How corrosive is salt left on a car for a while?

[Leicesterdave]

You hear "detailers" going on about how corrosive salt is and that ideally it should be rinsed off every night.
There is no way I could ever do that- it'll probably at least 3 weeks before the car gets a wash. Is that ok? ish?

[Scraggles]

not really care tbh, no point washing the car in the winter as it gets covered in crap after a few days

[EDLT]

Your modern Mini will be fine, it might be worth considering if you had an old Mini though.

[randomwalk]

Out of curiousity I "tasted" the water on the road, it is very salty, in other words driving on a wet winter road that has been gritted is just like driving the car on the beach through the salt water. No wonder the corrosion on UK cars is so bad. I am a bit worried about driving the car in winter because of the salt factor, I think the only way to combat it would be to karcher the car after every drive , especially underneath, not very practicable. Maybe the low winter temps would keep the rusting process at bay? I imagine salt finds its way into all the little crevices and you can never fully remove it.

[Blue Oval84]

It's fine, it doesn't corrode paintwork, only exposed metal.

The places to watch are in the wheelarches where muck and salt builds up, when you eventually wash it just clean them off.

Mine will be waiting until at least Crimbo for a wash at this rate!

[Leicesterdave]

Blue Oval84 said:

It's fine, it doesn't corrode paintwork, only exposed metal.

The places to watch are in the wheelarches where muck and salt builds up, when you eventually wash it just clean them off.

Mine will be waiting until at least Crimbo for a wash at this rate!

So underneath the car is certainly the worse bit.

[randomwalk]

I have noticed alot of corrosion on suspension components, I spose they are made of thick steel so not such a problem, however the floor pan can get quite rusty from the salt. Does salt corrode the metals in the radiator, intercoolers etc? I would think on a wet motorway the salty mix kicked up by the cars in front would be all over the radiator or intercooler fins.

[sn00per]

Not good on chromed areas (my poor clk's grille last winter)

[MondeoMan1981]

Lots of these foam wash places still open around me in the snow, think I'll ask them to give the underside a weee blast Thurs/Fri when the temp gets above zero !

[jbi]

Blue Oval84 said:

It's fine, it doesn't corrode paintwork, only exposed metal.

It does indeed ruin your paintwork over time through a form of osmosis...

[SWH]

Didn't wash our old 850 T5 for about 3yrs, including a trip to the Alps to go skiing... cleaned the lights off, various parts went quite clean when replaced (tyres, brakes, etc).... and it didn't rust away despite much salt and Devon lane mud - depends what the car is and what you want it for really.

[Leicesterdave]

I suppose post 2000 motors fare a lot better.

[redstu]

It's damp areas and bare metal that are the real problem places ,this can be breaks in the protection or mud traps.
Seams are problem areas.
All the places that are underneath and difficult to see!

[Eviltad]

On a Mini the grime on the back will corrode the internals of the number plate lights / bootlid handle. This is an MOT failure. Removing/replacing the bootlid handle will expose an unfinished steel edge and this will lead to rust bubbling if not checked.

[rallycross]

Salt kills cars, it wont affect good paintwork, but will affect any stone chips or scuffed paint, all unprotected metal under the car (brackets, clips, nuts and bolts) will suffer. as do alloys, just look underneath a 5 yr old car from eg Aberdeen to see how much damage salt does.

[xr287]

rallycross said:

just look underneath a 5 yr old car from eg Aberdeen to see how much damage salt does.

My car is 5 years old and has lived it's life in Aberdeen. It's perfectly fine underneath, I've been under it enough times to be sure of that!

[plenty]

Pressure washer or petrol-station jet wash. Job done, quicker than filling up a tank of fuel.

[robsco]

I get very paranoid after I've taken the Alfa for a drive. I've been frantically scraping the salty slush from the inside of the arches for the last few nights, or the best I can. There's a jot of rust appearing right at the bottom of the arch which I can imagine this winter's salt will have a field day with.

[Blue Oval84]

jbi said:

Blue Oval84 said:

It's fine, it doesn't corrode paintwork, only exposed metal.

It does indeed ruin your paintwork over time through a form of osmosis...

Mine's thick with Collinite though, it won't be penetrating that in a hurry, I put it on with a shovel

[cotney]

randomwalk said:

Out of curiousity I "tasted" the water on the road, it is very salty, in other words driving on a wet winter road that has been gritted is just like driving the car on the beach through the salt water. No wonder the corrosion on UK cars is so bad. I am a bit worried about driving the car in winter because of the salt factor, I think the only way to combat it would be to karcher the car after every drive , especially underneath, not very practicable. Maybe the low winter temps would keep the rusting process at bay? I imagine salt finds its way into all the little crevices and you can never fully remove it.

Sorry to go off topic abit, but, you tasted the water on the road?