floor boards and it destroys your carpets. Man i'm glad I moved to TX! cars last so much longer.

 

[aeronca65t]

....I drove my little P.O.S. Hillman Minx all over the place
during severe Maryland winters. It never got stuck and
the Hillman never rusted to dust.....

Must have been the rare stainless steel model

I had a Hillman Minx. By the time I was done with it, the body was at least 25% iron oxide.

After living in Canada, I hate to complain about bad Winters here in rural northwestern New Jersey.

But "severe Maryland winters"? Severe Winters in <span style="font-style: italic">Maryland?! </span> :laugh:

My van has been to two coin operated car washes since I took the trip to Ontario last week (during a lake effect snow storm). There is *still* salt on the van that I haven't gotten off.

Reality: We have snow on the ground, it's 20F and the garden hose is frozen rock solid. It's not like I can put on my flip-flops and shorts and go outside and hose the thing off. :eeek:

(although I'd *like* to).

 

[texas_bugeye]

Its one of the things I just dont miss. Winter care of cars up north is just plan hard to do. You wash it till you hands and feet are soaking wet and frozen only to come out the next morning locked out by frozen door locks.
Its just a pain.. Frozen wipers door seals freezing then torn off when you open the door. Spray every thing that moves with silicone spray in hopes it will keep water at bay. Oh1 my favorite....Stopping to put air in a tire only to have it go completly flat when the moisture freezes the stem open while you were puting the air in yea that always a fun.

 

[Banjo]

I dare any technician, from almost anywhere else, to come work on cars here in upstate NY for even just a little while. I gurentee they will never complain about rust where they are again.. the road salt chemically freezes and eats everything underneath our cars. the easiest jobs require a torch on any car over 5 or 6 years old. Gas tanks, fuel lines, brake lines, exhaust, fuel filler necks, rocker panals are toast after just a few winters around here.
Nuts and bolts rust into unrecognizable blobs, and exhaust studs turn into lumpy toothpicks.Forget alignments. Cam bolts require big hammers and then usually have to be melted out with a torch, and replaced.
Washing dosen't always help. as it can creep in seams, freeze, and split any seam sealant apart letting the salt in all the cracks.
Cars from as close as New Jersey or southern PA. are astonishingly rust free to us. Virginia cars are pristine! My 91 BMW is a Flordia car. had it been from around here, it'd be in a junkyard by now.
If you value your car, it gets put away for the winter. I really need to take some pictures for the unbelievers out there.
I believe its a combination of salt and climate. the freeze-thaw- has a HUGE effect, and things never really dry out around here from november to may.

 

[weewillie]

Nial, remember that is Canadian salt so it stays longer, so you have to come back and use the car washes on this side of the border, I think it's in the free trade agreement. :laugh:

 

[Tinster]

What an interesting topic this has become.

I expected to find severe rust everywhere in my TR6
since it has always lived at the beach. I have found
only the driver's floor pan and an area in the trunk
with rust.

Yes, back in the day, in northern Maryland we had blizzards
and snow on the ground maybe 5 months a year. Much milder now.

d

 

[tony barnhill]

What an interesting topic this has become.

I expected to find severe rust everywhere in my TR6
since it has always lived at the beach. I have found
only the driver's floor pan and an area in the trunk
with rust.

Yes, back in the day, in northern Maryland we had blizzards
and snow on the ground maybe 5 months a year. Much milder now.

d

Dale, run a small magnet over the entire body...especially around the cowl area.....

 

[Tinster]

What an interesting topic this has become.

I expected to find severe rust everywhere in my TR6
since it has always lived at the beach. I have found
only the driver's floor pan and an area in the trunk
with rust.

Yes, back in the day, in northern Maryland we had blizzards
and snow on the ground maybe 5 months a year. Much milder now.

d

Dale, run a small magnet over the entire body...especially around the cowl area.....

Where is the cowl area located, Tony?

thanks,

d

 

[aeronca65t]

Nial, remember that is Canadian salt so it stays longer, so you have to come back and use the car washes on this side of the border, I think it's in the free trade agreement. :laugh:

Willie:

I used one when I was up there.

The attendant told me that to start it, I'd have to put "a couple of Loonies in it".

What?!?!

Oh!......you mean <span style="font-style: italic">money! </span> :laugh:

 

[tony barnhill]

What an interesting topic this has become.

I expected to find severe rust everywhere in my TR6
since it has always lived at the beach. I have found
only the driver's floor pan and an area in the trunk
with rust.

Yes, back in the day, in northern Maryland we had blizzards
and snow on the ground maybe 5 months a year. Much milder now.

d

Dale, run a small magnet over the entire body...especially around the cowl area.....

Where is the cowl area located, Tony?

thanks,

d

Out in front of the windshield....also look around where the top of he fenders meet the cowl.

 

[weewillie]

Nial, remember that is Canadian salt so it stays longer, so you have to come back and use the car washes on this side of the border, I think it's in the free trade agreement. :laugh:

Willie:

I used one when I was up there.

The attendant told me that to start it, I'd have to put "a couple of Loonies in it".

What?!?!

Oh!......you mean <span style="font-style: italic">money! </span> :laugh:

:lol: :lol:

 

[DNK]

Get this, In our area they are extracting a salt type product from the washes that they use in the manufacturing of cheese. It's a by product . Free I think ,so far environmentally friendly and unknown effect on the vehicles.

If anyone saw the news about the chemicals they have been using there seems to be a shortage.

 

[GregW]

Gosh, I hope that stuff doesn't Swiss-cheese your fender.

 

[weewillie]

Gosh, I hope that stuff doesn't Swiss-cheese your fender.

or make it go mouldy.

 

[SilentUnicorn]

this is why

 

[R6MGS]

They've really been dumping alot of salt on the roads around here in the last few years, more than in the past I think. We try to wash the daily vehicles(STS, Sonoma, and 80 MGB) once a week, but there is always weeks where that is impossible(this has been one of them). We drain the hose after every use so it doesn't freeze, and then shoot WD-40 in all the locks and other seems. Plus they've all been oil sprayed every year....so that helps, but winter is still heck on them.

 

[tony barnhill]

Remember, its not just the outside that needs washing...you can't keep water, salt, etc. out of the nooks & crannies - look up inside your front fenders between the fender & rocker itself - that's where it sits all year long!