Cleaning off salt

[alephnull]

I did a quick search and didnt find anything regarding cleaning salt off cars - so appologies if i missed it.

I can wash the paintwork on my car with two buckets, but as I have no pit, lift, axle stands or even hose pipe and i live in London, i cannot wash the underside of my car. Would it be sensible to wash off the salt, or should i not worry?

If so, what is the best method for reaching all the underside stuff?

Cheers all!

[Bonefish Blues]

MX 5 Mk 2 you say hmmmm.

Yes, absolutely.

Friend with a jetwash I'd say - ideally one which you can buy an underbody lance for. Will be doing ours tomorrow.

Or at the very least, make sure you get right up inside the arches and get all the crap out when you wash it - and also make sure the drain holes are clear, too.

[alephnull]

Is it possible to buy pressure washers that do not need to be connected to a garden hose? Are they expensive?

Otherwise, are there any petrol station jet washes near canary wharf that you know of?

Thanks for the help!

[ApexJimi]

alephnull said:

Would it be sensible to wash off the salt?

Yes, eminently so

Pressure washer lance, and make sure you get the underbody and arches cleaned. If the car is a daily driver, I'd be hosing it down once a week, at least. That's prob me being a bit OCD tho

Fortunately, I have a Focus for the daily drive, so I don't drive my '5 in these conditions, purely because I refuse to expose her to the sheer amount of salt that's currently on our roads.

[Bonefish Blues]

ApexJimi said:

alephnull said:

Would it be sensible to wash off the salt?

Yes, eminently so

Pressure washer lance, and make sure you get the underbody and arches cleaned. If the car is a daily driver, I'd be hosing it down once a week, at least. That's prob me being a bit OCD tho

Fortunately, I have a Focus for the daily drive, so I don't drive my '5 in these conditions, purely because I refuse to expose her to the sheer amount of salt that's currently on our roads.

Doesn't strike me as OCD at all - we've all seen the difference in underbody condition of MX 5 JDM imports vs UK cars, which is purely attributable to the amount of salt spread in the UK.

[Yodafone]

alephnull said:

Is it possible to buy pressure washers that do not need to be connected to a garden hose? Are they expensive?

Otherwise, are there any petrol station jet washes near canary wharf that you know of?

Thanks for the help!

Have a look at these, there are some other brands but this seems to be very good.

www.mobiwasher.co.uk

[ApexJimi]

Yodafone said:

alephnull said:

Is it possible to buy pressure washers that do not need to be connected to a garden hose? Are they expensive?

Otherwise, are there any petrol station jet washes near canary wharf that you know of?

Thanks for the help!

Have a look at these, there are some other brands but this seems to be very good.

www.mobiwasher.co.uk

Hey, that's a nifty sounding bit of kit!

[Diablos-666]

This might be a silly question but could that power pack also act as a trickle charger for the car battery or at least share the load of the battery?

I have a garage but no power points and my battery can't be left over 2 weeks without turning over.

[i remember]

I have been using snowfoam for the last 6 months on my car and what a heck of a difference it makes in regards to cleaning off dirt.

You attatch a small kartcher bottle to the end of the lance that has the liquid in it and it does, in the name, shower your car in foam. Let it sit and run down your car and it basically lifts the dirt off. The "dirty" water after a wash is hardly ever dirty now

As regards to underneath, i would get mine jacked up but id be carefull of what areas in spraying into

[Engineer1]

Good car wash with underbody clean?

[pbirkett]

Engineer1 said:

Good car wash with underbody clean?

Thats what I've been doing - there's a great place near me that does this - that said, if I had the facilities to do it myself I'd probably do that.

[JFReturns]

pbirkett said:

Engineer1 said:

Good car wash with underbody clean?

Thats what I've been doing - there's a great place near me that does this - that said, if I had the facilities to do it myself I'd probably do that.

That will scratch your paint. Here is what a car wash did to mine:



That took a lot if elbow polish to remedy



My advice would be a bucket, old sponge and plenty of fresh water to clean the bits you can reach. Failing that, go to a garage with a pressure washer and use that to get underneath the car as much as possible (but don't use those big brushes on the paint work!).