undercoating

I gotta jump in here with an opinion based on experience. My girlfriend had her new car Ziebarted in 1986, and returned every year for the inspection and maintenance spray. About four years ago we discovered that the floors were gone and half the firewall is paper-thin. For years they had been "maintenance-spraying" the carpet from underneath. After a few non- productive phone calls she threatened to take them to court. They finally settled by paying her back an amount that more-or-less equaled what she had paid them over the years for maintenance.

I'm not really sure that black goo doesn't just provide a barrier that keeps moisture from evaporating. I'd be more inclined to just wash the undercarriage regularly, especially if there is no salt involved.

Well, maybe lucky. Get a bra and/or bug deflector for the front. Oh, and keep a good distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. Otherwise, by the time summer gets around you'll have one ugly front end. They did the same thing where I grew up in Alaska. Having a windshield repair/replacement business is certainly a money maker up there!

Eric

yeah, winter is effectively over now and we made it through without a single chip. most folks are running mud flaps up here and they do a decent job.

Sounds too cheap to be true... Underbody coating is not enough, I have

Dinol handling in WJ. In short program consists of putting anti-corrosion into underbody as well as cavities below window line (for example inside door, between water block plastic and sheet metal). Authorized shops are, in northern europe, under ISO9001 (one can state ISO9001 as 'we have no quality' in paper an fill spec :-). And decent shop shows you the sematics and drawings what materials and where in your vehicle these are put. Drawback is that you have to either suffer for odd aromatic carbon combound odor for a week or keep the vehicle couple of days all doors open in well ventilated garage. Another drawback is price: roughly 1KEUR for anti-corrosion handling in Finland.

This was more detailed anti-corrosion program than the shaky details dealer gave upon WJ purchase for DCX approved handling. And a bit better than they place to northern europe models be default in Graz factory.

Marko

This adds to damage: chips to wheel well paint, underbody zinc, hood, doors etc. It just takes a bit more time and corrosion is there.

Marko

Again: this depends on anti-corrosion handling. Mine did not remove factory warranty (what was left of it), but adds an extra one (this was with converted USA/European DCX warranty).

Self apply: How well you can wash the underbody from dirt and salt alreday there, if you get delivery of the vehicle in winter? If not done properly, you just create ideal enviromnent for corrosion to progress invisible.

Marko

check out Rust Check

its my understanding that its available through Kmart great stuff.

Snow...

When I was in MT last spring I was told that they've started using salt in a few ski resort towns -- because the touristas and moneybaggers (multi-million dollar "log cabins") expect it.

-- "I defer to your plainly more vivid memories of topless women with whips....r" R. H. Draney recalls AFU in the Good Old Days.

i havent heard of that, and would be surprised to find that its true. as a whole, montanans dont care much for people who come in and try to change things. you should read our state constitution sometime, much of it is written specifically to prevent someone coming in and changing things. red lodge is a big ski resort/tourist town and i know they dont use salt. i went pretty much all over montana this past winter (work related) from beartooth pass to the blackfeet reservation, sidney to well into idaho and only recall dirt at gravel. not saying its not possible, just that id be real surprised about it if it is.

I know. I've been sleeping with a Montanian for more than a dozen years. But you would have had no way of knowing that.

Her grandmother was part of the 1972 constitutional convention that wrote that constitution. But you would have had no way of knowing that.

After I posted that I remembered that we were in Whitefish when we were told about "road salt" and heard the lament that their cars were going to start rusting.

Seems like my informant was right, for a fairly wide value of "salt":

1. MDT - Maintenance Program
2. MDT - Maintenance Program FAQs

Magnesium chloride _is_ a salt, but isn't what you or I would think of first as road salt. Here in Connecticut it would be calcium chloride, other places might use sodium chloride, I dunno. MDT claims it is less corrosive than sodium or calcium.

Lovely country, for the most part. The former mining towns tend to be dreary but that's because they're former mines. But before you get too enamored of all that history of rugged individualism check out the law MT enacted (briefly) during WWII making it a crime to criticize the government. Everybody has their little slip-ups.

-- "I defer to your plainly more vivid memories of topless women with whips....r" R. H. Draney recalls AFU in the Good Old Days.

i cant be sure but im betting that may be in the areas of kalispell/missoula maybe. ive seen those trucks spraying liquid on the roads up there. ive never seen any of it anywhere around here, just gravel and dirt. we're currently getting snow and the plows are running, ill ask one of the drivers what all theyre using out here. ill be really surprised if its anything other than dirt and gravel. im leaving a lot of distance between me and the cars in front of me thats for sure. my jeep windshields seem to love rocks and we got em all over during snow.

pretty interesting article, ive wondered what those trucks were. as i read the second article it doesnt appear to be widely used but ill ask and see what feedback i get.