Winter is coming

[Mark_T]

Have any of you guys had a good look at the underside of a car that is winter-driven in a northern climate on salted roads for several years? It gets pretty bad. Everything corrodes, the bolts seize to the point where you need a torch and a sawzall to get them off, the park brake seizes up, salt and gravel gets in to all the little crevices and starts the rusting process on the surrounding metal, and the plastic bits snap like potato chips in the cold. Add to that the increased wear of starting an engine (with no block heater) at those temperatures and basically you are cutting the life of your car in half. I sure hope you don't leave your 160 thermostat in for the winter and if you do, good luck getting enough heat to defrost the windshield.

There is a good reason for driving a "beater" in the winter and I cannot understand why anyone would subject one of these amazing cars to that kind of sht and abuse. I see people posting pics of their cars buried in snowbanks like it's something to be proud of! What is the matter with these people? Is it that they don't understand what they are doing to the car, or do they just have such little respect and appreciation for it that they simply don't care?

But hey - it's your car, you paid for it, so if you want to destroy it that's is your privilege. And the less of them there are, the more mine is worth.

[ep3_lol]

Originally Posted by Mark_T

Have any of you guys had a good look at the underside of a car that is winter-driven in a northern climate on salted roads for several years? It gets pretty bad. Everything corrodes, the bolts seize to the point where you need a torch and a sawzall to get them off, the park brake seizes up, salt and gravel gets in to all the little crevices and starts the rusting process on the surrounding metal, and the plastic bits snap like potato chips in the cold. Add to that the increased wear of starting an engine (with no block heater) at those temperatures and basically you are cutting the life of your car in half. I sure hope you don't leave your 160 thermostat in for the winter and if you do, good luck getting enough heat to defrost the windshield.

There is a good reason for driving a "beater" in the winter and I cannot understand why anyone would subject one of these amazing cars to that kind of sht and abuse. I see people posting pics of their cars buried in snowbanks like it's something to be proud of! What is the matter with these people? Is it that they don't understand what they are doing to the car, or do they just have such little respect and appreciation for it that they simply don't care?

But hey - it's your car, you paid for it, so if you want to destroy it that's is your privilege. And the less of them there are, the more mine is worth.

I'd never drive it daily in those conditions, but occasional trips in the snow and salt are not really going to matter.

[husker boxster]

I put Blizzaks on the Cayman and drive it in the winter. Gets around great. I'm old enough now that if the weather is really bad, there's no where that I have to be. I have the option to work from home on snowy days but generally don't unless there's more than 4" of snow. I like to rub it in that I got to work and my wimpy co-workers didn't with their SUVs. But only if it's safe - no need to wreck my car proving a point.

[Xpit77]

Yes Mark if I lived in " Winterpeg " my 986 would be snug as a bug in my garage. But here in Southern ON winter is a different thing.Snow, thaw,snow thaw repeat. Plowed city streets only. I just retired so I don`t need to be anywhere asap. Your post reads like you haven`t shook off last winter. Man you guy`s had a tough one !

[Giller]

Originally Posted by Xpit77

Yes Mark if I lived in " Winterpeg " my 986 would be snug as a bug in my garage. But here in Southern ON winter is a different thing.Snow, thaw,snow thaw repeat. Plowed city streets only. I just retired so I don`t need to be anywhere asap. Your post reads like you haven`t shook off last winter. Man you guy`s had a tough one !

I'd be more worried driving it it SWO than Manitoba. Much more salt in SWO - and the thaw is when the salty slush gets splashed up into the underneath. Manitoba gets way colder and because of this, use way less salt than Ontario. Having lived in both provinces for a number of years, I would say there are more rust buckets here than Manitoba.