Corrosion made Worse by Underpan?

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Steve
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Hello Guys:

Owner of a Base model 17 Civic with 5600 miles. Car appears to be in great shape, but I live in Michigan where we HEAVILY salt our roads.

This Civic will be the first vehicle I've own with an "underpan" under the engine bay. At first I was like, "Oh cool, maybe more protection from rocks & road debris." I know that the pan is there for aerodynamics, but I have two questions.

1) I would imagine that the underpan will prevent me from effectively washing off salt/snow in the winter time by going through a typical car wash. So, instead, my plan was to use a power washer to gently try and flush out the lower engine area. Anyone have any experience or tips with this?

2) Do I really need to keep the underpan on at all? If all it is doing is helping fuel economy, I could care less, but I don't want to risk uneccesary damage from road debris if I take it off. Again, anyone with any experience on this?

3) Any good tips on keeping rust off the underside of the engine area/rest of the car for someone like me that lives in the northern states? I plan on taking my car to a place called Ziebart where they will apply a rust inhibitor to the underside of the vehicle, but my understanding is that it doesn't cover any areas near the engine area.

4) How have people's Civic's traditionally held up to rust in the salted northern states? I've had plenty of underbody rust on all of my previous cars, but never so bad that after 10 years it truly caused any mechanical failures.

Thanks again to everyone for their experience and wisdom. :)
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Benster

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Ben
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spent 1 winter so far and had the car rust proofed when I bought it. The salt doesn't really go above the under tray. If you take the time to clean underneath a few times per winter it it'll be fine. Idk if you guys have Crown rust proofing in the states but it's a pretty good anti rust treatment, so is the specific fluid film product. you can buy a kit from them to spray your car yourself, barely drips even when applying.
 


 


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