One of the most dangerous substances that can come in contact with your truck is salt. The salt will slowly corrode the parts of your truck and can be harmful to components within your engine too. As you drive your truck in areas that have snow or ice on the roadways, your truck picks up that salt that was put on the road to make it saver for drivers. When the weather slowly begins to warm up, the salt begins eating away at the metal of your truck causing rust to accumulate. Although you can not avoid getting the salt on your truck, here are a few tips for keeping that salt from corroding your truck.
Limit Your Driving
When there is a threat of snow in your area, the trucks will often begin spreading down salt hours in advance of the snow. This will warm the roadways to keep the snow from accumulating. If you can limit driving your truck until after the snow has fallen, you will lessen the likelihood of picking up excessive amounts of salt.
Avoid Keeping Your Truck Warm
When your truck drives on the roadways that contain salt, avoid parking your vehicle inside a warm garage. As your truck begins to warm up, the salt will too and start corroding your truck. When your truck is in a warm garage, you are accelerating the melting process which is bad for the truck. Leave your truck outside in the cold during snowstorms. The salt will not affect your vehicle as long as the temperatures are freezing.
Washing Your Truck
There will be many times during the winter when the weather gets unseasonably warm. Take advantage of any breaks in the cold and wash the undercarriage of your truck. There will be no salt on the roadways during warmer weather, so clean your trucks undercarriage often to remove any salt stuck to your vehicle.
Spring Cleaning
When the winter is over and spring is in the air, give the undercarriage a thorough cleaning as soon as possible. That warm weather will speed up the corrosive ability of any salt still on your truck. Cleaning your truck with a strong power spray will ensure that any salt stuck to the engine, undercarriage, and crevices of the truck are removed. If you can get all that salt off the truck before the spring thaw, you are in a great position to avoid corroding any parts of your vehicle.
Photo credit: izik / Foter.com / CC BY