Wash it

[3930dave]

Same here, but I always woner if that's enough. How many of you guys actually get under your vehicle with a pressure washer, or do the under-belly cleaning yourselves? I would love to hear some best practices from this group. I have to admit, I don't do it as often as I should... usually just rely on the commercial car wash "under carriage wash" option, but never know if that actually does much.

Despite doing that as often as I can, I can STILL see corrosion under my Tacoma and even under my old BMW. Funny, but my old BMW was a Florida car that I purchased through CarMax, and it had ZERO corrosion when I bought it... now, there are visible signs in a few spots even with meticulous cleaning and never driving it in the snow unless absolutely necessary.

I'm not as diligent about this as I should be. One of my concerns with using really high pressure is driving salt/ water into areas you shouldn't (connectors, electronics....). Not to imply it's OK for mechanical stuff.

Olde-tyme guys here would use a lawn sprinkler (oscillating bar type), and move it around under the car. That seems like a safer pressure, to me. I guy I know was cleaning up a project car recently, said he found it took HOT water to dissolve the baked on brine crystals.

Rgds, D.

 

[gladehound]

I've always heard that you should avoid driving through deep water because it could destroy bearings etc. However, with all the brine that is caught up on the underside of vehicles, is driving through deep water the lesser of two evils?

 

[The Suburban Farmer]

I've always heard that you should avoid driving through deep water because it could destroy bearings etc. However, with all the brine that is caught up on the underside of vehicles, is driving through deep water the lesser of two evils?

Ha! That's EXACTLY how I used to wash my truck when I was a teenager... I'd drive it into the creek and let it set for a bit to wash off the bottom before washing the rest of it off up at the house.

 

[tcreeley]

Years ago they never used salt- just sand. The brakes would last the life of the vehicle, calipers, lines included. They started salting and now I am replacing lines, calipers, etc around 50-60000 miles, way too early. My 2003 chevy pickup has galvanized panels that are not rusting, and the stainless steel muffler is in great shape. Everything else is.

advise to wash it- it is good, but you'd have to wash it after every time you went out!

 

[Industrial Toys]

That evil brine has also been the result of power outages! The mist gets onto power line equipment and shorts them out with spectacular fires.

I have seen the effect of this nasty sheit on my 08 Sierra. I never believed in undercoating but started four or so years after buying this 08. I wish I would have started from new!

Driver (human) education would go a long way toward reducing the amount of sand and salt required.

 

[Sysop]

Ahem... You're all missing the biggest and best of this. It is ALL just another reason to own a tractor and get more seat time.

Hook to the back of your truck and lift it to a comfortable but not damaging level so you can easily access for cleaning!!!








(naturally this is said as a joke and I in no way advise doing such a thing, being a tractor site I couldn't resist...)

 

[HHR]

Noticed this 2010 F150 SuperCrew (74K miles) has rusty cab corners already. Do you think Ford would fix this under warranty?

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

I'm not as diligent about this as I should be. One of my concerns with using really high pressure is driving salt/ water into areas you shouldn't (connectors, electronics....). Not to imply it's OK for mechanical stuff.

Olde-tyme guys here would use a lawn sprinkler (oscillating bar type), and move it around under the car. That seems like a safer pressure, to me. I guy I know was cleaning up a project car recently, said he found it took HOT water to dissolve the baked on brine crystals.

Rgds, D.

All the electrical connectors I know about on the exterior of a vehicle have water seals.

 

[3930dave]

All the electrical connectors I know about on the exterior of a vehicle have water seals.

Agreed, on modern vehicles.

What I was getting at is they're not spec'd to deal with 3,000+ psi water.

Rgds, D.

 

[Sysop]

Noticed this 2010 F150 SuperCrew (74K miles) has rusty cab corners already. Do you think Ford would fix this under warranty?

They would have last year(ish)...

Ford's finish and corrosion warranty is for 5 years from the "in service date" with unlimited mileage. They can be picky about what is covered, but rust coming up from under the paint such as that they handle without question. I've had two vehicles repaired under this coverage, one I was even second owner.