Winter driving comes with its own set of challenges, such as snow, ice, and freezing temperatures. Municipalities often rely on salt and other deicing products to keep roads safe. While these materials are critical for reducing accidents, they can wreak havoc on your car if not cleaned off promptly. As you try to decide whether you should take the time to wash your vehicle this winter, find out why road salt can be so damaging and how to clean it off your car.
4 Reasons to Wash Salt and Deicing Products off Your Vehicle During the Winter
When salt and deicing products aren’t quickly removed from your vehicle, they can cause several issues, such as rust and damaged paint. Learn more about the four main negative effects that salt and deicing products can cause for vehicles below:
1. Road Salt Can Accelerate Rust Formation
The biggest threat road salt poses to your car is corrosion, as road salt can cause and speed up rust formation. When a vehicle drives over road salt, water from precipitation will get on your vehicle’s metal parts. Next, the road salt’s free-floating ions will mix with the water on these parts, with the ions causing iron oxide to form faster. After iron oxide forms, a layer of rust will appear on your car’s metal parts and begin to corrode them.
Since ions speed up the formation of rust, key parts of your vehicle are more at risk of damage. For example, brake lines, exhaust systems, suspension components, bare metal fasteners, and undercarriages can all rust over. If left unchecked, rust will weaken these parts, making it more likely they’ll break down early and need costly repairs. Like road salt, chemical deicers are also corrosive and can have the same effects on your vehicle.
2. Road Salt and Deicing Chemicals Can Harm Your Paint
While the interaction of road salt and water can reduce your vehicle’s safety and cause parts to break down faster, road salt and chemical deicers can also hurt your vehicle’s appearance. If your city just uses road salt, the salt can stick to your car’s paint and cause oxidation. When this salt isn’t cleared off, the oxidation can cause your paint to break down and parts of it to rust.
Your vehicle’s paint is even more at risk in areas that use deicing chemicals on their roads. Modern deicers often include chemicals like calcium chloride and magnesium chloride, which can be even more aggressive than salt. These chemicals can potentially erode your car’s clear coat and paint, leading to expensive repairs.
3. Removing Salt and Deicing Products Makes Your Vehicle Safer
Alongside hurting your paint and making it more likely you need repairs, road salt and deicing chemicals can reduce your vehicle’s safety. For example, corroded brake lines, weakened suspension components, or a rusted-out undercarriage can lead to mechanical failures while you’re driving. Additionally, if rust has formed on structural components meant to protect you, an impact from another vehicle during an accident will do more damage to these components, raising your risk of serious injury.
4. Road Salt and Deicing Chemicals Can Hurt Your Vehicle’s Resale Value
When people are on the market for a car, most won’t pay top dollar for a vehicle that has lots of rust and paint damage. They also won’t want to pay much for a vehicle with an extensive repair history due to rust and corrosion.
If you plan to sell your vehicle in the future or simply want to protect your investment, you’ll want to avoid having road salt and deicing chemicals on your car for too long. Since car wash and detailing services can help vehicles retain higher resale values, investing in these services can pay off in the long run.
How Often Should You Wash Your Vehicles During the Winter?
In general, if salt or deicing products are on the road regularly through the winter, you should wash your vehicle every 10 days (if not more frequently). Keep in mind that just rinsing your vehicle won’t remove road salt or chemical deicer residue, and spraying water on your vehicle in freezing conditions can lead to rust. As a result, your vehicle will need a full car wash.
If it’s projected to snow in the Raleigh-Durham area and deicing chemicals and road salt are on the road, there’s a good chance they’ll wash away before the week is up due to the Triangle’s fairly mild winters. In this case, bring your car in for a car wash as soon as you’ve noticed the road salt is gone from the road. Since you won’t be picking up more road salt while driving, getting it off your vehicle should be your priority, as it will better protect your vehicle from rust.
While you can wash the road salt off yourself, a professional car wash can ensure all the road salt and deicing chemicals are completely removed. Plus, it’s much more convenient than trying to wash your car (particularly its undercarriage!) in freezing temperatures on your own.
Choose Chapel Hill Tire for Mobile Detailing Services in the Triangle
If it’s snowed recently in the Triangle and you need help removing snow or deicing products from your vehicle, Chapel Hill Tire can help. We offer mobile detailing services in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and the surrounding Triangle area. One of our technicians can drive to your vehicle and thoroughly wash your car, removing any deicing chemicals and road salt.
Learn more about our mobile detailing and other car washing services today. If you’re ready to receive our detailing services, please make an appointment at one of our convenient locations in the Triangle area. We also recommend checking out our coupons to see how much you can save!
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