Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 23

Thread: Daily drivers over UK winters - advice/experiences please!

  1. #1
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    7
    Rides
    0

    Unhappy Daily drivers over UK winters - advice/experiences please!

    Hey all,

    I currently drive BMW and I'm finally looking to make the move to import an S15 spec-R (dream spec car) and sell off the BMW.
    I'm hoping for some advice from those of you that actually daily your cars through heavily salted UK winters, as worrying about the car rusting to death is putting me off at the moment.

    I've been on the Facebook group and the consensus there seems to be that driving it through the winter is a stupid idea and the majority hide their cars away from October-March time as they will be rusted through in a few years.

    I'm happy to get it properly undersealed and do maintenance washes but looking at the state my BMW gets in a few days after it's been washed I dunno if this will be enough.


    Can those of you that do daily drive your cars through winter give me some advice? Would you advise against it? Have you had rust issues forming?

    I would consider getting a winter beater car but it's not going to be easy for me to do. And the S15 would still have to stay outside on the drive anyway.

    Cheers in advance,
    Sean
    Last edited by nsean; 27-01-2019 at 11:50.

  2. #2
    Guest
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    NW, England
    Posts
    1,761
    Rides
    0
    Rust can be fixed if it occurs. If you are keeping the car outside then you might as well drive it. By the sounds of it you need to wash it and protect it better than you did with your BMW. Wash it weekly at least and wax it whenever you can.

    I daily drive my S13 and it has started to rust in the seams however I don't wash it weekly and only wax it once a year if it's lucky and it isn't too bad considering I beat on it really. If you look after yours better than I look after mine then I'm sure it'll be fine.

  3. #3
    Guest
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    NW, England
    Posts
    1,761
    Rides
    0
    I also live on the coast so my car gets battered by salty wind, stripped the paint of my wipers but body of the car is fine.

  4. #4
    Now with 400bhp....
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    South west
    Posts
    36,381
    Rides
    1
    I used my s14a as a daily for a few years but I ended up getting paranoid leaving it in car parks and driving it through the winters wasn’t great either. I opted to buy another car which was better on fuel and one where I could leave it without worrying.
    1998 Nissan 200sx s14a , 2000 std 5 speed with nismo supercoppermix clutch bn6 Sapphire Blue

  5. #5
    Guest
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Longfield, Kent
    Posts
    1,419
    Rides
    0
    In an ideal world, I'd say get the whole underneath (including the rear panel, rear arches and sill edges) prepped and painted with POR15, then coated with stone guard.
    Usea quality cavity wax in every single place you cant get the POR15, including inside the inner and outer sills, 1/4 panels, doors, wings, chassis rails.
    Get a Karcher under body jet wash attachment to wash and rinse off any salt from the roads after it's driven.
    Clean out the arches in front of the rear wheels to avoid build up of dirt
    Don't wash it without drying it a good as possible and taking it for a fair drive to dry the underneath (as long as its a dry day of course).
    Fully wax and seal every painted including wheels surface every 3-6 months.
    Don't run stupid camber setups meaning there's only half the tire in contact with the road.
    Get some good cold/wet weather tires
    Make sure your antifreeze is at the correct level for the temperature you see during the winter.
    Make sure your battery is in good enough condition to take the strain of all the extra load it's gonna be under.

    Not cheap by any means but this is what it'll take to make the car last as a daily though the winter, in my opinion

  6. #6
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    7
    Rides
    0
    Thanks for the advice all!
    Admittedly I haven't waxed the BMW for a while lol but I used to. I just mean after a couple days driving in this weather you can see all the salt caked on the paintwork.

    I'd be willing to snow foam it weekly and wax it monthly or so, just dunno if that's enough. I usually wash under the body and wheel arches but I'm sure it doesn't get all the salt off.

    So underseal isn't enough for the seams? You have to seam seal them separately?

    Hah yeah I'd be worried about parking in dodgy areas round here too but I can work around that.

    I'm more than happy to do the mechanical work like and get proper winter tyres, it's just the rust worries. I'll be taking it to someone to do a proper job cleaning and undersealing then touching it up at home if needed.

    Just dunno if wash wax and underseal is enough to stop the rust. In terms of prepping for underseal as well I don't think I have the patience to be dropping the subframe and everything else. I figure by prepping you mean along the lines of wash, dry, rust convert and seal?

    Cheers guys
    Last edited by nsean; 27-01-2019 at 20:42.

  7. #7
    Guest
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    NW, England
    Posts
    1,761
    Rides
    0
    When I mentioned seams on mine I meant all of them. There's nothing you can do to protect them all but you could apply seam sealer to the underside ones before underseal. By prepping they mean removing a few things like rear bumper to get to the rear panel and then pre paring the underside for underseal. This might mean grinding back any rust that's already there.

  8. #8
    Guest
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    walsall/tamworth
    Posts
    6,744
    Rides
    0
    most cars rust from the inside outwards. so slathering the underside with something only covers half the battle. the time to be anal about it all is when the car is brand new. not 20 years down the line.

  9. #9
    Guest Matas's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Near Harrogate
    Posts
    316
    Rides
    0
    I would highly advise against using an S15 in the winter. These things rot like hell if they're left to it and by the time you've noticed it a good amount will be rotten because it's rotten from the inside out. Over the 2016/17 winter I stored by car away till around April maybe, the following year it got used all the way up until mid January as I had no other choice and gosh that sure as hell accelerated the rust.

    One thing to also consider is that the wet and cold Autumn/Winter months like to suck many Sbodies into lamp posts and such. These cars with not suitable tyres like self destruct to to say.

