How do you usually remove road salt from your Integra during the winter? The reason why I’m asking is that I used automatic car washes the past two winters. Now I’m seeing issues with my all of my weather stripping coming loose and I’ve found it has definitely exacerbated my peeling clear coat problem. Perhaps I just need to avoid a certain car wash. On a positive note, I do NOT have any rusting issues, probably because I have used salt-protectant the past few winters.
Chemical Guys makes a no water wash, which is what I will be using if I drive my DA!
I really doubt that’ll take off the salt on the underside the car … :hmm:
I always use the shell car wash during winter or if I have time I’ll do it myself at the shop.
i connect my hose to the sink and just use warm water
i always use a touchless automatic carwash.
A touchless automatic wash that sprays the underside seems to work well. We usually run the new vehicle through one of those after a winter highway trip.
When washing the Integra I used to spend the majority of my time in a wand wash blasting dirt out of the rear wheel well lips, but in the end that proved futile. Basically paying special attention to areas with any sort of ledge to collect dirt and salt. I kind of gave up last winter after finding perforation in the rocker. 
They dump copious amounts of salt/gravel mix on the roads here so avoiding rock chips and salt damage is extremely difficult. Our climate is also quite mild with a lot of freeze/thaw cycles during the winter which makes it even worse. Corrosion rates being dependent on temperature, as I’m sure you know. 
Neil, you need to buy a winter beater and garage your car. I am sure that you have been able to save a few dollars in the almost two decades you have been driving your car!
This.
On a day that’s over 50 degrees I would go to a manual wash so you can clean your car thoroughly. Plus it will save your paint from those spinning rags (or what ever they are call) of death that will ruin your paint by scratching it, and you can take pride in your work.
yeah i trust myself more than those automatic car washes. i usually go to a spot where i can do it myself, or just wash it at home.
:iagree:
First off, Have to second this…
Because this is my bussiness I feel I must correct you on this. the material used(spinning rags) now a day is closed cell foam which as titled has no pores for the dirt to collect. In going on 20 years of washing cars I’ve found that even in situation of poorly maintain wraps, the material does not scratch paint.
Now we are also talking about a “friction style” wash. the paint uses polish to cover blemish’s(scratches) and is then covered by a wax. Because we are using millions of little foam fingers to get in and clean the dirt. over time and can wear down this wax and polish which reveals the paint imperfections like cut/buffing marks and other small scratches. This is more then likely what you are seeing when seeing scratch’s in your paint. having a good professional detailer(or DIY if qualified) buff out the paint and applying a good hand wax. this just has to be done a little more often then you would if you hand wash your car. Which BTW the avg. consumer uses 120 gallons of “fresh” water per wash… a modern day car wash such as ours recylces their wash water and uses substantial less water(Less then 20 gallons) which is beneficial to everyone
Neil. Yes at the age of these vehicles. little trim clips and things of that nature sometime can not hold there bond under the power of a modern wash. we have 10 x 15 hp dryers. you stand in the right spot and it will try to blow your own feet out from under you :giggle: Most carwash have some sort of deselect to lower dryer speeds as well as keeping the wrap material to the side. I wash mines frequently and still dont have any prolems with trim and parts coming off.?.?