Don’t let SC sea air ruin your ride. Here’s how to protect your golf cart, car or bicycle from rust

Eleanor Nash

Salty air smells great, but it can be disastrous for your vehicles. Whether you own a car, golf cart or bike, your vehicles are especially vulnerable to rusting in coastal areas.

Salt in the air and water eats away at metal and exposed metal is especially vulnerable. Driving through puddles in low lying coastal areas can ruin your vehicle, because the salt water corrodes it.

Here is how you can protect your vehicles from corrosion in the beach air.

Cars

  • Regular maintenance, especially going to an automatic car wash and getting your car hand waxed, is the best way to prevent rust from sea air, said Erica Evans, office manager at Evans Family Paint and Body on Socastee Boulevard near Myrtle Beach.

  • Northerners might already be prepared. Salt on snowy roads is worse for cars than salt in the coastal air, noted Evans.

  • Consider getting the bottom of your car undercoated, which can help protect the vulnerable exposed metal from rust.

  • Park with your car windows closed. This helps to keep salt from damaging metal dashboard components.

Golf carts

  • The material a golf cart is made from determines how likely it is to rust, said Steve Sutley, general manager at Best Golf Carts in Myrtle Beach. He advised that brands with steel frames, like E-Z-GO and Yamaha, are more likely to have problems with rust, while those with aluminum chassis, like Club Car, are less likely to have issues.

  • Washing your golf cart, especially the bottom, with soap and putting WD-40 on steel undercarriage components can protect steel parts from corrosion.

Bicycles

  • Storing your bike inside is the most important thing you can do to protect it from coastal air, said Shelby Keith, salesperson at Beach Bike Shop. The Myrtle Beach store sees customers every day with rust on their bicycles.

  • “Riding your bike on the beach is like the fastest way to destroy a bike,” Keith said. If you do ride on the beach, hose off the bike and lubricate the chain.

  • The frames of aluminum bikes are unlikely to rust, but the chain, brakes and pedal mechanisms can. “Even with an aluminum bike, you’ll still get the rust, just not on the frame,” Keith said.

Advertisement