Salt decontamination and undercarrage TLC

[///Marecki]

Inquiry for the DIY detailers. Winter came a bit earlier this year in the northeast and unfortunately found myself having to drive after salt had been dumped. I'd like to clean the ever living fuck out of the wheel wells and undercarrage of the car and am looking for guidance from people who personally do this with their own cars.

Method - do you remove the liners?
Products - do you have a category of product or specific product you use for this?
Future proofing - I've seen things about coatings or perhaps dry ice blasting the undercarrage. Is this past the point of diminishing returns (i.e. snake oil / burning money) or do you find effective?

In a nutshell my car has made it 20 years absolutely spotless in terms of rust/corrosion and I wanna do my best to keep it that way. Cleaning it before a 3-month storage.

[Cronenberged]

AMMO NYC offers an excellent winter-specific car wash soap, along with a well-developed washing method and protective treatments designed to guard against salt damage. If possible, I recommend lifting the vehicle to allow for a more thorough cleaning. I recently did this myself—removing the skid plate and lower supports to perform a deep clean and apply a protective treatment

[Keith_MN]

I can't speak to the wash aspect more than the obvious, but I have some good experience on treatments.

I've been using a Fluid Film on my year-round vehicles for many years. The key of course is to start using it before you need it. I have a 2014 Tacoma that was effectively new when I bought it. Every fall it gets a thorough undercarriage rinse & let it dry thoroughly. Then I spray the whole damn undercarriage with it, making sure any high exposure areas or cavities that road spray would collect have been coated. I use the straw attachment and spray up and around the drain holes of the doors & gate. I expected it to collect over the years and be a thick greasy mess, but it seems to dissipate on it's own for the most part which makes recoating annually worthwhile. I have 110k on my truck, not a spot of rust on the body. It's not a miracle product, there is definitely some corrosion underneath but it has significantly slowed the development of it. Upper midwest is brutal on vehicles.

If you use it or anything like it, be mindful of where you apply it. Overspray will coat the floor and potentially things directly adjacent.

[CarbonBlkM3]

I can't speak to the wash aspect more than the obvious, but I have some good experience on treatments.

I've been using a Fluid Film on my year-round vehicles for many years. The key of course is to start using it before you need it. I have a 2014 Tacoma that was effectively new when I bought it. Every fall it gets a thorough undercarriage rinse & let it dry thoroughly. Then I spray the whole damn undercarriage with it, making sure any high exposure areas or cavities that road spray would collect have been coated. I use the straw attachment and spray up and around the drain holes of the doors & gate. I expected it to collect over the years and be a thick greasy mess, but it seems to dissipate on it's own for the most part which makes recoating annually worthwhile. I have 110k on my truck, not a spot of rust on the body. It's not a miracle product, there is definitely some corrosion underneath but it has significantly slowed the development of it. Upper midwest is brutal on vehicles.

If you use it or anything like it, be mindful of where you apply it. Overspray will coat the floor and potentially things directly adjacent.

Any photos you can share of this product applied to your M3?

[nytgamgingcs]

I use this on my daily. Don't mind animal farm smell after a while.
Makes working on the car a bit messy but it protects very well.

[Keith_MN]

Any photos you can share of this product applied to your M3?

Haven't applied any to the M but that's a good reminder while all the panels are off.
For a vehicle that doesn't see salt, i may apply lightly once every 5 yrs or so. Just a nice corrosion barrier.
It looks like a light weight oil and within a few weeks of application and driving, visually it's no longer noticeable.

I may have some pics when I applied it to my van, tbd...

[Bobs]

I'd hesitate to use Fluid Film and similar products on a low mileage, mostly seasonal driver. If this is a high mileage daily with consistent salt exposure, that would be a different story.

Repeated applications of these products will build up over time, soak in dirt and grime, and will generally make your entire undercarriage an oily mess. The flip side is that they are quite effective at preventing rust.

If you're looking for a little peace of mind on a car that you're mostly able to keep out of the salt, I'd look into Boeshield T9. It dries to a satin finish, does not attract dirt, and is generally more pleasant to work with. It does still require repeated applications. The downside is that it does not provide as strong a protection as the lanolin based products like Fluid Film.

[///Marecki]

I'd hesitate to use Fluid Film and similar products on a low mileage, mostly seasonal driver. If this is a high mileage daily with consistent salt exposure, that would be a different story.

Repeated applications of these products will build up over time, soak in dirt and grime, and will generally make your entire undercarriage an oily mess. The flip side is that they are quite effective at preventing rust.

If you're looking for a little peace of mind on a car that you're mostly able to keep out of the salt, I'd look into Boeshield T9. It dries to a satin finish, does not attract dirt, and is generally more pleasant to work with. It does still require repeated applications. The downside is that it does not provide as strong a protection as the lanolin based products like Fluid Film.

thank you for this. She is seasonal i just got caught out this year with some early weather.