why our vehicles don't last up here

took a ride to a meeting yesterday , truck was clean when i left , 90 miles one way

looks like i will be going to car wash again today

Sometimes they have the car wash entrance blocked off because of the cold temperatures. Then what?

My truck looks exactly like that from the weather we had this week.

Salt is the devil on my trucks ...
My local car wash does a booming business this time a year..

nittanylion I have to wait

I guess the silver lining is that 250 will look brand new after a car wash compared to hitting Black Ice- but it's harsh for sure!

My jeep looked like that after a trip to Wichita the other day in the snow. I went about 15 miles to a car wash a couple days later. They put you on this track thing. A couple guys with wands spray it pretty good then its all automatic including spray nozzles for the undercarriage. Helps a bunch to wash it off right away. My 14b y/o dodge has cancer from it. Thinking I will put a flat bed on it.

yes eagleye better than a crash

We had a ice storm a few days ago. Sun was out yesterday, so I was putzing in my workshop, every so often I went out moved my 3 trucks around outside so the 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice would melt off in the sun. Then this week on a above freezing day, I can wash the salt off. Wish I could have all the carwash money I spent in a pile.....

That fake salt is hard on them.

Most car washes recycle their water. This time of year you end up washing with salt water.

Some do, I don't think most. I've heard of it but don't know of any in my area that do.

Unfortunately what you truck looks like is part of the goal of using salt on the roads. The salt makes a brine when melting ice and snow. The traffic sloshes and throws that brine to other parts of the road. Then when the road is wet and traffic speed picks up, it gets thrown in the air to evaporate and dry the road. If the weather is right we try to "freeze dry" the road by letting traffic and very low humidity to speed the evaporation. Of course water is the only thing evaporated leaving the salt residues behind on the road and our vehicles.

Josh

One buddy of mine owns two carwashes and his are set up to recycle the water on wash/soap mode but uses fresh water to rinse. So rinse good!

Thats not true at all.

No salt needed.

Leave a little earlier so that you can drive slower when road conditions are bad due to winter weather. Ticket people who are driving to fast for road conditions, if you see someone in the ditch or median don’t pull them out, if they have to call a tow truck they’ll learn to slow down whe the roads are slick.

Im getting to be my father’s age. Lol

Agree

Half true like I posted, there are some here that filter and reuse water for the soap cycle but they use fresh for rinse.

Come spring …..put the fluid film to the under carriage

Spill a quart of oil in a car accident and the full Hazmat team shows up. Spill a truckload of salt right next to a freshwater stream and no one bats an eye!!

Yep! lol

Here they can't plow snow into the water.....wait for it.......but they can scoop it up and pile it on boat ramps so that when it melts the runoff goes into the river.

Lol, , proof that the EPA is a government agency and not here to help !

Trapper D you ever notice that the first vechiles you meet on slushy roads are semi's

People WILL NOT learn to slow down when roads are slick. Nor will they leave earlier and drive slower. Just not going to happen.

They will when the ice gets about 4” thick and so rough everything rattles including their head. Lol

You’re right as long as they’re not held accountable for the accidents they cause they won’t change.

Put it out in a field let the deer lock it off

I keep hearing Fluid Film every year , basically you wash it on a warm dry day then let it dry and fluid film basically every September and it makes them last a lot longer

you can get it in a 5 gallon bucket , or gallon can and it goes way down in cost compared to the spray cans

it is about 50 for a gallon or 150 for 5 gallons the gun to apply is more but if you got a few friends or family together and bought a 5 gallon bucket and a gun you could get together in September each year , here very is little rain in September , 30 minutes a car and about 50 dollars each you would cover the cost if especially if some one has a lift every one toss in for his fluid film and some plastic to put up. cardboard on the floor.

something to look into

Does fluid film retard existing rust or just prevent new?

Yes,Wondering

I haven't found another state that puts salt on the roads like the state of Michigan does, you folks should get a tax credit for the damage they do to your vehicles..

Northern Maine is the same way.

