Winter Dilemma

Since freezing temps started in Chicagoland, I wash off the salt in automatic "high-pressure" car wash (without brushes). It treats the car gently but I still need to pull both doors in, when high pressure stream passes them. If not - I'd have a wet shoulder ;) Car looks much better and I don't have to worry that much about salt eating my under and finish.

Best regards, Kempi '01 silver,IL

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What advice are you talking about. If you would like to keep the car off the road during winter do so. My 2000 Miata is sitting in a portable garage happily waiting for better weather in the spring. I live in Ottawa, Canada and here salt is used liberally. I see no reason to put the car through that. Who wants to drive with the top up anyway. There are lots of guides on how to prepare your car for winter storage. Check out miata.net. In my case the tires are inflated to 60 lbs, stabilizer in the (full) gas tank, battery minder connected to the battery and a car cover. I changed the oil just prior to storage and I will change it again in the spring although opinion varies on that. No need to run the car every couple of weeks.

Rick

2000 black & tan

Usually in an automatic car wash. I figure it's better than leaving the salt on it all winter....

Use the car wash...

"AlanRab" skrev i en meddelelse news:FT6Ib.685717$HS4.4870816@attbi_s01...

er... but that would be in direct violation of the Book of Miata, Chapter 7 verse 3: Though shalt not run thine car through an automatic car wash, lest ye ruin thy ragtop.

I'm thinking I'd void the warranty on the top. Any other thoughts on this?

Happy New Year!

A new ragtop is $500, and you'll need one eventually anyway. New fenders and quarter panels are _much_ more expensive. One of the quarter panels on my 96 is starting to blister. I sure wish I'd run it through the car wash more often.

I let the car stay dirty. I drove a Miata daily for 10 years before I bought a different "Primary" car. With a daily driver, the filth builds up faster then I can wash it off. My Miata car is a '94 with

75,000 miles on it. After braving the salt and filth of midwest winters for nearly ten years, there isn't a spot on the car's paint that has corroded.

My opinion is that the paint on most modern cars is so good that the fear of salt is overblown. Just keep it waxed properly.

And keep the drains open so it won't rust from the inside out. Don't wash the car in subfreezing weather, and make sure it has time to dry, inside and out, before the temperature drops below freezing again.

I also avoid washing in the winter. A nice layer of dirt will protect the metal from salt. Water just drives the salt deeper into crannies. Plus, salt does no harm without water.

Lanny,

There's *always* water. Especially if you're in an area that uses calcium chloride instead of pure sodium chloride, since calcium chloride is extremely hydroscopic (calcium chloride, if left alone, will develop a puddle as it melts in its own water of hydration).

Of course, I know what you're alluding to, that attempting to wash salt away with water may make the exterior "look" better, but serves to force salt deeper into the nooks and crannies of the car (where it *will* then absorb enough water to start corrosion). And, rust from the "inside out" is far harder to treat, since by the time it's obvious, it's too late.

Mike "Red '97" Verive

I don't know about the warranty, mine is a '90... But I have been using the car wash for about 50-70 times for the last year, and mine haven't got damage yet...

Jorgen,

Hee,hee,hee.... you have to have the top "up" in the car wash to have it damaged. I see some guys driving around in the summer time with the top down and no hat on, that I'm sure that's what they did. They sure are bright and shinny on top ! :)

Bruce RED '91

I don't. I let the mud, snow and ice layers and general griminess sit there until spring. It helps that the Rollerskate's silver; it looks slightly less grimy than a darker colour would.

Sometimes, when we get freezing rain or real wet rain the Rollerskate gets an impromptu bath and ends up looking quite shiny. That happened during the latest storm so at the moment it looks good. Frozen layers of ice and snow, when they slide off the bodywork, quite often take the grime with them.

It's parked outdoors in all weather and I'm working on the theory that chemical reactions work slower in lower temperatures so any salt and/or slushy glup will remain frozen for the winter. Every now and then I kick the frozen slush off the mudguards...

I gave it a really good waxing in the fall and will give it a really good bath in the spring before changing the snowshoes and heading down to the Gap for RATG V.

Nora,

I'm sorry, I just "can't" imagine a '99 Silver Miata "filthy!" That poor baby! That's like having you kids running around all dirty ! :) Please say it isn't so !

Bruce RED '91 ( all clean and waxed and driven every day in Seattle) :)

Nora,

I forgot to say that it is 20 deg F here today and expecting 4 to 10 inches of snow over night, I just went out yo ths garage and told "RED" that it would be OK and I would wash her off tomorrow night before bed time. (big grinnnnn here)

Bruce RED '91

It's so all right! I'm hoping the heavy layer of wax I applied in the fall is helping the grime, snow, ice and freezing rain to slide off, taking some of the dirtier spots with it. I won't take the Rolelrskate through an automatic car wash, especially in Montreal where the previous vehicle through the wash was probably a dirt-encrusted Ford Subdivision, leaving dirt and rocks imbedded in the brushes. Besides, the locks would freeze.

If I had kids, which is very unlikely, they'd probably be running around dirty too. I read an article recently warning parents that over-sanitizing everything is not in the best interests of the kids' health. They develop better and stronger immune systems if exposed to a reasonable amount of dirt. So put that Lysol and Mr. Clean bottle away for the sake of the kids.

Here's what last winter looked like:

This winter's pix are still in the camera cuz I moved and the camera got packed somewhere and I haven't found it yet :-)

Dreaming of Deals Gap in April here in the attic...

Nora,

In the pic, it looks like you have "chains" on the tires or is that just the shadows in the pic ? If you do have them on, what kind are they?

Bruce RED '91

That's just snow sticking to the tires. Proper snow chains have lateral chains which wrap right around the sidewalls, and a mess of chain around the perimeter of the wheel rim.

Stephen

p.s. I threw some chains on my MX-5 last year when we had a serious dump of snow in the Alps, and it got me places that the Audi Allroads and Subaru Legacys couldn't go...

Nope, no chains; it must be some kinda shadow effect. The Rollerskate's snowshoes are Toyo Observe GO2 Plus. They're great tires, and now that I've moved and the Rollerskate is the only means of getting to the train station in whatever the weather throws at it, they're really doing a great job on packed snow, loose and blowing snow, and sheet ice.

I do have to allow about 20 min to dig it out of the snow bank...

We were a bit aghast 14 years ago when our pediatrician suggested that we didn't need to sterilize our baby's bottles before using them, that running them through the dishwasher was just fine, but we heeded his advice. Our kids don't miss much school these days from illness...

They also *love* going for rides in the top-down Miata... think about how many airborne germs are just swirling around... ;-)

Dana