Winter Maintenance

so it looks like my 84 caprice classic will unfotunately be my daily driver again this winter on a 6 days a week approx 120-150 miles round trip commute between NY & CT. any pointers on keeping the car as safe as possible from winter hazards like salt? or am i just going to start it towards it's demise? i don't have a garage but i do have off street parking in an outdoor lot at work and driveway at home. last year put a hurting on it and i can see rust eating away at the bottom of the front passenger door.
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Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to avoid rust. I live in Upstate NY where the roads are heavily salted and no matter what we do here, (except putting the vehicle in storage for the winter months,) rust is a fact of life :frown:. You can try to keep it at bay by washing and putting a good coat of wax on the car before winter, and during the winter months run your car through a car wash frequently to help wash salt off the vehicle. If the car wash has an under carriage wash that is an added bonus as it will help to keep the underside of your vehicle cleaner. Some car washes offer a program where you can buy a pass that is good for unlimited washes for a specified amount of time ( ex. a month) for a set price. This would be good if the car wash that offers these is on your way to work or home, or is nearby to make it convenient to wash your vehicle more frequently. Other than washing more often, make sure the hinges and other moving parts on your vehicle are lubed to ensure good operation and to keep salt out those areas. And spray your weatherseals around your doors with PAM or other non stick spray to help you to be able to open your car doors if they should freeze during a cold spell.

I feel your pain. My 85 got very rusty. But I was able to slow it down, maybe stop it, by spraying a lot of the "anti-rust" compound on the rusty spots. No particular brand. Sometimes I would rub used motor oil onto the rusty spots, too. That slowed it down a lot.

I had a slow transmission fluid leak that blew trans fluid back along the undercarriage, which did not rust. But the undercarriage did rust through, under the driver's seat, where the fluid did not get. I spent a lot of time rubbing used motor oil all over the undercarriage, and that prevented rust from starting.

I see a lot of old cars around here, 70's, 80's, that have absolutely no visible rust. I line in Pa. I don't know how they do it. Maybe they don't drive in Winter. :)

I sprayed out the wheel wells a lot, to get the salt out, but still got lots of rust around the trim there.

so it looks like my 84 caprice classic will unfotunately be my daily driver again this winter on a 6 days a week approx 120-150 miles round trip commute between NY & CT. any pointers on keeping the car as safe as possible from winter hazards like salt? or am i just going to start it towards it's demise? i don't have a garage but i do have off street parking in an outdoor lot at work and driveway at home. last year put a hurting on it and i can see rust eating away at the bottom of the front passenger door.
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for all of us in this region salt /road chemicals do attack our vehicles...especially if the snow begins in december ...


I have had success with placing oil in the doors,,and in the trunk at the wheel wells..

silicone grease on all the door gaskets..

repair and seal all the door rubber especially the ones the shrink at the window sweeps..


I use a stiff sheet of plastic in front of my radiator covering the lower 1/3 of it...this reduces a lot of salt spray from entering the engine compartment..


the under vehicle I wire brush and apply a brush on undercoating called rusfre 1013,,this is a mineral based black product that is brushed on and may be thinned with paint thinner to seal the rust,,and prevent rust..

It works good...

spray cans of rustproof material is poor quailty and don't work...

for all of us in this region salt /road chemicals do attack our vehicles...especially if the snow begins in december ...


:lol: Must be nice. In my area we can expect snow in October,( earliest measurable snow in my area was Sept.30.) Many Halloweens the kids are running around with winter coats over their costumes as 4 inches of snow is on the ground. And they wonder why they don't see many vehicles over 12 years old on our roads :shakehead: ( And to think you really don't live that far from me.:uhoh: )

:lol: Must be nice. In my area we can expect snow in October,( earliest measurable snow in my area was Sept.30.) Many Halloweens the kids are running around with winter coats over their costumes as 4 inches of snow is on the ground. And they wonder why they don't see many vehicles over 12 years old on our roads :shakehead: ( And to think you really don't live that far from me.:uhoh: )

your down wind of the lake...by the time that snow gets to my area its evaporated...

upstate NEW YORK must be the worst area for this type of damage..

I have another suggestion that works great on the chrome parts..after washing off the vehicle ,,spray silicone on all the chrome parts,,this prevents pitting..

I saw this product on horsepower or Trucks tv.
It is an electronic way to stop the rusting process or so they claim.

