Five Ways to Keep Salt and Snow Off Your Vehicle

Dec 22, 2016

Keep Snow and Salt Off Your Car Matthew, NC When the winter hits, it brings worry to drivers around the country. Driving in the snow is often treacherous, and the salt used to melt ice on the roads is extremely hard on the exterior of your vehicle. Keep your car protected this winter with a few easy steps.

Keep it Clean

Washing your car is always important since dirt and grime from the roads can build up during any season. But during the winter, this preventive step becomes even more important to prevent damage and rust. In many states across the U.S., transportation departments have started using salt brine instead of traditional road salt to melt ice and snow. This is even harder on your car because it spreads across the exterior faster and more aggressively than typical rock salt.

Washing your car at least once a week during the winter helps keep the salt from building up and eating away at your paint. Be sure to spend a little extra for the undercarriage wash, since this is an area of the car where you often see the most salt.

Wax it Often

A coat of wax on the exterior of your car is one of the best ways to protect the paint. As you drive during the winter months, your tires and the tires of other vehicles kick up water, sleet, and slush, which often contain the salt used to melt the snow. But if you’ve recently applied a wax coating, your paint job has a layer of protection that keeps that salt and grime away.

Wax does dissolve over time, and the harsh conditions of winter driving tend to make that happen even faster, so it’s also smart to continue to apply wax throughout the season. Take special care to wax the headlights, since this can keep water and snow from sticking to them for several weeks after the treatment.

Cover Windshield Wiper Blades

When it’s freezing cold outside, you’ll notice that your windshield wiper blades freeze to the glass, making it impossible to clear the windshield. Without being able to see out the front of the car, you put yourself and other drivers at risk. But waiting for them to defrost also takes time, something you may not have when you’re trying to make it to work. Save time by covering your wiper blades with a pair of socks each night to keep them from freezing to the windshield.

Park Facing East

When the sun rises in the morning in the east, you can take advantage of the natural defroster by parking your car facing that direction. If you don’t end up leaving too early, you’ll ideally arrive at your car to find that it’s not as frozen as it would be if parked the opposite direction.

Stay Away from Deep Snowbanks

If possible, try to avoid driving through deep patches of snow or slush, since these tend to expose the undercarriage to more salt. If you have to go through one to get somewhere, take your car for a wash as soon as possible to remove the grime.

Winter driving doesn’t have to wreak havoc on your ride. Adding a few extra steps to your car care to-do list helps protect the exterior of your vehicle throughout the colder months.

Image by Allen Garvin, Licensed via CC BY 2.0