Wash it

[Scooby074]

Brine is BAD. Just started it here with much fanfare. Wait for 5 years till every body's car is 2x as rusted as usual and see what fanfare there is then! Salt on the roads, brine, salt in the air from the ocean, we are a-salted from all sides here in NS.

Best answer is annual rust proofing (oiling). Krown is #1 in my books. Buy it in 5gal pails. Undercar wash at the gas station car wash wont hurt either. Rust check is good too.

Every time this topic comes up, I think of this commercial. I cant drive past any yard with junk in it and not make a "financial empire" comment:laughing:. Should be real familiar to my fellow Canadians on here.

 

[peterc38]

I

DETROIT (AP) If you live where salt is used to clear the roads of snow and ice, U.S. safety regulators have a message for you: Wash the underside of your car.

Also, this just in, a recent exhaustive NTSB investigation has determined that the best shape for a wheel is still round.

 

[leveled]

I like the idea of the sprinkler under the car or truck to clean it off. My truck has a ladder rack so I can not take it through a car was to do the underside.

I am a true believer in fluid film, I spray my own vehicles in my shop on a lift. If they need an oil change or service they get washed first then serviced and then sprayed, most of the time its just touch ups.

 

[flusher]

Looks to me like a business opportunity for drive through car wash owners. Install a drive-on vehicle lift in one of the bays so customers could power wash the salt off the bottom of their vehicle.

BendPak HD-9 Car Lift: bigboysgaragetoys.com

Probably not a good idea for DIY car wash owners because of liability issues and insurance cost.

 

[Oaktree]

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.

I don't know what time frame you're referencing here, but I've had my license since 1966, and I don't remember a time when salt wasn't used on roads. Maybe things were different where you live.
The town I live in doesn't seem to (only sand), but state-maintained highways are a different story.

I've heard they're using brine in southern N.H. now, but I haven't seen any evidence of it here in the north country.

 

[mikegt4]

They "pre-treat" with brine here at the first report of a frost. If they don't the citizens scream that they city,county,state isn't doing enough to clear the snow (and we already paid enough tax to do the job). If the brine doesn't melt it fast enough then they try to cover the snow with salt.

My solution (other than move) is a dedicated winter beater. All other vehicles don't go on winter roads.

 

[TomNOh]

Here's a clue, for those of you without one....brine is just salt dissolved in water....the same as the salty water you drive through after granular salt melts the snow/ice.

 

[3930dave]

Here's a clue, for those of you without one....brine is just salt dissolved in water....the same as the salty water you drive through after granular salt melts the snow/ice.

You many shortly prove otherwise, but for the moment, I'll assume you're not trolling.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_%28chemistry%29

Salts exist in many different colors, for example:

yellow (sodium chromate)
orange (potassium dichromate)
red (cobalt nitrate)
mauve (cobalt chloride hexahydrate)
blue (copper sulfate pentahydrate, ferric hexacyanoferrate)
purple (potassium permanganate)
green (nickel chloride hexahydrate)
colorless (sodium chloride, magnesium sulfate heptahydrate)洋ay appear white when powdered or in small pieces

Magnesium chloride is banned in certain jurisdictions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brine#De-icing

Note 1) There are many types of salt compounds.

Note 2) Sarcasm works better, if you have your facts straight first.

Note 3) Outside of the Friendly Politics forum, kicking things off by insulting people here just earns you a click onto folk's Ignore List.

Rgds, D.

 

[TomNOh]

You're right, there are MANY types of salt compounds, only a few of which are used for highway snow & ice removal. A saturated solution of sodium chloride in water is commonly referred to as "brine" in the highway snow removal business, which I am actively involved in. The liquid we, or "they" are applying to the roads does NO MORE damage to your vehicle than the granular stuff does once it melts the snow/ice & then becomes dissolved in the resulting water, becoming....wait for it....BRINE, be it sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, whatever. The real problem is the steel that cars/trucks are being made from today is NOT the stuff your 1965 Galaxie was made of. (I have also been actively involved in the steel industry here in the U.S.) My facts are just fine, ignore me if you like, I won't be heartbroken.

 

[3930dave]

Glad to see you weren't just trolling Tom. Welcome to TBN :welcome:; there are lots of good people, information, and discussions to be had here.

Older vehicles had thick steel, for a few reasons. Fast forward to today, and thinner high strength body panels with better rust protection are more common. But, we are now seeing corrosion rates getting close to what was going on in the early 70's, around these parts.

