Hello fellow owners of vehicles in places with harsh winters and salt-encrusted roads. I’d like to have your thoughts on spraying the underside of your car with a hose to help remove salt, mud, and sand. When I do this to my Bronco Sport - after coming home from a car wash that includes “Undercarriage,” it pours gray and brown for minutes before the rinse water runs clean. I can see sand and salt cubes being washed out of the crevices of the wheel wells. Is it beneficial, assuming you don’t fall and break a hit doing it? Or am I wasting my time and possibly pushing the corrosion-causing muck into places it would otherwise not have gone? Comments please.
I’ve lived in the snow belt my entire life. And nobody washes the underside of a vehicle unless the car wash you go to provides the service.
And I get over 200,000 miles out of my vehicles.
Tester
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We get our vehicles muddy from the dirt/gravel road and hose it off on the driveway but underneath gets washed by chance. Winters we pull into the warm garage and the snow melts. Get 18-22yrs out of our vehicles. Here’s the 16yr old orius that still Looks great once you finally give it a bath The Crv is dirt road tan because dad wanted that color. It’s original blizzard pearl paint.
I have never done it, but some people in florida with put an oscillating lawn sprinkler under their car to reduce salt buildup.
You can’t do that in Minnesota in the winter.
First, the house has to have a frost proof sillcock.
And if it does, you have get all the water out the hose once done otherwise the water will freeze and split the hose. Then you have to find a place outside to wash under the vehicle. You can’t do it in the driveway because all you’ll do is create an ice rink when you’re done.
Just not worth it!
Tester
2 Likes
I did not wash the underside of any car I owned in Ohio. I would run it through the car wash when the weather broke to flush it off.
Most don’t know that salty residue does not rust metal when it is below freezing. Leave it on until it warms. Ohio car washes did not open when the temps were below freezing, the washes would freeze up. Parking in a warm garage might be nice for you but not the car for that reason.
Having owned 2 10+ year old Florida cars, they just don’t rust. As long as bare metal is not exposed the undersides look like 2 year old Ohio cars for a decade or more. Just don’t drive it on the beach.
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Yep, try to do that in Minnesota and you’ll freeze,the hose will freeze, the bottom of the car will be ice, and the driveway will be ice. A couple times I’ve washed inside the garage but it is a mess. Just use the car wash. Most drive through include an under carriage wash.
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Buffalo area car washes are open and busy in the winter but you can’t generally drive home without driving,through salt water brine created by the snow banks along the road and all the salt applied to it. As others have said, it would be a pain to do at home because You would turn the concrete driveway into a skating rink. I have an attatched garage that is usuall above freezing , but it is illegal to put a floor drain in the garage.
Manufacturers have really improve rust protection. In the 70s common to see 2-3 year old cars with panel rusted through. Vinyl roofs would rust underneath the vinyl. I don’t know what year(s) they started improving rust prevention. My 06 Mustang, never garaged, no signs of rust when sold in 2021.
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My 07 Mustang came down to Florida with me. I sold it in 2017. Even with the Ohio salt, it still looked pretty good underneath even though garaged in Ohio. And I did drive it at times in the winter.
Most carmakers made great strides in the late 80s and early 90s with rust protection. Galvanized steel and better dip-paint and epoxy coating of brackets and things. But GM, for one, started slacking off in the 2000s.
My 2004 Avalanche has rotted rocker panels, a rotting frame and I replaced the hood because of rust. It IS 22 years old, but it is the first rust-hole car I have owned since my 1975 Starfire that I bought in 1981 with some small rust through.
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+1
In NJ–where a lot of salt is used on the roads–it is very unusual to see a car with significant rust damage… unless it is at least 20 years old.
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Around here, it doesn’t pay to wash off the undercarriage until rain has washed all the salt from the roads. This time of year, there is actually a salt cloud on the expressway from the vehicles kicking up the dried salt residue.
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At least you kick off snow boogers BEFORE you drive into garage?
That’s code these days in most states. Older homes that didn’t have one of these usually had a cutoff inside the home to prevent pipe from freezing.
To answer the question - Hosing off in driveway. NO. Not a great idea when the weather if freezing. I usually will go to a touchless carwash that has the clean undercarriage option.
My first home, the b o nehead people that plumbed it put the shutoffs in backwards. The bleed screw was on the pressure side…thankfully there were only two hose bibs I had to switch around.
Just a tip. If you are doing the frost free hydrants, they MUST be installed at a slight angle so that they drain th3 water out. Also still put water shut offs on them and connections so that you can swap them without shutting th3 house down.
Yeah we were leaving for Florida but it was nice out do I was washing the car before we left. Plumber didn’t install them right and froze during the winter. When I turned the hose on water all over from the leak. Had to shut th3 house down while I went to get a new one and put it in.
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My hoses are not functional from November till April. Undercarriage wash at car wash is fine. Could be at least a week till it gets warm enough to risk a car wash. We have a new car wash in town, too powerful. Tore up my front license plate frame and wife ended up with moisture in the rear light lenses. El cheapo wash with towel dry works just fine.
I washed my car last night, by hand. Then I drove the car 3 miles to dry the wheels/brakes/body.
If you wash the underside of a vehicle in 35-degree weather, how long does it take to dry? A week? 10 days?
The open surfaces will dry after a day but what about the areas behind the brake line/fuel line mounts? Above the fuel tank, spare tire and heat shields? After removing body or suspension bolts, I have seen water dribble out of the bushings or mounts.
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I have floor box fan in garage. My snow/ice melts fast.
I don’t know what that is. I’m fully insulated and my garage rarely goes below 50 degrees. The kerosene heater will bring it up to. 70 if I need to change oil or something, which reminds me. Time flies when you are sitting on your duff.