Road Salt Grains (?) on Model 3 Body

[swotam]

I've had my Model 3 (Black) for a couple of months now and have been making an effort to keep it clean and as dirt-free as possible in the winter by spraying it clean(ish) once a week. We've had some cold, snowy weather over the last week (Polar Vortex ) so lots of salt on the roads, melted snow and dirt everywhere, salt spray droplets kicked up by other cars, the usual Southern Ontario winter mess.

The weather warmed up this weekend so I took the car to the Pay & Spray for a soap and rinse blast (no brush, just spraying) and after the week's worth of grunge was cleaned off I noticed the car has little grains of what appears to be dried road salt stuck to the finish. They aren't stone chips because I can flick them off with a fingernail, but I don't want to potentially scratch the finish by picking away at dozens of tiny flakes of what I assume is road salt.They're quite small, and not super-obvious unless you're looking for them, but they're definitely there on all sides.

They're sticking to the finish well enough that they didn't come off while I was spraying the car, so I'm wondering if anyone knows of a way to possibly dislodge them or soften them up so I can blast them off at the car wash?

Thanks in advance.

 

[swotam]

Never mind, after a day of sitting in the parking lot at the commuter station it dried up and got washed away by rain in the evening. Crazy weather these days...

 

[ewoodrick]

I was about to say that if it was salt, then just letting it sit in water should dissolve it. I guess a good rain did exactly that.

 

[swotam]

Actually, I spoke too soon. The tiny grains of whatever it is are still stuck to the body, mostly on the front. It's been this way all winter. I'm assuming it's road salt since it looks like grains of salt, but it's definitely annoying because they're stuck on well enough that I have to pick them off with my finger. Obviously I'm going to have to find some way of loosening them so I can spray them off...

 

[Ubersoph]

That's the whole idea of good automotive soap. It encapsulates the dirt to avoid or reduce scratches during removal of dirt.

If you don't have a hose I'd suggest something like Optimum No Rinse or similar.