I'll start by saying I hate Ohio and I am in the process of trying to move to a warmer climate.

Well, I have a garage that if it's above freezing, I can wash my MINI. However, it's the underneath of the car that I am concerned about. Those of you that live in a snowy winter climate know what I'm talking about. All Four Letter words: SNOW=SALT=RUST.

I know it could be taken to a car wash, but they can't just do the underside of the car can they? I wouldn't dare let those auto scrubbers/punishers touch my Dobby.

Suggestions?

 

too bad we can't wax the underside of the mini...



or... can't we?

harharharharharharharhar!!!



well, the best solution seems to take a hose to the underside of dobby, or get a pressure washer and go at it... That's if you don't mind making a small flood in your garage.

 

Just have to find a car wash that will spray the underside of the car. I know there is a few around me and I live in MD

 

When we lived in Montreal, our garage had a drain under the center of each bay. Whenever you drove in the winter, you always pressure washed the underside of the car to clean off the salt.

 

I know this sounds a bit weird, and not having my MCS yet I can't say if it will work for sure.

What I've done in the past is I plan ahead to take my car to a spray wash in the area, I also pack in some trash bags a pair of rubber Rhino ramps. Place the ramps, drive up and blow off the under carriage.

Its a bit of work, and I don't live in a high traffic area so I have as much time as I want in the bay.

Something to try.

 

No garage here and living in salty snowy Michigan. I just wash the underside periodically at the do-it-yourself kind of places (get a little soaked in the meantime) and hope for the best...

 

Just move to Hawaii damnit!!!

Theres prolly less salt in the air through the whole year than the salt on the ground in your winters....

Anyways do what every one else says: use a pressure washer, it'll make your mini's underbelly clean. BUT isnt the weather cold and snowy? Who washes a car outside over there? Wont you freeze your mini?

 

How do I? I lease a commuter. Bestest way yet.

Even though I only drive my MCS in the dry, I periodically wash her
underside at home on the driveway when the temps is over 35F and
not too windy. There's still salt dust building up on the arms, etc.
and body panels become greasy (?) from the salt dust.

If it's colder than 35F, but above freezing, what I usually do is rinse
off the car with the hose, try to wash as much salt off the arms
and brakes, wheels, wheelwells, etc. then bring her inside the garage,
close the door, and take 4 large spray bottles and a small sponge
and sponge bath her panel by panel in warm water. One of the
bottles has diluted car shampoo.

After Im done washing and drying, I open the garage again to let
the moisture out, throw some road salt on the driveway so my wife
doesn't fall on her face from the ice I made from the rinse, then
close the garage, run 2 large fans on the car for 3-4 hours.

 

HAHA, in the winter, we have about one day a month that is close to the 40 degree mark, and all the people come out to wash their cars or have them washed. And if they see their shadow, then it's 6 more weeks of winter...

 

 

We have Laser Car Washes here that do not use brushes and nothing touches the car except the water. Most of them spray the bottom of the car which is great for washing off the salt.

 

MINI sponge bath?? Now that's dedication

 

Same here. I'm also trying to avoid driving the MINI as much as I can this Winter except for the occasional nice, salt-free day. I've Zaino'd the Miata and I've found that it cleans up pretty nicely at the do-it-yourself places, but of course the underside is still a worry. I just spray it and hope it gets most of the junk off. I'm going to Zaino the MINI the first chance I get.

IMO, they use much too much salt here. The very worst thing is driving right next to a salt truck with its salt-flinger throwing it directly on the car. When I regularly commuted a long distance I remember trying to spot the salt trucks very far ahead of me and doing my best to adjust speed and lane choice to try to avoid that.

I think I just need to move to where the weather is nice all year 'round and the roads are twisty and pothole-free.

Mark

 

What part of northeast ohio are you from? I'm in Hudson and you will find me washing at any 40 degree chance i get

 

I suspect that this won't make most of you feel particularly better, but it's important to note that cars nowadays have considerably better rust protection built in than was the case 10 or more years ago. This is why 10-year "rust through" warranties are more or less the norm for well-built cars (most things from Korea and certain US-made cars are obvious exceptions). Your MINI will resist rust for the 5 or so years that most of you will own the car. After that...well, again for most of us that will be someone else's problem.

