Living in coastal New England, I naturally worry about the salt on the roads during the winter: how it will make my cars rust, how I can avoid it, get it off, and keep it off.

But the salt in the air: how much does that contribute to a car's rusting? Not a lot I can do about that, unfortunately....

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

From what I understand it's mainly a worry if:

- you live in a damp and/or humid coastal area, or
- you do a lot of driving, especially highway, during mild weather in the winter where there is massive road spray mist (from trucks mostly), or
- you park on the street where the car can get sprayed by passing cars.

The best preventatives:

- put a good coat of wax on the car before the winter
- have the car oil sprayed each year
- keep the car as clean as you can during the winter
- minimize the amount of snow/standing water in the driver's footwell

I live in the Ottawa area, which is road salt hell for cars. Nothing works like oil spraying.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

What's up with oil spraying? One of my cars came from Miami and has a coating of surface rust on all exposed metal.

Every time I work on something I spray near by bolts/ fasteners/ etc. with penetrating oil. I also begin prepping for work a few days ahead by spraying fasteners with oil.

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My occupational hazard bein'
my occupation's just not around...
1980 300SD
1980 300SD

I'm gonna have to drive my rust free cars this winter. I plan on weekly car washes.

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08 R320 CDI current

Past
95 E420
87 300D Turbo 5spd
90 300TE
83 300SD
85 300TD
92 400E
85 190D

What exactly is oil spraying?

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

basically spraying oil, often used motor oil on everything under the car, other then exhuast, and anything rubber. There are specail oils for this also. I have not done it, but thinking about it.

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1977 240D turbo

I think I am going to oil spray this winter. Even with the undercoating this old car is not 100% rust proof.

My friends, who restores old cars, prefers to find oil covered engines and frames. They may not look pretty, but they are always in much better shape.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

I lived in Hawaii 20 years. Salt spray breeze was a way of life. (and car death) We used to use a Kano labs product called Weatherpruf. It helped the best, but mother nature will always win.

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1979 240D Caledonia Green/cream gone
1982 240D stick Ivory/Palimino
1999 E300D White/grey

My car self protects itself by leaking a bit of power steering and trans fluid along the bottom of the car, coats everything, haven't had any rust form in years!

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Spray the bottom with a fine mist of greasy oil then drive over a dusty road. The dust coats/sticks to the bottom and protects it from the elements over the winter.

POR15 any existing surface rust. Read & follow POR directions. Lots of info on their site. POR is also good for places that you are going to repair correctly (when/if you get to it/ you paint the car.)

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

There are a lot of cars which have rusted from the top down, with visible corrosion around the tops of taillight housings, sunroofs, etc., even if they have no northern-style corrosion in the underbody at all. The worst are the cars from Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore; the cars belonging to people who live within a few miles of the Ocean get doused by saltwater from nor'easters or hurricanes several times a year, but any fairly strong onshore wind will carry some salty moisture several miles inland.

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Numen tibi adsit!