Winter driving for 2002's

[Bunta]

Winter driving tip:

Put the weight balast you want to use (I'm using a couple of old steel ford 302 heads) under the back seat. That is the ideal spot for traction weight; right in front of the rear axle. I've got crapo tires on my '02 and with chains and the weight (full gas tank helps too) I can go anywhere.

My Bavaria is a freaking tank in the snow. I didn't have chains in last year's Ice and it was a trooper.

TO THE MALL PARKING LOT MY BROTHERS!!!

Yeah, there's jettas there. Funny to watch em doing 'donuts.' Actually my friend can whip his Mk2 GTi around in the slippery stuff like nobody's buisness.

[Sam I am]

Ha Ha! I used to do the same thing with my 75 but a little different, I used sandbags under the back seat, crappy tires and no chains!
Tell me how do you keep your '02 from rusting?

[Bunta]

How do you keep your '02 from rusting? It is rusty... But actually I bought it because the floorpan is solid. I need to weld in a replacement spare tire well, but that is easy. The doors have cancer in the usuall bottom corners, but overall my '02 seems pretty damn good. Plus, I don't have a sunroof and that always helps. I think the previous owners were good about changing the windshield seal as well. Prevention is the only way. I'm probably going to prep my car for paint soon, so it'll most likely be primer for a while. I'll get creative and make it two tone primer.

[Sam I am]

maybe you can turn it into a primered Art Car! It sounds like your 2002 doesn't have much rust, mine was rusted on both gutters, both front footwells (honestly, I could slow it down like Fred Flintstone!), also it was rusted real bad under the seat at the ends where the rear subframe bolts on to the unibody, and the rear shock towers. The car made all kinds of skreeching noises in the turns and on potholes. But one summer and 10,000 pop ribets later the car was solid. Sadly I don't have the car anymore thanks to a very large Chevy Dump truck, but I have my eye on the bargain news for another one.
Say, do you think that giving the car an oil bath can prevent rust?

[Bunta]

A fifty-fifty mix of used motor oil and diesel makes a great sludge to squirt in rust prone areas. It will soak in and stay for a long time and water will bead up and roll off. Make sure the drain holes in the bottoms of your door skins are clear and that your windshield seals and sunroof gasket are in good shape. Clean out that space in the weel wells that collects road dirt every week.

Happy hunting. Have you ever thought about a Datsun 510? Good ones are expensive, but not as expensive as good 2002's. The possibility of putting a 2 liter twincam in one sounds good to me. Heck, I want a twincam in my 2002.

[Sam I am]

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to try that on my 528e, I use it as a daily driver and I want to keep the floorpans I have left from disapearing on me. Its funny you mentioned the sunroof becase for a wile I was getting water into the front footwells and had no idea where it was coming from. It turns out that the sunroof has channels that run down the windshield posts and empty into the side rails! no wonder they get rusted.

The 510's are pretty rare up here in the North East, when I went to California they where all over the place. If I see one for sale I'll check it out. In the past year I've seen 3 2002's, I missed out on two that where in decent driveable shape and had shiny paint for $3000. The other one was a whopping $1800 and it came with the rusty Rhode Island red painjob! I guess he doesn't want to let it go!