A dirty powder covers your car, truck or SUV graying whatever color is semi-hidden below. This is the bane of living in McHenry in the wintertime. It snows. Plows range from the Southern to Northern and Eastern to Western extremities of the city clearing snow off the pavement. Behind the cab where the driver sits, the truck bed is filled with road salt. A spreader at the back spins out the salt so that it covers the area where people drive.

As the salt melts the snow and ice on the road, it leaves a powder residue. Moisture on the road picks up the residue and, when vehicles drive by, they kick up the residue-filled moisture as a mist. Other cars, trucks and SUVs behind that vehicle drive through the vapor cloud and the moisture coats their cars.

As the moisture dries, it leaves behind a coating of road-salt powder dried to the vehicle’s finish. It’s a good idea to properly remove this powder before its continued presence on your car, truck or SUV damages the finish.

The problem is that the road salt is corrosive. Left on a vehicle’s finish, it will begin to eat its way through your car, truck or SUV’s finish. This won’t happen over night but, little by little, the road salt will win the battle with your vehicle’s paint and make its way down to the metal where rust will begin to form.

Underneath the car, the road salt has a field day with the chassis of your vehicle. This wasn’t so bad when vehicles were made on solid frames. The floorboards might rust out but the frames were made with thick-enough metal that it could take decades for the road salt to win that battle. Now, with unibody frames, the road salt doesn’t have to eat as much metal to win the fight.

The solution to protect the car, truck or SUV finish and undercarriage is to run the vehicle through a carwash regularly during the winter. Make sure you accept the option to clean the chassis. It’s also a good idea to have wax applied to the finish. This creates a protective barrier to hold the effects of the road salt at bay.

McHenry has several carwash options available. It’s a good idea to put them to use during the winter. You’ll go a long towards protecting your car, truck or SUV’s finish.