The juice going on the roads in OH may be different than here. Aside from base salt, I won't be surprised if there are different trace chemicals used, to tune the application and spreading properties.

How our brine adheres to and collects on areas of vehicles is different. We are seeing failure rates and modes that were just not present, 5 years ago. Outside of the drag strip, relatively new CV shafts weren't getting snapped on normal street vehicles, until recently. Brake and fuel line failures are way up.

Guys I know who have been doing commercial tire work for 30+ years have now started wearing gloves, as they found the residue on winter wheels in the last few years has been eating their skin. These are tough guys who don't slow down or blink for much of anything, normally - it's not cause they are worried about their manicure .

You are lucky, if your brine is no worse than past exposure.

Rgds, D.

 

[TomNOh]

The kind of effects you're talking about are most likely caused by a calcium chloride solution. Here in Ohio, we reserve that for temperatures below about 10 deg F. Regular sodium chloride brine freezes around that temperature, depending on concentration.

 

[3930dave]

Having lots of car plants here, we are likely applying CaCl2 up to 10C !

Don't lick your car.

Calcium chloride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Calcium chloride can act as an irritant by desiccating moist skin. Solid calcium chloride dissolves exothermically, and burns can result in the mouth and esophagus if it is ingested. Ingestion of concentrated solutions or solid products may cause gastrointestinal irritation or ulceration.[24]

Other possible side effects of taking calcium chloride include:

A chalky taste in the mouth
Hot flashes
Lowered blood pressure
Loss of appetite
Feeling sick (nausea)
Being sick (vomiting)
Constipation
Stomach pain
Feeling weak
Mental disturbances
Extreme thirst
Passing a large amount of urine
Bone pain
Kidney stones
Irregular heart beat
Coma

Any of these may be a sign of overly high calcium blood levels (hypercalcemia).[25]

Calcium chloride salts also tend to contain a small amount of metals, especially aluminium. Over time these metals can accumulate in the body and have a toxic effect.

Good stuff, eh what !

Rgds, D.

 

[aczlan]

Copper Nickel line:
Cupro Nickel Brake Lines On FMSI
Pricey, but highly corrosion resistant. Softer material, so I'm told it "feels" a bit different tightening fittings down.
It's what I'll be using on my next repair.
Rgds, D.

Standard on Volvos since the 1980s...

Aaron Z

 

[HHR]

1997 F150 front left brake line finally rusted through last spring. couldn't get the fitting off the junction due to rust so I had to replace everything back to the master cylinder and under the engine.

 

[3930dave]

Standard on Volvos since the 1980s...

Aaron Z

I still have the original brake lines on my 89. I've found I have to watch though, the latest road-juice here is beginning to show a small amount of surface activity on those lines, here and there. I always have cans of Rust Check around, for touch-ups on those spots.

The metallurgy was well understood a long time ago. Any graduate engineer, or even an on the ball HS student, should be able to spec what is needed.

Many car companies still choose to put the lower cost steel lines on. Consumer ignorance is the main reason this practice persists in safety systems like braking and fuel handling.

It's cheaper that way.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

1997 F150 front left brake line finally rusted through last spring. couldn't get the fitting off the junction due to rust so I had to replace everything back to the master cylinder and under the engine.

PITA repair.

That said, that's decent life-span for up in salt country.

A friend did his lines on his Yukon XL about 2 winters back. Extra fun on that one, because the ABS block is halfway down the truck - you end up using a pile of extra line, vs. having the ABS block under the hood. To pay shop time for all that work is enough to convince many folks to just scrap the truck.

See how this game works ?

Rgds, D.

 

[ozob2k]

Stainless steel brake lines are available preformed on the internet. I replace all the oem lines on my trucks with the stainless when I have the first problem. As for fittings cut the line with dikes, soak with penetrate and use a small impact to take them off. The shock will usually free a frozen barrel nut where a wrench would strip it.

 

[94BULLITT]

I've replaced brake lines on several GM trucks. Usually the one on the rear axle has a black coating and is in decent shape. The rest are usually in very bad shape. The replacement lines from the dealer all have the black coating on them. Guess what line is not included in the kit, the one on the rear axle. I did brake lines on an 2004 Silverado when the truck was 4 years old. I used the Napa Armor coated brake lines and they still look good. The fuels lines on these trucks are also prone to rusting.