Winter Cleaning

[m85476585]

Anyone have a good way to clean salt and winter dirt off the underbody? I know a lawn sprinkler under the car has been mentioned a few times for mud, but water alone doesn't seem to remove the winter grime. Rinsing the body panels has almost no effect, and I need to either use the pressure sprayer at the manual car wash, or wash by hand.

I haven't found a good car wash around here. The manual spray place is $1 a minute, and the local independent car wash is $15 for an exterior wash and underbody spray. There is one gas station I know of with a touchless wash, but it didn't work last time I went.

I don't really care about keeping it looking clean, I just want to keep the frame from corroding, if that's possible. And I want to be able to open/close the rear hatch without turning my hands brown.

 

[RUN-4-LIFE]

I use my power washer in my drive way.. Just got my 4runner haven't had to do it yet, but when I had my Avalanche I did it once or twice a week, just depended on conditions. Power washed underneath and the side of the truck to take the salt off. took about 5 minutes depending on the job you wanted to do, didn't have a crazy strong power washer just a normal one.

 

[navin]

Just stumbled upon this -- if you have a pressure washer, these attachments should do the job to clean the undercarriage.

http://www.amazon.com/16-Undercarri...22038724&sr=1-1&keywords=undercarriage+washer

http://www.amazon.com/Karcher-2-642...&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=undercarriage+washer

 

[Whiplash Willy]

Just stumbled upon this -- if you have a pressure washer, these attachments should do the job to clean the undercarriage.

http://www.amazon.com/16-Undercarri...22038724&sr=1-1&keywords=undercarriage+washer

http://www.amazon.com/Karcher-2-642...&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=undercarriage+washer

I was thinking about getting this attachment for my electric Karcher power washer:

http://www.amazon.com/Karcher-Right-Electric-Pressure-Washers/dp/B003UERXCG/ref=pd_sim_lg_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=034PMVP289VAJPB6Y1KZ

I think that would work well. to get the wheel wells and undercarriage.

If you don't have a power washer, you can get a decent Karcher Electric at Walmart for $109

Karcher K2.360 Pressure Washer - Walmart.com

That is the one I got, and it has worked well for me for the 1.5years I had it. Cheaper electric powerwashers get a bad rap for reliability, but I think it is mostly because people to prime or store them properly.

 

[NoVA_T4R]

As far as removing salt, a very healthy dose of fresh water to dissolve the road salt is probably more important than the pressure of the water stream. Not having a soapy water solution can also be replaced by having access to the garden hose supplied water source.
Using a household garden hose connected to the exterior hose bib and a typical garden hose pistol grip attachment, get low on the pavement and hit as much of the undercarriage from as many angles as possible.
Don't forget to hit the inside of the bumpers and the inside of the fenders, fender flares.
This past spring, I spent close to 30 minutes drenching the undercarriage. When I was done and moved the 4Runner, there was a distinctive outline of the sand and dirt directly above where it was attached to the undercarriage.
Hope this helps.

 

[Mushroom_Cap]

This is what I do. Drive the 4Runner up on some oil change ramps. This gets the front end up nice and high so I can get under the vehicle.

Of course I make sure the rear wheels are blocked and the vehicle is on the ramps squarely and everything looks good before I go under.

Then I just wear some crappy clothes and get under the chassis and spray away all the little mud bits that have caked here and there and make sure everything looks as clean as possible.