Ok. So I have 85 se that has never seen winter, no rust and rust proofed form new to 1999. Since 1999 is has been garage kept. I purchased her this summer with 64k on the dial.

This car is original paint as well.

Here is my problem:

I can not afford to buy a winter beater. So I drive it or park it. If I park it I will have to take the bus. The bus sucks.

Here in Ontario they salt the roads when ever it snows, but in recent years our winters have been very light. It snows then melts and dries up. Basically January and February are the bad months.

If I drive it, I will have it sprayed at Krown, and probably get it sprayed again mid winter just to be sure. I have an extra set of rims and tires to use, as the stock rims are mint.

I know salt is bad, but do you think driving the car this one winter will damage it that much or start any rust?

If I drive it I will also try and stay off the roads if it is really bad.

I will also put a block heater in her to help the cold starts.

What should I do? Bus or Car?

 

Id say as long as the salt thing is managed properly id trow some mud'n'snows on it and go for it. I live in the high alts of norther cal and ive been thinking about doing the same thing.

 

how far do you commute ?

bikes are an easy way out and you can impress all your co-werkers by saying something like this "I just couldn't sit back and watch the earth being destroyed by exhaust gasses....I like to be a part of the solution...not the problem"

 

If you drive it this winter, then I recommend frequent trips to the automatic carwash that washes the underbody.

 

Yea I'm with trochoid, car washes every other week (more often if its really salty) is a must. My 83 which was in pretty decent shape when I got back in high school went through the last 5 winters. I wish I had washed it more, I have a honda for winters now, and am restoring the 83. I've got a ton of time into metal fabrication and sandblasting getting all that rust off of it. After all the love I've put into my two 83's (the other one I restored as well, lots of rust there too) I wouldn't dare subject them to snow/salt again, way to much work to undo the damage. Having said all of that, If your car is super clean as you say, and you keep it clean during the salty months it should survive one winter without much if any long lasting effects. The best thing to do would be to stay off the roads while its actually snowing, wait till its been plowed and had a chance to dry (if you can that is) good luck with it.

 

There IS no decision. It gets parked and that's final.

I've seen with my own eyes what a handfull of winters will do to a pristine car (my friend Eric's first FB) even when "rustproofed"

Don't do it. Think about it, taking the bus may suck but having your car get cancer and be dead in less than five years from one of your rear control arms breaking loose of the unibody sucks more.

I don't have a winter beater, can't afford nor do I have the space for a second car. I take the bus and get rides places. To me it's worth the hassle, and I would just *hate* to see a car that has been babied for so long go to **** because of winter driving. Think of what you'd feel like if you were one of the previous owners who babied the car for years and then found out some idiot bought it and winter drove it until it rusted out. Yeah... not good.

Jon

 

thats what welders, sheet metal and sandblasters are for jon oh and countless hours! who loves body work? *raises hand*

 

I hate body work.. and in some cases no amount of body work will fix rust if it's really bad. The whole control-arms breaking loose thing was what happened to eric's car. It got so bad in some spots that the idler arm was starting to break loose. There wasn't much metal left to weld to, and unless you're an absolute pro with thousands of hours to spare and your own shop, you'll always be able to tell what's original and what has been re-worked.

I'd rather put my time, money, and effort into other things for the car. I mean I save a ton over the winter since a month's buspass costs about as much as one-and-a-third tanks of gas, less if gas prices are high. Plus you save on insurance, you get reimbursed for your plates if you remove them (though I leave it plated). Storage doesn't cost that much if you look around hard enough...

I spend all winter planning, gathering parts, and it just makes spring that much more exciting to look forward to. I've always got a crateful of go-fast goodies to install, and the car comes out of storage in great condition.

Don't do it man, I'd consider it a big mistake to subject it to even one winter.

Jon

Edit: Dude I just noticed you live in Toronto, add PARKING to the list of money-saving things. Heck, even in summer I don't drive to work because parking downtown Ottawa is bloody expensive, I'd imagine TO is just as bad. And I *know* you have a better public transit system than we do. Suck it up, grin and bear it you wuss

 

Wish we can have something like that in the sunny Southern CA. I have been dreaming of a white christmas wherein I have to shovel my way out of the front door and use a giant heat gun to find my RX-7.

