[Must read] Clean up after a winter drive!What is important car maintenance for spring?

In the city center, this winter, it flickers several times, and the snow that has fallen has melted, and the warmth is getting warmer day by day. If it's the season for people to change clothes, it's time to maintain the car for spring.

Maintenance before summer and during this time from winter to spring is especially important. In winter, it is easily damaged by snowfall and driving to cold regions, and if left unattended, it will damage the car.

Now that it's getting warmer, let's get rid of the winter drive. Sentence / Hideyuki Takane Photo / Best Car web editorial department, Adobe Stock (Top image = mnimage @ AdobeStock)

■ Let's get rid of winter fatigue by washing and maintaining the car below

The main reason for performing lower maintenance during this period is rust prevention. This is because even in the Tokyo metropolitan area, the number of scenes where snow-melting agents are applied during snowfall is increasing. Especially on bridges and overpasses, the road surface tends to freeze, and it is dangerous to wear studless tires.

Ideally, the undercarriage wash should be done as soon as possible, not only at the end of winter but also after driving on a snowy road. When winter is over, wash it thoroughly and wash away the snow-melting agent.

Moreover, it is not enough to use a high-pressure washer to clean the lower parts. There is also a part of the undercarriage that is coated with grease to smooth the movement of the agitated part. If they are washed away, abnormal noise may be generated while driving.

Therefore, when washing the underside thoroughly, the water pressure of a normal water hose is sufficient instead of high pressure washing. Rather than water pressure, it is more important to rinse thoroughly with running water and to take care of it afterwards.

Most of the genuine mufflers are made of stainless steel these days, but unlike SS304 used for aftermarket sports mufflers, materials such as SS430, which has a low unit price, are used. Therefore, rust is often generated from welded parts.

If the salt content of the snow-melting agent causes the rust to progress further, the muffler will have holes and the exhaust resistance will increase, and the exhaust gas will easily enter the room, so I would like to avoid it.

If the threads of the bolt are rusted, not only will the maintainability deteriorate, but the trade-in price may also be affected.

Recently, I see cars purchased in Honshu, Kanto, etc. in used cars because the locals sprinkle snow-melting agent on the road in snowy areas, so some cars are rusted underneath. Therefore, it is a consideration to reassure people who are considering purchasing.

■ Anti-rust care after cleaning below

↓ I will embed the link of the Amazon sales site of chassis black later, so please leave it as it is below

By the way, after cleaning the lower part, I want to move on to care without setting a date. The point is to coat the surface with oil or paint.

The most common is to spray a soft cushioning paint called chassis black. In the old days, it was obligatory to coat the lower part with this chassis black, and high-performance dampers of Koni and Bilstein were sometimes painted black at the time of vehicle inspection.

You can paint this chassis black, but some people may not like the fact that it looks black and the painted and unpainted parts are clearly separated. In such a case, it is recommended to use the transparent type chassis black.

In terms of rust prevention, some chemical agents are more effective. Knox Doll is a rust preventive that has a proven track record of being used by professional mechanics such as maintenance shops. It is also good to spray a high viscosity lubricant for marine such as CRC3-36.

However, unless the car is very tall, it is difficult to spray paint underneath. To do this, you need a solid garage jack, a rigid rack to support the jacked-up car, a concrete floor that is stable even when jacked up, and the skills to jack up.

Wash the body thoroughly to remove salt. It is also a cause of rust, so be careful not to leave foreign substances such as fallen leaves and sand that easily contain water in the gaps such as the openings of the body.

In the undercarriage, let's also check the wear condition of the disc rotor. Asphalt is scraped by chains when driving on snowy roads in the city, and sometimes snow mixed with pebbles is rolled up.

If pebbles are caught in the disc brake at that time, the disc rotor may have a grooved and uneven reduction like a vinyl record.

This also causes judder due to brake squeal and uneven wear. If you hear strange noises when you apply the brakes, or if the surface of the rotor is reduced differently than before, it is possible that such foreign matter is the cause, so check it.

The next page is: ■ Spring maintenance in the engine room

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