Buying a car from Northern US

[Nerfherderiam]

I m in the southern states, I’m buying a forester from Pennsylvania and I know they salt the roads up there. Well I don’t want the humidity mixing with the salt in the paint and undercarriage so I’m looking for ways to get it all off. I was thinking iron remover and clay bar for paint and then undercarriage spray and eco all purpose for undercarriage. Any opinions??

[red94chev]

What year is said Forester?  If there's any severe rust already, then the damage is pretty much done.  A good pressure washing and APC foaming/cleaning of the undercarriage never hurts.  Treat the exterior as normal.

[rrmccabe]

Being from Iowa where they use salt and other calcium products there is no substitute for pressure washing.

 

Unfortunately you pretty much need the vehicle on jack stands (at minimum) to do this and you are going to be totally soaked

[Nerfherderiam]

6 hours ago, rrmccabe said:

Being from Iowa where they use salt and other calcium products there is no substitute for pressure washing.

 

Unfortunately you pretty much need the vehicle on jack stands (at minimum) to do this and you are going to be totally soaked

Ya, I was going to get the wheels off, Clay them and clean wheel wells and under carriage very well. I was just looking for a product to pull the salt out of the paint and undercarriage.

[Nerfherderiam]

6 hours ago, red94chev said:

What year is said Forester?  If there's any severe rust already, then the damage is pretty much done.  A good pressure washing and APC foaming/cleaning of the undercarriage never hurts.  Treat the exterior as normal.

‘04.  No sever rust. Just want to prevent it from happening. I’m going to pressure wash for sure but want a product to pull it all out of the paint and undercarriage

 

[red94chev]

I use APC in my foam cannon for pre-wash on cars that I'm detailing.  I think that would be your best bet.  If you have the snub-nose pressure washer handle, that would make it even easier to get under the car.

 

So I would:

Powerwash undercarriage

Foam undercarriage with APC (I use 4oz in the cannon and a little bit of car shampoo might make it cling a better)

Powerwash/foam the car and strip wash

Pull the wheels and deep clean them seperately

And then go ahead and do whatever cleaning/claying/polishing/protecting you think is necessary

Edited June 19, 2018 by red94chev

[rrmccabe]

By the way if you are really concerned about it, there are company's like Eastwood that sell gallons of salt neutralizing chemicals you can put in a spray bottle and liberally spray on your car. It counteracts the corrosive properties of salt. With a weed sprayer or similar you can spray it inside holes/openings you would like not likely be able to totally flush out.

 

 

 

 

[RacerX]

I'll second what rrmccabe said, and add this: Start by just taking the car through one of those touchless car washes that sprays the underside of the vehicle, just as a broad general cleaning to get most of the crud off before you climb under there.

[RacerX]

Oh yeah, and here's a link to the salt neutralizer:

 

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-road-salt-neutralizer-gallon.html