Road salt removal product.

[jabberwoki]

So what have you guys come up with?
They've just started salting roads over here now and I bloody hate it.
I do rinse my car down every day but I want to make a foam cannon attachment for my pressure washer and was wondering what to use. Prefer to make my own concoction if poss.

[bonneyman]

Shoot, never thought about this before.

Let me dig thru my books on old wives tails and old school fixes and see if there's something there.

[jabberwoki]

Cool

[bonneyman]

OK, went thru my books and found no entries for road salt removal ( or neutralization) from car underbodies and/or painted surfaces. As sodium chloride is an end product for so many chemical reactions it would be hard to break it down. It's such a stable chemical.

I know of removing salt stains from leather shoes (too many Youtube videos) and outdoor boots uses a wipe down with vinegar and (for leather) a deep wash with a mild soap and conditioner. But digging deeper into that I discovered that a by-products of salt and vinegar under certain conditions produces hydrochloric acid. I wouldn't want that residue on my car! Then again it must be a rare occurance, as salt and vinegar goes into salad dressing, so....

I then found a commercial cleaner called Neutro-wash, and looked at it's SDS. Basically sulfamic acid, sodium hydroxide, and isopropyl alcohol.  The acid is a relatively safe commercial descaler and cleaner, and the lye is probably to neutralize any excess acidic residue. All commercially available bulk chemicals, so - if you didn't want to buy the name brand product - you could probably make it yourself and use it on the car.
https://rhomar.com/products/neutro-wash/

There's this detailing specialist on the Tube (The Detail Geek) that uses this wheeled multi-head sprayer to thoroughly clean the underside on the car, which I thought was a great idea.
https://www.amazon.com/Mingle-Pressure-Washer-Undercarriage-Cleaner/dp/B07K22DGRY

And he also has his own line of detail products, he's gotta have one for road salt removal.
https://detailgeekautocare.com/collections/all

That's all I've got, mate!

[jabberwoki]

Ta Cobber thats bril.

[fatfillup]

Salt neutralizers will be acid based for sure.  I sell 2, one is hydrofluoric based and works well but is a nasty acid.

The other is a neutral product much like George described and also works.

Note, you issue is not the outside of the car or truck, but the underneath as that is where the most damage will occur.  The salt works its way into nooks and crannys and can be hard to remove, that's why getting good coverage underneath is crucial.

Don't worry if the temps are below freezing as salt isn't doing much at that point.  You can wait till it warms up a bit

Walrus swears by Fluid Film as a pretreatment.  Prevents the salt from getting on the chassis in the first place but likely needs to be reapplied during the season