How rusty is Montana?

Ejforan

Ejforan

TJ Enthusiast
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Joined
Jun 5, 2018
Messages
249
Location
Washington state
My tj is the DD and I will be moving out towards Bozeman area in the coming months. For those who have experience in the Montana area, how are the winters in terms of rust and just basic driving? I still have family back in Seattle area and may drive home during the holidays if the passes allow me to.
 
Never lived in Montana, but I did live in Washington for a couple years. I have driven thru Montana several times and the passes in Wyoming and Washington (Snoqualmie Pass) close frequently during the winter months...

https://www.wsdot.com/traffic/passes/snoqualmie/
As for rust.... IF the road workers spread salt on the the roads to help with ice; then your Jeep will be prone to RUST !!!!
 
Montana/Wyoming/Idaho and more of the western states typically use a sand/mag chloride mix. We dont see the rust issues the eastern states have.
 
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As tworley said, the mix we get here isn't bad, not like actual salt. I suspect Mt is the same, nowhere near what the midwest and east have to deal with.
My LJ is local to the Denver area and it's clean underneath.
 
Mich2020 said:
Just wondering, why the difference in how the roads are treated? Isn't snow - snow?
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Snow isn’t the issue, it’s the chemicals used to treat the roads.

A bit of research indicates that the state (Interstate and Highway) uses salt but the cities favor sand.

I’ve seen a few TJs from Montana and they were pretty clean. It’s likely that they simply were not driven regularly in the winter.
 
My lj grew up in Utah and it definitely has more rust than my tj which grew up in California. The areas that are the most prone to rust are the gas tank/rear shock crossmember and frame side spring buckets. If you keep the underside clean and make use of the anti rust products available you should be fine.
 
Mich2020 said:
Just wondering, why the difference in how the roads are treated? Isn't snow - snow?
Click to expand...
Snow varies widely. Moisture content, temperatures, relative humidity all will impact how snow sticks to the ground, melts and re-freezes. As a result, the different regions treat it differently.
 
As far as I am aware of Montana is the same as CO in terms of more sand than salt. I plan to coat the frame with some of that rust protectant stuff that I forget the name of it. I am not sure if that is needed or not but compared to PNW living, it couldn't hurt to protect the frame a little more.
 
en480c4 said:
Snow varies widely. Moisture content, temperatures, relative humidity all will impact how snow sticks to the ground, melts and re-freezes. As a result, the different regions treat it differently.
Click to expand...
In general, Bozeman has a dryer winter than many places though, a February melt supposedly causes more ice.
 
Lived in Helena MT for 30 years. Early on never saw salt use, just sand, course sand, with rocks, death to windshields. In later years, use of deicing solution at intersections mostly and on interstate highways seems to be on the rise. In general, snow plowing was also minimal. On highways yes, but in towns mostly just the "snow routes", other city streets were terrible. Probably would use 4WD more in town than out during the winter. The 1991 F250 I had was rust free until I moved to MN where in 8 years it developed rust in all the usual locations. Vehicles here will turn white with salt accumulation in the winter. So, given that, there is really no comparison. I would not worry much about salt induced rust in MT (yet).
 
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