The winters can be brutal in Pennsylvania and where there is snow and ice, there’s also often road salt. While road salt helps drivers make it to where they’re going in a safe manner, it’s also damaging to your vehicle. While you don’t want to slip and slide on the road, you also don’t want your vehicle to pay for that luxury later. The auto repair shop in Philadelphia, PA has some advice for you to protect your vehicle from road salt damage during the cold and snowy parts of the year.
There are plenty of small cracks and crevices on any vehicle and road salt is small and can work its way in and inflict damage that you might not even notice at first. Once the particles get in somewhere, they dissolve and their sodium and chloride are released with the warmer temperatures. Here are a few places road salt could get in and start to release damage.
The Vehicle’s Undercarriage
Most people don’t inspect the underside of their vehicle so while you assume it’s dirty, you can’t really see the full impact of road salt. Salt can become imbedded in the structural metal in this area and possible start causing rust. Rusted out undercarriages are very expensive to repair and too much rust in that area could cause you to fail the annual safety inspection.
The Paint
You will likely notice the road salt the most on your vehicle’s paint since that’s something you see every time you approach your car. This is the time of the year when everyone’s vehicle looks to be about the same color. It’s sort of a brownish, grayish, mucky color, right? And salt can weaken protective coatings and begin to corrode the metal beneath it as well. The longer the salt sits on your vehicle, the more inviting it is to damage. Chips and cracks in the pain are especially detrimental.
These are just a few of the areas that salt can harm, so what do you do about it? You can’t avoid the streets completely when salt is present since that’s basically the whole winter. The best move is to wash your vehicle, even the undercarriage, every other week in the winter or right after it snows. Try to do so when the temperatures are above freezing. Keep your car waxed as well to give the paint extra protection.
If you’d like more tips on protecting your car from road salt, talk to the experts at an auto repair shop in Philadelphia, PA. The professionals at Schafer’s Auto Center know vehicles, inside and out. We can help you with oil changes and repairs, but we can also make recommendations to aid you in protecting your vehicle from damage this winter. Call SAR at (215) 755-1270 or visit us in our shop at 1924 S Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19148. We’re here to take care of maintaining your vehicle so you can stay as safe as possible on the road, salt and all.