 

hehe you laugh, I love winter, the colder the better

Jon - I fully agree with what you are saying, as my first post said neither of my FB's will be seeing winter useage as long as the trusty Accord (which I've also done extensive rust repair on) keeps going, which it will. and I was being half sarcastic in my second post about loving body work, I love the results, but during the process it can get tedious and quite boring.
Bottom line, if you can avoid driving it this winter then by all means do so.

 

I wouldn't, but i got other choices. If you absloutely have to, then i guess you have to. Good luck and hopefully you won't have to use it.

 

Bus. Even if you only drive it on the roads after they clear you get a lot of salt under the car and no amount of washing is going to completely protect it. Rust never sleeps and salt makes it more aggressive.

 

I will try not to drive it this winter. For now I'm going to drive it till December (we don't get much snow till January). Hopefully someting will happen by then and I can buy a beater. Thanks for your input. Maybe the bus aint so bad. I have had 5 FB and this is my baby that I plan to be driving when I'm sixty!

She is getting rust proofed at krown today regardless.

Does anyone have experience with those electronic rust protecting devices?

 

Do everything you can do avoid the winter in your car. I have seen what 1 single winter can do to an rx7...It starts quick..... As for those electronic rust protecting things, i've known 1 person to have it, and well...didnt really notice a difference. But if you do end up driving it, dont park it in a heated garage! The heat will melt the snow and salt and be much worse... Wash it regularly and try to get it sprayed like you said.

What you could also do is before getting it rust proofed if your hardcore, wash it really good underneath, and assuming no rust, buy some cans of black rust paint to give some extra protection and then get it sprayed.

 

Ya the guy's at Krown are power washing the underside and wheel wells. The car will be parked outside if I drive it. We don't want moisture building up between the years of road grime and the paint.

P.S. if anyone is looking for indoor storage in Ontario, the self storage place on hwy 6 by African Lion Safari charges $137 per 4 weeks for a 10 x 15 unit.

 

And the underside is completelty rust free. The more I think about how clean my car is, the bus doesn't sound to bad if it saves my car.

 

I've got found a storage farm near where I live and they charge 250$ from september till august thats what I call a deal.

 

why not just undercoat the under body before every winter, and try to use car ramps

also a bad oil leak protects the underbody from rust, even the exchaust nuts and bolts were cleaner than a hound's tooth after 4 salty new jersey winters

 

I say park it. I'm going to be buying another car to ensure I don't have to drive my 7 through winter.

 

I would love to have an RX that clean and would not even think about driving it in the salt, I flushed the underside once a week, it didnt help, or maybe it just made it take longer. I lived near the beach and having to de-rust it now. These cars rust very easily, thats for sure. They rust in spots that are very hard to repair and not have the rust come back, rear fender lip - Im not sure it can be repaired, sun roof channels, under the weather stripping around the glass hatch, driver's side frame rail in the engine compartment, under the wind sheild wiper cowl - have to remove the cowl to see it and of course the doors which are hard to find good one's not already rusted. Under the doors will be the first to be damaged by rust.. don't do it!

 

Park it! I had an 83 that was parked every winter until I "had" to drive through the last half of a winter. Man the rust came from nowhere, heartbreaking! My 85 SE hardly ever see rain and hasn't see snow for at least 11 years. My 85 GS however is gonna be my winter drift toy.

 

Storage it is! I will put her away in December or sooner if the weather gets bad.
Adam

I don't know what th f*ck I was thinking.

 

I would stop driveing her now and not even take her out when its even lightly snowing. Good luck with everything and post pics of your 7. Just start the 7 every day or go around the block

 

My RX-7 is my winter beater lol. I drove my other car in the winter for 4 years. Just a tiny bit of rust has emerged, but nothing terrible if you wash it enough.

Kev

 

Is yours stock with less than 70k miles and mint condition^. If it is i hope you stop driveing it in the winter^^. Nobody should drive a mint 7 in the snow.