I installed a set of KSports in the spring and kind of forgot about them. Out of sight, out of mind I guess.

On the local board it was suggested that a guy pass on installing them on his DD because they have issues dealing with winter here in MN. They said the salt can make it horrible to adjust ride heights and such later on due to corrosion.

Any here have thoughts or experiences with this? I'm a little worried but not really as I doubt I'll be changing anything in the foreseeable future as I already corner weighted the car. If it's going to cause irreversable damage I might be a little more proactive though.

Thanks.

Worth getting under there, cleaning up all the salt and coating them with BoeShield T9 or something similar every few weeks -- you might be SOL if you went all last winter without keeping them clean though.

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I haven't driven on them yet with salt on the roads. What's this BoeShield stuff? A spray or something?

I would say just take care of them like you would the rest of your car when driving in the winter, i.e. DIY spray booths and a good rinsing like once a week ideally.

Take them off. I have some tein HA's on another car and they look terrible after a few winters. They didn't take to the salt well at all. Everything is rusted and corroded, which really is affecting the adjusting and what-not.

Take them off. They also have problem with the seals blowing out in the cold.

I don't understand when people say weekly rinsings and cleaning in the winter. Around here it can be in the single digits for a couple weeks at a time, making any kind of washing extremely difficult. Maybe the salt doesn't corrode when everything is frozen, but I've always found it a bit of a bitch to find the time to keep everything nice and clean during the winter. Even harder to get into hard to reach areas under the car and in the wheelwells. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

Yea they aren't spose to be under like 28 degrees or something like that I forget the exact number.

My k-sports are going strong after a full beating last winter and I plan on running them this winter as well. To each their own!

Does Missouri use salt? Granted I got these things for a steal so there's not much on the line.

And washing your car in the winter does suck. I never washed my Golf last year during the winter. It sounds dumb but it's not worse than being locked out of or locked in your car because the doors have frozen shut.

Don't use them in the winter if possible. I ran my Hotbits for 2 winters and when I pulled them off the car last they were horribly discolored and lots of corrosion. It was impossible to adjust the spring perches with the spanner wrenches, I ended up putting 6ft cheater extensions on two monkey wrenches just to break the nuts loose. Big time hassle. I spose you could take them off every month or something to be cleaned in a bath tub, but what a pain in the ass that would be.

Quoting turbowop:
I don't understand when people say weekly rinsings and cleaning in the winter. Around here it can be in the single digits for a couple weeks at a time, making any kind of washing extremely difficult. Maybe the salt doesn't corrode when everything is frozen, but I've always found it a bit of a bitch to find the time to keep everything nice and clean during the winter. Even harder to get into hard to reach areas under the car and in the wheelwells. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif



Have you ever used a DIY spray booth? They are such high pressure that they blast any area under the car either directly or at least with "over spray."

Do the daily driver mod.

Quoting SmoothCustomer:


Have you ever used a DIY spray booth? They are such high pressure that they blast any area under the car either directly or at least with "over spray."



All I use is DIY pressure washer booths. You still can't get to everything unless you jack up the car or get down on your hands and knees to spray down the underneath and hit all the nooks and crannies that the salt likes to hide in and start corrosion. I don't get down on my hand and knees at the local carwash in the summer, let alone the winter. When I do underbody and engine cleanings on 1051, I use my SnapOn pressure washer at home in the driveway. That way I can spray the motor down while it's still cold and I can put the car up on jackstands. Like so:




The Teins on 1051 look almost as good as the day I bought them, but that car doesn't get driven in the snow. We'll see how the AGX/GC combo on 503 fares this winter. They haven't used salt in the PNW for decades, but last year I remember seeing a white film all over the car after the drive home from a day of skiing. Is that indicative of salt use?

And yeah, I'll +1 the daily driver mod if you're wanting to keep the car nice and corrosion free for years to come.

Quoting CarRacer:
Does Missouri use salt? Granted I got these things for a steal so there's not much on the line.

And washing your car in the winter does suck. I never washed my Golf last year during the winter. It sounds dumb but it's not worse than being locked out of or locked in your car because the doors have frozen shut.



Yup, tons of it....whether it's going to snow or not, f***ing sucks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Yeah, I don't see how it's possible to get where I need to using a DIY booth. I'll probably just bite the bullet this winter. I'll have to source a winter setup next year. As far as corrosion goes, this chassis is already a lost cause.

Thanks for all of the much appreciated input.

Quoting turbowop:
They haven't used salt in the PNW for decades, but last year I remember seeing a white film all over the car after the drive home from a day of skiing. Is that indicative of salt use?

And yeah, I'll +1 the daily driver mod if you're wanting to keep the car nice and corrosion free for years to come.



What were they using, nothing or sand? If it's salt it feels real gritty and is usually especially bad where you would expect it to be (around the backs of the wheel wells and on the bottom in general, and on the front bumper if you drive behind cars a lot). Sand most not work well because it does cause corrosion, and it can't be much more expensive than salt yet no place really uses it. It must be because the salt is supposed to melt snow and ice and prevent it from forming, while sand just provides more traction.

They've always used sand around here. That's why there's never any corrosion on PNW cars. Maybe the white film on my car last year was from some of the new ice melter they've been trying out lately. I just assumed salt, but I've never lived in an area where it's used so I guess I don't really know.

Once they start spreading the sand around though, 1051 is in the garage until the street sweepers come out in spring and clean up the remnants, wet roads or not. That sh*t peppers the ever-living sh*t out of the front of cars all winter.

I know MN DOT has started transition to a larger amount of sand in their mix of sand and salt. I think I remember reading they found it's both cheaper and more effective to use a larger percentage of sand. Hopefully they kick the use of salt entirely, North Dakota makes out fine and they don't use it afaik.

My car is not in pristine condition like 1051 and I will have some BG mixed up pretty soon anyways, so I would rather respray a front bumper every so often than deal with rust.