Vehicle Corrosion Inhibitors Keep Damaging Salt at Bay for Customers’ Cars

by Dave Anderson, Chemical Sales Manager, Howco Inc.

Howco offers two excellent options of vehicle corrosion inhibitors that can each be private-labeled for your car wash:  Salt Shield® and Salt Away.

Rust-related damage costs U.S. drivers an estimated $3 billion annually, so effectively cleaning away salt and protecting against its corrosive properties provide great value to your wash customers. Car-damaging salts aren’t only found in winter-weather road deicers. They’re also a component in dust suppressants used on rural roads, construction sites, vacant lots, agricultural byways, and industrial facilities. And salt-laden air is an ever-present issue for vehicles in coastal areas.

Salt Shield is a low-pH detergent that can be incorporated easily into all types of vehicle wash operations, used at the beginning of the wash as a presoak to ensure salt removal throughout the exterior and also as a final underbody spray for additional protection. Environmentally friendly and reclaim compatible, Salt Shield goes beyond cleaning and neutralizing salt; used regularly, it creates a sacrificial barrier that prevents salt from reaching the vehicle surface and can even remove some surface rust on the vehicle.

Salt Away cleaner is formulated to make sodium soluble on vehicle surfaces so it’s easier to wash away. The product’s primary use as an undercarriage application removes salt from areas not normally exposed to the wash process. Frequent use of Salt Away prevents the build-up of salt on vehicle exteriors, combating corrosion. Safe on any surface, Salt Away is applicable in tunnel and rollover washes and is concentrated with a low pH of 3.5-5.

Here's one excellent example of the efficacy of these products:  a municipal fleet in Minnesota, which of course gets lots of snow and ice and the ensuing salting of roads and bridges, was having to replace its vehicles every three years. Once the municipality began using a corrosion inhibitor on its vehicles, it doubled the life of the fleet to six years.

Please contact your Howco representative for further information about these effective corrosion prevention products.

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