absolutely! CLEAN is the word. I just put mine up after the county salted the frost the other day. I went out with the family yesterday, melty ice and salt water everywhere on the road and we ran into a beautiful '72 split bumper Z 28 and a '63 beetle out and about. What are they thinkin! I've spent many a spring chasing rot and cleaning mud/salt outta the nooks and crannies.