It is used by industry and military in conditions that are extremely corrosive to vehicles and they claim it works.

Not quite sure how it handles rust that has already taken hold.

I was thinking about getting one for my wagon since I live by the coast and it's true what they say, rust never sleeps...:banghead:

http://www.counteractrust.com/counteract-rust-prevention-products.htm#automobiles
(http://www.counteractrust.com/t&t.htm)

your down wind of the lake...by the time that snow gets to my area its evaporated...
upstate NEW YORK must be the worst area for this type of damage..
.

It is . The stuff that comes off the lake is what they refer to as lake effect and we get about 160" a year. just 45 minutes to an hour north east of here they average well over 300" a year. The DOT always seems to experiment with different salts and road coverings every year or two to see what works better and what doesn't. Last year they tried road salt that was tinted green and some towns tried a liquid that was sprayed from a special truck. Everything else seems to cost more and if we get hit hard early, the amounts budgeted for salt and snow removal costs are quickly depleted and they revert back to the old standby road salt. Not a winter goes by when there aren't a few letters to the editor in our local paper lamenting the damage that road salt does and questioning why the towns can't use better products that don't cause as much damage.
I saw this product on horsepower or Trucks tv.
It is an electronic way to stop the rusting process or so they claim.

It is used by industry and military in conditions that are extremely corrosive to vehicles and they claim it works.

Not quite sure how it handles rust that has already taken hold.

I was thinking about getting one for my wagon since I live by the coast and it's true what they say, rust never sleeps...:banghead:

http://www.counteractrust.com/counteract-rust-prevention-products.htm#automobiles
(http://www.counteractrust.com/t&t.htm)
I've hear reviews that these products really don't work. We had a shop selling these type of systems a few years back but stopped as they found out they really didn't do as they claimed. maybe they tested them in areas where they don't use as much road salt as we do :dunno::lol:.
http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Car/car-rust-inhibitor.htm
http://www.dansdata.com/danletters153.htm - Scroll down the page to the section labeled "Rust Bug Killer"'

I saw this product on horsepower or Trucks tv.
It is an electronic way to stop the rusting process or so they claim.

It is used by industry and military in conditions that are extremely corrosive to vehicles and they claim it works.

Not quite sure how it handles rust that has already taken hold.

I was thinking about getting one for my wagon since I live by the coast and it's true what they say, rust never sleeps...:banghead:

http://www.counteractrust.com/counteract-rust-prevention-products.htm#automobiles


steel exposed to air will rust,,,the only way to stop it is to cover the steel so that air cannot get to the bare metal...

road chemicals eat at these coatings,,then the rust,,,it also eats at the finish of your vehicle as well...

use of devices to eliminate corrosion, where metals of different materials are connected together physically,,or by way of a conductive path,,,road salt ,,,or in the case of boats the salt water...do work....but ,,,the metal corrodes from the inside out....when these devices are not used...the metals get eaten like termites got onto wood...

with modern engines using many types of metal in the engines this is where many pay the price for not using the correct coolant at the proper amounts....

this is where "I GOT VOLTS IN MY RADIATOR " this occurs when different metals are placed in a conductive solution...

I have not done it but a forum member uses this voltage check to determine when the coolant requires replacing...

i wish i had looked into this sooner. based on the pic below, what can i do to fix that? also, the other doors which have rust but not rusted through, what can i do now to prevent it?


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h151/livewire1568/SNC00049.jpg
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[quote=moliva1568;6043193]i wish i had looked into this sooner. based on the pic below, what can i do to fix that? also, the other doors which have rust but not rusted through, what can i do now to prevent it?

the lower door rust is from the window weather strip rubber shrinks/or was not the correct size from manufacture...this is were you must use a window sealer product like dow 745..this is a high quality professional sealer...maximum adhesion and flexibility...with this window weather strip properly sealed with the window closed all that road chemicals/water is kept out of the door...the door can be protected by squirting 30wt non detergent oil in the door cavity..this will get absorbed by the seams/rust and prevent air from making more rust as long as the water is kept out...

with a door that is rusted thru use of fiberglass works well...need to know what your doing first..when working with this stuff..but good long lasting repairs can be made for a low cost...

move to tucson arizona,,,no rust there ,,,,but the illegals will steal your ride....its always something..