Riding a FD in Canadian winter
 

Hi guys,

I really want to ride my FD. I live in Canada. About -15 Celsius until sunday. Max temperature is -11 Celsius until sunday.

I never saw any rust on my car (it's a JDM).

I'm not scared of the tires. I'm scared for the rust.

Would you ride with it? I'd like to ride it until sunday. Sunday morning, I'll take a big hour to wash it everywhere.

What do you think guys?

Where abouts do you live? I drive mine around and I live on vancouver island. I know people who drove their rx7 in edmonton. As long as your coolent and oil is good it should be fine. A good bath after always helps if you have a garage that really helps

Yes of course, I have a great garage. I live in Eastern Quebec. I've read plenty of threads regarding winter/FD, but I don't want to talk about handling/tires. Only rust.

I'm happy to know that some of the western Canada people drive their FD in winter. But how's the weather?

The weather right now is good and warm haha but rain rain rain..I hacent done this on my rx yet but on my truck I painted the undercarage with some chassis black paint and it works good. No rust or anything. Ill be doing that to my rx soon. But I'd say as long as your car gets a good bath from top to bottom then it should be fine. Its when the road crud and salts sit it starts to rust. I'm sure your aware of that haha

Haha yes exactly! Is it necessary to wash it every day?

Just like powerhour mentioned it also has a lot to do with whats in the "road crud". Here in Reno, Nevada it snows but they are very careful about what the put on the roads for environmental purposes, got to keep Tahoe blue, so it is mostly dirt. I know in a lot of places they dont care and they use whatever and it eats away at cars. Find out what is in the crud and how abrasive it can be, rinse and dry well in every nook and cranny. Every car has rust prone zone find out if there are any rx7 specific spots.

I don't think a full wash every day but maybe a good rinse dependng on how cruddy it gets. I know where I live they use sand. Only problem with sand is it sandblasts your paint :( but I'd rather that then salt (we have enough salt from the ocean)

If they salt your roads, it will speed up rust quite a bit.

Make sure to wash the underbody thoroughly if you do end up driving it.

If the roads are salted - just leave it in the garage.

Got out today, only in parking lot at the moment...

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https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...89541411_o.jpg

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I must admit it hurts... I'm still not sure if I will really drive it. Tomorrow will tell...

Are those pics of your garage!? Man must be nice

Yup, it sucks, but in the NYC/NJ area that's about how we treat winter.

:(

^ Yup. Driving here in the winter is a no-no. Unless it has been a while since the last time the road has been salted and it has rained a few times.

I cant even get my car started in cold ontario weather, let alone drive it lol

wouldnt an undercoat be a good idea for salty roads to help with rust?

^ It wont help keep the aluminum suspension components from corroding.

You don't mistreat the ones you love....

'Nuff said.

^^
You can power coat them....

Humor aside, the car is low enough to bottom out at any little pile of snow. It has large performance tires and little weight and it is a rear wheel drive with LSD, which means pretty much that it is like driving on oil.

Salt ruins your car, you can put a layer of tar under it, powder coat the suspension bits, and then just allow that crap to corrode everything else above the door line. If you're from around here you know that cars can get rust in pretty much every single spot of the body.

I would also ask this: you do not have roads that are clean and safe enough to "open it up" or carve the corners. So, why would you drive the car in the first place?
Not to mention the fact that with very cold temperatures, all you need is something not to be working perfectly well, you might lean out and... bang!
Now you need to spend 5/7K. And based on the pictures, I have a feeling you won't find a rotary specialist in a 5 kms range either.

I had my turbos changed and I picked the car up yesterday. The roads are coated with salt around here. Yesterday they were dry, so I drove the car home, I washed it and dried it and put it in the garage. I washed the underside as well. Dry salt is harmless, but as soon as you wet the car, it corrodes, which is why I washed it. Of course, if you end up driving it 2/3 times and you clean it after, you are not going to destroy it. But, once again, why would you do that? Had I had the choice, I would have left it at the mechanic's place.