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To Get the Salt Out to Protect Truck from Damaging Rust |
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Washing the outside of your truck, you couldn't do everything to eliminate the damaging residue that accumulates during winter driving. You have to do rust repair or protection from it, in the correct way. You can rest assured that your truck will be repaired to a condition that you'll be satisfied with. If you live where it snows, follow the following steps to get the salt out and help protect your auto from rust and other types of winter related damage. - Wash the exterior of your truck, taking care to thoroughly clean cracks and crevices, wheel wells, and the truck's undercarriage.
- Use matching touch-up paint to repair chips and scratches if necessary.
- Clean the engine compartment after covering all electrical components with plastic.
- Apply a coat of cleaning wax, a type of wax that contains a mild abrasive that will remove the film left by salt and other substances.
- Check tires for cuts and abrasions. Replace tires if necessary.
- Lube all suspension fittings. Lube hood hinges, door hinges, locks, and latches. Check your owner's manual for lubricant recommendations.
- Inspect your brakes to make sure there's plenty of material on brake pads and shoes. Look for components that are rusted or stuck due to salt corrosion.
- Inspect your windshield wiper blades, since ice and snow are hard on them.
- Thoroughly vacuum the truck's interior. Use carpet shampoo to remove ground-in salt and dirt. Scrub the top and bottoms of floor mats and air-dry.
You have to remember the following Tips - Don't touch the truck with a wash mitt until you've used a hose to remove visible grit.
- If your truck has wheel covers, remove them before washing to make it easier to clean the wheels and the back side of covers.
- If you use Rain-X or a similar product on your windshield, apply a fresh coat when you're finished.
- If you have a drop-in bedliner, remove it before you wash the truck. Clean the liner thoroughly before placing it back in the truck bed.
- A "touchless" type of car wash, a wash that does not touch the auto with brushes, is a good alternative if you don't have a place to wash the truck by hand. Be sure to add the options to clean the wheels and undercarriage, since that's where lots of salt residue builds up.
- You Need favorite car wash soap, cleaning wax, wash mitt, bucket/hose, window cleaner, to protect from rust.
Rust Repair 
After media blasting to remove the rust and priming to seal the bare metal; we then started to cut the bad areas out. More of the inner structure had rust damage that we later removed and repaired; with the use of aftermarket and custom body panels, this cab was fixed to be good as new. Rust can develop where metal is layered like on this fender. We cut the rusted area out; cleaned up the inner panel; welded in the new patch panel, ground down the welds, and shot primer on it to complete the rust repair. |