We're looking to sell our Safari Trek and purchase an Airstream trailer, and I'm interested in learning about the effects of road salt on the aluminum skin. We live in Illinois, and to get into or out of this state in the winter you have to endure a lot of salt on the road.
When my polished aluminum frame bike rode on the back of our Trek, the salt spray caused spots to develop that I had to remove with 0000 steel wool, and then re-polish.
So are there specific preventative measures that owners take, or just stop and rinse the salt off as soon as you reach a warmer climate?
Salt will do nasty things to uncoated aluminum and needs to be removed as soon as possible.
Trailers since 1965 or so have a clear coating on them to protect the aluminum, however the underbelly etc does not have this protection so hosing off after towing through winter weather is advisable. Pretty much the same thing as taking care of your car.
My uncoated but polished 61 picked up some pitting when we spent a week camped on the beach at Padre Island.
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Rick Davis 1602 K8DOC
61 tradewind, plus a few others
13 Ram 2500 TD
99 Dodge TD 577K miles
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