As ice melts, salt residue can badly damage your car
AUGUSTA, Ga. - After government agencies spent days brining and salting roads, much of the ice from the latest round of winter weather has melted away.
While that treatment is good for driver safety, it’s not good for your car long-term.
Georgia Department of Transportation crews pretreated roads ahead of the snowstorm with brine to help keep ice from forming. Then they treated it again once the ice was on the roads.
Crews also applied rock salt to some high-priority areas.
That could be a problem for your car, though.
Salt can cause your clearcoat to discolor and peel, and it will corrode and rust metal.
This can drive down a car’s resale value and drastically shorten its lifespan.
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.Experts recommend washing your car within a week of a winter storm.
It’s also important to take care of what you don’t see. Although a car’s shine is what most drivers think about, keeping the undercarriage clean can help a car last longer.
“When it gets on your vehicle, it needs to be taken off as quickly as possible,” said Trexler Curtis, manager of an Atlanta car wash.
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