Safely removing road salt

T

Taubs

New member
As a result of a long roadtrip, my car is currently covered in road salt. As soon as it stops raining, I'm going to remove it but this got me thinking..



Is road salt abrasive? I have soft BMW paint, so am concerned at the best way to remove this. Should I wash it any differently to normal? - ONR and a sheepskin mitt.



Should I use something a little more "sudsy"?



Interested in the thoughts of you experts.



Thanks in Advance.
 
Not only can the salt itself be abrasive (try rubbing some table salt between your fingers), but road salt is not nearly as pure as table salt. It has all kinds of dirt, etc. in it, not to mention what it picks up in storage, loading, and whatever the salt spreader had in it during the summer (dirt, concrete, who knows).



Most members try to do some sort of pressure wash to remove the gross contamination. Many use ONR/QEW/DP4n1 in a pump-up sprayer of the type used for pesticide or fertilizer as a pre-wash.
 
I'm not familiar with your kind of paint,but i did used a 2 bucket method with warn water and ONR using a few sheepskin mitts.



process:

I sprayed one panel at a time using PBs S&W to help dilute the salt then used the bucket of warm water with ONR and gently removed the salt.. then using a second mitt to rinse after that i used a Cobra WW to dry then a MF to buff out the panel..The ONR devoured the salt/dirt leaving no marring behind..I'm not advicing you to use this method i'm only showing you what ONR is capable of removing..



Before:



joescarwash017.jpg




After:



Img_4321.jpg




when the wash was complete i used Z6 to wipe down the entire car followed by Z8..
 
This is a problem I have all the time at this time of year as my car does a lot of miles on salty motorways and frequently gets home covered in a salty and muddy road film... To safely remove I prefer to pre-rinse the car and then use a snow-foam on the car, applied here using a Karcher pressure washer and a Karcher foam gun:



The car before:











Using the standard Karcher foam gun and Karcher pressure washer, foam applied to the car (here done by Bryan, who I do most of my detailing with):



















Leave foam to dwell for five mins or so, and then rinse off... This safely foams away the majority of the dirt and grime and makes the following two bucket wash far safer:







The car is now ready for a standard two-bucket was to fully clean. :)
 
That is a great process when the temps are 40deg and above..my point being unless you can wait for a warmer day this method wouldn't be an option if the temps where to fall below 28 deg..here in chicago my hose was put up in november and the spigot was shut off..I had to pre heat the garage on the day of my wash as the temps where 17 deg and a high of 24 deg by mid afternoon..
 
Dave,what type of soap are you using with your karcher FG..I also have the FG with my pressure washer but i haven't used it because i normally use a Gilmore FG purchased from Steve (PBs)...
 
joe.p said:
Dave,what type of soap are you using with your karcher FG..I also have the FG with my pressure washer but i haven't used it because i normally use a Gilmore FG purchased from Steve (PBs)...
Click to expand...



In the above example, I am using Auto Rae-Chem Snow Foam: its a snow foam manufactured by a company in Yorkshire, England and we were sent free samples of it ro try out and it was very impressive. Doesn't strip wax protection either.



I also use Autoglym PowerMax3 through the Karcher Foam Gun before major details as this seems very effective at lifting more ingrained traffic grime.
 
joe.p - excellent before/after pics of what ONR can (safely) do! :2thumbs:



most pics shown here do not show precisely the LACK of marring after using ONR...your pic clearly shows that a nasty coating of salt and crud can be removed w/out harming the finish.



:hifive:
 
Thanks for the advice and recommendations. Unfortunately, in the south of the UK we are still enduring the hose pipe ban, therefore use of the pressure washer still isnt possible.
 
Dave KG said:
In the above example, I am using Auto Rae-Chem Snow Foam: its a snow foam manufactured by a company in Yorkshire, England and we were sent free samples of it ro try out and it was very impressive. Doesn't strip wax protection either.



I also use Autoglym PowerMax3 through the Karcher Foam Gun before major details as this seems very effective at lifting more ingrained traffic grime.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave ,I think i saved a link to the company in the UK that offers the snow Foam,I'm gonna give my power washer FG a shot..



Paradigm said:
joe.p - excellent before/after pics of what ONR can (safely) do!



most pics shown here do not show precisely the LACK of marring after using ONR...your pic clearly shows that a nasty coating of salt and crud can be removed w/out harming the finish.
Click to expand...
Paradigm,Thanks for the compliments..I have found ONR to work better then other rinseless wahes..Last year I started with QEW ,but found it to streak and harder to wiped down..I have only used DP 4-1 rinse on one occasion and keep reaching for the ONR as it seems to dissolve salt and grime much easier..
 
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