What I'm saying is that sure, it's always a good idea to rinse the salt off if you're able. But unless you just LIKE spraying water on your car in freezing temperatures or you're seriously trying to make it last forever...just leave it alone. Going out and wetting down the salt will only make matters worse unless you really can get every bit of it off. And frankly, I personally have lots better things to do than taking the amount of time it would take to really get all of the salt off on a regular basis.

 

Take an oscillating lawn sprinkler and place it under you MINI. Let it rinse each section for several minutes. What it lacks in pressure it will make up for in volume over time. Will get the undercarriage nice and clean, and you don't get wet trying to spray under the car. Get that nasty salt out of there!

 

I feal sorry for you, being an X-NE-Ohioan. Tucson is nice, its the only city in the USA that gets warmer in the winter.

 

Well it's nice down south also. It may get cold but it may only snow for 1 day or so, and if it does it melts by noon.


Thats why my wife loves it down here Ohio was to cold and snowy.

Art

 

Also living in Ohio I can relate to the salted roads issue. The day I got my '04 MC last spring I drove it home and put it on jack stands, removed the wheels, removed the plastic inner fender liners (easy to do - just a few, but fragile, plastic screw things holding them in place), the spare tire and its mounting bracket, and then sprayed the inderside with 3M rubberized undercoat. It took about 6 cans. This is similar to the much more expensive German Wurth brand undercoat product, but at a much better price. NAPA stores carry it. Don't use the cheap undercoat stuff that you can get elsewhere - it's messier and doesn't dry as nicely. Its kind of a messy job (wear latex gloves and cover your arms and head and eyes), but if you take your time crawling around all under the car you can shoot a good coating all under the fenders, the floorpan, various nooks and crannies while mostly avoiding the suspension pieces, electrical connections, etc.) It is pretty easy to control the spray so that you don't have much overspray - but, again, its under the car and out of sight - but, don't get any on the exterior finish because it takes brake cleaner or some other such harsh solvent to get it off what you don't want it on). The factory undercoating was barely sufficient, IMO, and it did not extend everywhere (e.g., the inner fender areas). Note: either do this on an absolutely new car, or wait until summer to put it up on stands or a lift to do a THOROUGH cleaning and drying of the under body - you don't want stray dirt, salt, water, etc. trapped under the undercoat. I've done this on my last two cars and even after 10 years no major rust and definitely no rust through areas. Yeah, I'm obsessive...but I'm happy with who I am...

 

- what haskindmh said about the sprinkler ... - but if you can find the old fashion rotary kind of sprinkler as seen on Ozie and Harriet you might get better wetting. Run your hose under the car from front to back (or visa-versa) and pull the sprinkler the length of the car. Maybe tie a string to the sprinkler and pull it back for a second pass.

 

Being a premium priced compact car, BMW did more than most automakers do in this area. I had my car on a garage lift and inspected the bottom of the floor pan when I installed my MagnaFlow exhaust system. BMW sprays a unique protective coating (similar to a Land Rover) on the bottom of the Mini floor pan to prevent rust. It should prevent the floor pan from rusting out in the "rustbelt" states. Being born and raised in northern Ohio, I can relate to your rust concerns. I can remember when Plymouth Dusters (we called them "rusters") had cancerous rust holes in the body panels within 3 years! If I lived in the Rustbelt today, I would purchase a "beater" car or truck or used Saturn to drive between November and March. RUST SUCKS!!!

 

Since it snows everyday here for the next 4 months, I just put the MCS away and drive an my old Saab w/snows. I was going to sell it, but no one wants to buy old stick shift car for what is worth. Still perfect for the winter!

Sometimes I think of how much fun it would be to get some snows on the MCS, I just cannot subject it to the salt.

 

Perhaps these are heinous words to hear, but I rarely wash my '02 MCS. I live near Ottawa, Canada and my Mini is parked outside. This makes it impossible to wash when the temp. is below freezing. The point I would like to make is that after two winters the only corrosion I could find under the car is on any black painted suspension bits, exhaust and the threaded holes for the aftermarket skid plate. The rust is very, very superficial and I have not had a drop of rust treatment applied.

So on with my science experiment. Does high speed reduce the risk of corrosion?

 

I live in a very cold climate,Winnipeg,I find a way to wash my car all the time.

 

An increasing number of towns in my area are beginning to use a combination of salt and distillery byproducts to deice roads...

(whole article here)

Of course, with the image of some MINI owners pulling lawn sprinklers under their cars with strings, I'm starting to wonder how many of you might have been drinking the stuff off the roads.