In the SW they recycle the water and you DO NOT want to get that stinking stuff on you. All of the fermented bugs and poop, and other nastiness that comes off of the cars is sprayed right back on yours. I almost barfed at the one in Havasau.

white dog nailed it. Sand an plows and if it gets to bad close the road. Wanna know why they use all that salt?
Follow the money.

x2

Pa our roads are white , not from the snow!

I do this once a year. Fluid film or just paint. Takes a whopping 10 minutes a year and the undercarriage of my truck and car look new always. Sure makes removing any bolts under there less of a headache as well. Unfortunately, it does nothing to upper body.

I envy the people who live in states that don't use salt. Salt costs many of us a LOT of money replacing vehicles that still run good but you can see through.

How do you put fluid film under one? I never even heard of it. Drive your vehicle over a pit? I am thinking on a lift you would not get any on the frame where the lift contacts it. Do you just use one of those sprayers with a manual pump?

None of it good.
I know a fellow who works on the main highways in winter in Minnesota and he says the real vehicle killer is the pre spray they apply to the roads before storms. I can’t recall the name of the stuff but he said it far surpasses salt for vehicle corrosion.

Osky

Calcium chloride?

Local guys product went nationwide, $
Rick Fennel, Fennelized undercoat. Best but messy.

Another guy using Lanoline based, good but smells like stink bugs.

Fluid film creeps in good but power washes off,
maybe a good thing sometimes.

Man you guys must not have driving jobs lol. I like how easy y'all say slow down out there or wait till the roads improve. Try being on a schedule with 8 to 12 deliveries a day 300+ miles of driving 7 days a week every available truck and driver working overtime. Of course we all slow down but if the highways weren't salted we'd be done delivering and you'd be starving by February. But yeah salt is bad let's stop using it. In the words of bugs bunny what a bunch maroons.

Exactly they get absolutely ridiculous with it around here.. like they are just absolutely terrified that it's going to be a tiny bit of ice on the road. ticks me off

Most Ford P.U. around here, the box and cab corners are gone in 6-7 years.

Coonman 220 is into using fluid film on his trapping vechile. If you have questions, maybe he could share some tips.

road commissions salt is payed for by the state use it or lose it thats why you see it poured on if theres a flake on the road in fall Our county tried sand or a mix years ago and got sued cause the roads were not "Salted" resulting in accidents They also used to plow and sand the rural bus routes before the bus run every hill curve and kids pickup points got sanded now with unlimited snow days and cut backs at road garages A thing of the past

Try spray fluid film in fall underside

I bought a truck from Oklahoma about 18 months ago. It is a 2011 model but had zero rust when I bought it. It’s honestly shocking that vehicles from the south don’t get rusty. I decided I wanted to protect the investment and started using Fluid Film that first winter. The experiment is still young so I don’t know how much it helps but it’s certainly better than doing nothing.

I get the Fluid Film that comes in the aerosol can. Probably not as thick as the other stuff but it seems to "set up" decent. I just lay on my back and spray away. Kind of have to get up half on your knees to get up behind the wheel wells, however.

Tons of friends who worked out in the dakotas said they don’t use much salt out there but lotsa sand. I do NOT drive for a living at all,but I think the world would adapt pretty well. Got back to how it was 20+ years ago….lots of sand and some salt. None of this pretreat stuff either if it’s the new culprit. (And I think the pretreated must be bad cause it seems to be worse nowadays. I like to drive fast but will slow down if I can get an extra decade out of a vehicle. Plus I don’t think the excessive salt is good for the environment, much worse than extra sand in most cases I would guess. Happy trapping! ScottW

Agreed.

Thanks Calvin

$12 a small can, I spent $20 twice a year an bought gallon for $45 an half gallon left, spent half weekend with paint brush an spray, if wanna spray the gallon , a speacil sprayer it go thru but go quick an use a gallon up , lot places to hit, it stay on metal along time

Must have some weather moving In, gotta love driving on this behind the tanker

I need to blast mine for about 20 minutes from this last trip it was cloudy with freezing rain about the whole way down to MO to meet my buddies for the trip. My truck looked like it was white when I got back.