If you have been following us on our journey to ensure you practice the best car Maintenance tips that will save you money, you would have learned by now the importance of washing your car and several car cleaning hacks that will restore your dim headlights. But have you ever thought of your car’s undercarriage when you give your car a good scrub? Never right? I get it, far from sight is far from mind and the mind hardly concerns itself with that which it did not see!
Forgetting to wash a car’s undercarriage or neglecting it totally is a common act among car owners. On weekends, if you move around your neighborhood, you would see car owners cleaning and washing their cars themselves with lots of love and care. Yet, without touching the undercarriage. I wouldn’t blame them. I mean how would you even begin? Going under the car with soap and water! That’s probably the downside of DIY car washing.
However, the importance of washing your car’s undercarriage along with your car’s body can’t be overemphasized. While your car’s undercarriage protects a lot of important parts of your vehicle like the front and rear axles, front mount, exhaust pipes, brake lines, muffler, and transmission. It also has drainage holes that can get restricted or clogged due to dirt, grime, and build-up left behind over time from places the driver may have gone.
Getting your undercarriage cleaned either by you or a professional has a lot of benefits and helps prevent the following problems:
Overheating problems
Your car’s undercarriage system allows it to pass out excess heat to maintain proper temperature within and outside of your vehicle. But when your undercarriage becomes too dirty and gets clogged due to excessive buildups, excess heat won’t be able to pass out and your car can overheat. This would cause the components of your car to work harder which would eventually cause them to wear off and fail before their time.
Rusting / Drainage problems
Road grits, rocks, gravels, and other particles can scratch your car’s undercarriage when driving on rough and untarred bad roads leaving bare metal exposed. This metal is susceptible to rust when it’s exposed to moisture. The moisture can also cause buildups which overtime can clog or restrict the drainage holes in your undercarriage leaving accumulated water in your car during storms and eventually rusting your car’s undercarriage.
Salt corrosion
In some areas, during bad weather, salt is added to the roads and streets to help melt the snow and Ice. While it’s a great idea, with time the salt can deteriorate the metal on your car’s undercarriage. This deterioration would expose your car’s undercarriage to more moisture and eventually rusting if you don’t wash it.
How to clean your car’s undercarriage
DIY undercarriage car washing
If you prefer to wash your car’s undercarriage at home instead of at a car wash, here are a few steps you can take.
Step one: Lift your car
Consider lifting your car with ramps or jack. You can place some strong objects underneath to give it the extra lift and make it stable.
Step Two: Remove the wheels
Unscrew and remove your car wheels to get better access to your car’s undercarriage and check the fuel and brake lines for signs of corrosion as they are more susceptible to rust yet crucial to your car’s operation.
Step three: Use a pressure washer
A pressure washer can reach parts underneath your car your hands cannot. So, investing in a pressure washer is a good idea if you want to wash your car’s undercarriage yourself.
Conclusion
Having your car’s undercarriage washed and cleaned will prolong its life span and give you peace of mind. While you can choose to have a professional help you clean your car and save you time, restoring your car headlights afterwards should be the next line of action. Car collisions damage vehicles faster than a dirty car’s undercarriage and potentially put the driver at risk.
But, by restoring your headlights using a headlight restoration wipe after cleaning, would increase your car’s headlight output and increase your visibility thereby reducing the chances of a collision.
