Prepare Your Vehicle to Withstand the Winter Months

Winter months often bring in snow, and for a lot of vehicle owners, this means having to deal with various hindrances that the weather brings with it. To combat getting stuck in deep snow, plow trucks are deployed to help clear the roads. Along with this, road salts and chemicals are scattered on the streets. While treatments like road salts have helped make winter driving safer and more efficient, it has resulted in the accumulation of salts and de-icing chemicals in the interior and exterior of automobiles. Besides the use of salt eliminators, some vehicle owners turn to spray-in bedliner for added protection.

What Are Road Salts?

Contrary to what most would assume, road salts aren’t exactly the same as table salts. Halite or road salt is a natural mineral mined form of sodium chloride. Most road salts include additives to keep it from caking up. Some common additives found in road salts are sugar and hexacyanoferrate. Like table salt, halite is extremely corrosive. 

How Does Road Salt Work? 

The way road salts work is by lowering water’s freezing point through a process that is called freezing point depression. Simply put, salt infiltrates component ions through small portions of liquid water. The addition of these particles make it difficult for water to turn into ice, thus effectively lowering the water’s freezing point. 

Therefore, for road salt to work successfully, a small amount of water must be present. For this reason, road salt becomes really effective during really cold weather. Pre-treating roads with a brine solution is common practice. It’s application helps prevent the formation of ice which thereby reduces the need to apply too much road salt for surface deicing. 

How Road Salts Are Affecting Automobiles

Salt is a corrosive substance. Since cars contain a large majority of metal parts, salty roads can result in salt build up in various parts of the vehicle. When left untreated, these salt crusted metals will suffer from rust and corrosion. This can particularly be the case for parts that are left untreated with Line-X.

Fighting Salt Corrosion

We can’t exactly run from winter. Save from totally avoiding the use of our car during the winter months, our next best option is to find ways to combat the corrosive effects that road salts can cause our cars, jeeps, and trucks. 

It goes without saying that washing our cars immediately after exposure to snow or an ice storm is a must. For the most part, it should be done within 10 days since exposure. We have found that the best temperature for washing our vehicles is no less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We made sure to wash our vehicles during the daytime to ensure that it dries before the temperature drops once nightfall rolls in. Pro tip: do not forget to open and shut doors, trunks, and hatches while washing the automobile. This is done to prevent them from freezing shut. When possible, we avoid driving through deep snow since it packs against the automobile’s bottom which can later contribute to rusting.

Moreover, the application of protective coatings like Line-X bedliner can reduce damage caused by exposure to salt. Bedliners are designed to take a beating from harsh chemicals and are known as an effective means to prevent rust and corrosion. 

Eliminating Salt Deposits 

Even with vigilant cleaning, salt deposits can still show up. The buildup of salt in parts of the vehicle should not be left untreated for long. Using products such as a salt eliminator can significantly eliminate the presence of corrosive salt from an affected area or part. Preventive measures such as a spray-in bedliner can also be put into play for that added protection against rust.

Salt Eliminator Application

Smaller projects can be handled easily with store bought can of salt eliminator. Perfect for minimal issues, spray cans can be used to clean up specific parts, nuts, bolts, etc. For larger applications, it is possible to procure foam guns, pressurized washing, high pressure wants, and car wash facilities. 

Benefits of Salt Eliminators 

If it wasn’t obvious enough, salt eliminators are designed to effectively remove stubborn salt deposits. We’ve learned that sodium chloride, calcium, and magnesium salts can immensely speed up corrosion. With a salt eliminator, users are able to eliminate these chlorides from a vehicle. 

Aside from removing salt buildup, salt eliminators help repel moisture. An application not only leaves a nice sheen, but it also helps slow down any possibility of salt from reforming. 

Road salts have been proven to impact our environment negatively. Everything from the air, the land, and the waters are affected by the tremendous use of salt. While there is still no better alternative to clearing up icy highways and rural roads, there is at least a product that can clear up salt buildup without adding to our growing environmental concerns. Salt eliminators do not contain any petroleum and phosphates, so it is safe for the environment. 

Salt deposits aren’t only visible on metal surfaces. Materials like plastic, vinyl, upholstery, leather, and carpeting are prone to salt stains. An eliminator takes these stains away with ease.

To further combat erosion we suggest applying a spray-in bedliner once the salt removal process has been completed. Exposed areas like tire wells and step bars (to name some examples) can be coated with this Line-X product. After all they did say that prevention is better than cure. 

About LINE-X and Krown of South Central Pennsylvania

LINE-X and Krown of South Central Pennsylvania is the leader in vehicle undercoating protection using Krown products and truck bed liners using LINE-X spray-on bed liners. We serve York County to help maintain and extend the life of vehicles. If you are in Loganville or Lewisberry, Delta or Dover, West York or Wrightsville, or any point in between, stop in at our Vogelsong Road location to see what we can do to protect your vehicle. No one knows protection better than LINE-X and Krown and the premium performance and exceptional value that they bring.