Salt and coal dust. Southern Illinois. Lots of coal mines. Many transport in trucks so roads are full of coal dust. Yuck.

I waxed in late November. What do others do?

 

Your Fit actually looks clean compared to those in the North East. If you're in southern Il, simply wait until next week when the temps get above 35 and hand wash it in your driveway. There's no getting around Winter salt and cinders. Pray for a rainy day to help wash the undercarriage and hand wash whenever you can. I have freeze proof water bibs and a driveway bathed in sun so any sunny day where there is no wind and it's above 35 it's getting washed.

 

I am surprised that you are having a problem with salt in southern Illinois. I have been through there many times when the state of Il has forgotten where they put the two snow plow / salt trucks that cover the southern 2/3rds of the state.

If you have can, figure out who maintains and salts what roads. Around here the county plows but never salts the roads except for the occasional intersection if it is really bad. The state does salt their roads but not more than absolutely necessary. In Illinois within 50 miles of Chicago they apply salt heavily so I stay away from there. So after a snow I plan my route to stay off of state highways for a couple of days and completely out of Illinois.

Other than avoiding it the only choices are to wash the vehicle ASAP. Usually a hand wash is better that going to a car wash.

 

im in a snow belt state that use salt and other icemelt chemicals on the ground too.

from the decades of experience dealing with road salted cars, best way to handle for me is to seal the paint in the fall, keep the cars frozen outside after use through winter, and wash the car frequently when snow/ice begins to melt.

even with a coat of salt, as long as the car is dry, it will not corrode all that much. its when you introduce water to salt it begins to corrode exponentially.

then come spring, do a thorough wash including the engine bay, under carriage with the lower shroud removed.

 

You could drive over a lawn sprinkler in the driveway to wash the road salt off the bottom of the car. Just put it under the car and slowly drive back and forth for a few minutes.

 

^^^--- I was just about to say that. A $2 plastic ring sprinkler from Lowe's, put it under the car and let it blast. Every few minutes, pull the hose a couple feet back, and before long it's clean under there. Won't get to every crack and crevice, but such is one of the drawbacks of the North.

 

More important than the outside of your Fit, which can be easily washed away, is to ensure that you have form fit car mats such as Husky's or WeatherTech's. All that salt can leach into the carpeting and do damage. you can easily remove and dump all the salty water in your car mats.

 

In addition to a lawn sprinkler, I have a 3 foot sprayer nozzle with a swivel head that I got from WM. It was under $10.

 

OP: [I waxed in late November. What do others do? ]

Move to Florida.

 

and get hit by hurricane, salty corrosive air all year long.. AND now snow. no thanks

moving back to Socal = absolutely yes from me..at least it has canyons and beautiful scenery.

 

The more gray hair I get.. the more I get it!!!!

 

[QUOTE=kenchan;moving back to Socal = absolutely yes from me..at least it has canyons and beautiful scenery. [/QUOTE]

Good luck with that. Enjoy your every other month fire raging through those hideous scrub brush canyons followed by beautiful mud slides. I just evacuated last month. Ain't gonna get me. As Billy Joel says: I'm moving out. See you in paradise robs.

 

haha thus your handle burntz sorry to hear about ur experience. GL with your move.

i use to live out there and luved it.

 

Late than never? I took mine down and had it under coated/rust proofed not many people do that anymore, wish they would just make everything out of aluminum that rust to but a lot slower.

 

 

With the help of Pres Trump, you may get more coal mines! Move to progressive California. Then, you may want to trade in your Fit for a Prius to FIT (sic) in. If that is not an option, keep it waxed and wash the salt off with a garden hose anytime you get a chance.

 

WOW! That looks bad. I have never seen such black road grime.
Frequent stops to the car wash is my advice. Which I don't take.
Some car washes will do underbody protection which is like a wax for underneath. Whether that works, I've no idea.

 

I already live in the PRC (Peoples Republic of Chicago), I don't need Kalifornia CCCP!

 

should see how much orange rust in my GK's engine bay. far faster rusting vs my GD and GE's i had. and i wash the engine bay too every spring to rid all salt just as i did before on my previous Fits.

in comparison, my GTI has no visible orange rusting in the engine bay anywhere. honda needs to up the game on corrosion prevention instead of using weak environmental coatings which is insufficient.

 

You're not kidding. Compared to other cars, its amazing how the Fit's engine bay is exposed to the elements. I had my first winter with my Fit and the engine bay looked waaaay dirtier than my 3 year old car.

To the OP, my wife put CPro on before the winter and it helps protect the paint not only against salt but bird poo and swirl marks. I was impressed.

Also, every time I wash, I make sure I spray the under carriage. But it looks like I'll need to mind the engine bay as well.