    As mentioned above, in order to protect it all it needs to be immaculate underneath, it's no good under sealing over any existing rust as that'll just make things worse. An import S15 won't have been under sealed and will probably have some surface rust at least which will all need to be stripped back and to underseal properly you'll want as much of the underside disassembled as possible which can be a big job. I would advise on doing this regardless of it being used in winter or not. But overall if it's your precious dream car, having sat parked up even on the driveway is better than driven through salty shity roads. Subsequent welding repairs are costly and often not done properly.

    TLDR: Somehow make a winter shitbox work somehow, these things rust like hell and you'll regret it.

  10. #10
    Guest R3K1355's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Yorkshire
    Posts
    12,175
    Rides
    0
    You can pick up a cheap enough shitter for a few hundred quid.

    You'll spend double or treble that fixing rust.

  11. #11
    Now with 400bhp....
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    South west
    Posts
    36,381
    Rides
    1
    Buy an old fiesta or Puma for a cheap daily, great fun if you get the 1.7, cheap and you just won’t care about them
    1998 Nissan 200sx s14a , 2000 std 5 speed with nismo supercoppermix clutch bn6 Sapphire Blue

  12. #12
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    7
    Rides
    0
    Fair points all, I tend to agree with getting a second car ultimately being the better choice.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dastardly
    When I mentioned seams on mine I meant all of them. There's nothing you can do to protect them all but you could apply seam sealer to the underside. By prepping they mean removing a few things like rear bumper
    Wow, that seam rust sounds pretty severe. And yeah about the prepping I know people go to different levels of taking bumpers/skirts off to taking the entire drivetrain off.



    Quote Originally Posted by Matas
    An import S15 won't have been under sealed and will probably have some surface rust at least which will all need to be stripped back and to underseal properly you'll want as much of the underside disassembled as possible which can be a big job. I would advise on doing this regardless of it being used in winter or not. But overall if it's your precious dream car, having sat parked up even on the driveway is better than driven through salty shity roads. Subsequent welding repairs are costly and often not done properly.

    TLDR: Somehow make a winter shitbox work somehow, these things rust like hell and you'll regret it
    Yeah I totally agree and will be getting it undersealed asap. Probably initially by a garage after it's rust free then possibly dropping the rear subframe and fuel tank at home and sealing under those.

    About the second car, it does seem like the safest option. You can pick them up cheap but the extra insurance and tax add up, and i'll have to store it away from my house which isn't ideal. It's do-able but it's a lot of extra hassle and cost, including getting it tested each year.

    If only you could just buy it and drive it on existing insurance..

  13. #13
    Guest
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    NW, England
    Posts
    1,761
    Rides
    0
    My seam rust isn't severe I'm just saying what everyone else is saying. That's were these cars start to rust. Insurance companies will let you insure 2 cars at once. Try getting a limited mileage one.

  14. #14
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    7
    Rides
    0
    Ah right okay. Yeah I mean it would be easier if it was included in the same policy for pref the same price. Would be using a broker for the S15 so maybe they do something like that.

    Did a quick separate quote on a fiesta, £250 for the year, 5k mileage. Not too bad like.

  15. #15
    Member sx rider's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    West Sussex
    Posts
    2,970
    Rides
    0
    I paid for mine to be undersealed a couple of year back and can say they did a top job https://www.rust.co.uk/product/cat/o...ing-service-24

  16. #16
    Guest R3K1355's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Yorkshire
    Posts
    12,175
    Rides
    0
    Quote Originally Posted by nsean View Post
    Did a quick separate quote on a fiesta, £250 for the year, 5k mileage. Not too bad like.
    You'll save that in fuel costs alone just pottering about in a small eco car.

  17. #17
    Yorkshire Rep CMR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Pontefract, Yorkshire
    Posts
    1,096
    Rides
    0
    I've done both.

    My S15 I drove all the time as it was my only car back then, was awesome fun in the snow back in 2012/2013.

    My PS13 a few years later I kept garaged from Nov to March ish and it didn't come out unless the weather was nice, and to be honest even though I sold it in mint condition looking back I wish I had driven it more and not kept it off the road so much.

    Personally I'd say get it fully treated and undersealed properly when it comes from Japan and enjoy it.

  18. #18
    Guest s13silvia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Kingussie
    Posts
    9,150
    Rides
    0
    rwd is fun in the snow when you're planning for it - but even the most experienced and skilled drivers get caught unawares; and wide wheels, stiff suspension and rwd just compound the issue.

    Better to just spend under 1k on a winter beater - you can still modify it if that's what you like, but a light front-drive hatch with decent winter tyres will be unbeatable even in the worst of conditions. No need to be sat glued to the windscreen, white knuckled with your brain processing every micro-degree of movement your right foot is making ;-)

  19. #19
    Guest zeppelin101's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Leicester
    Posts
    9,760
    Rides
    0
    Quote Originally Posted by CMR View Post
    I've done both.

    My S15 I drove all the time as it was my only car back then, was awesome fun in the snow back in 2012/2013.

    My PS13 a few years later I kept garaged from Nov to March ish and it didn't come out unless the weather was nice, and to be honest even though I sold it in mint condition looking back I wish I had driven it more and not kept it off the road so much.

    Personally I'd say get it fully treated and undersealed properly when it comes from Japan and enjoy it.
    What this man says.

    I had winter tyres on my S13 the winter I bought it and it was excellent. Get it properly treated when it comes over and equip it with the right rubber and it will be fine. Yes it will need some ongoing maintenance but a weekend in the spring getting the underside cleaned up will make it last longer.

    Despite the talk on here it isn't going to drive itself into a lamp post if you drive to the conditions and give it the right tyres.

    Cost me £85+fitting a tyre for Nokian WRs and meant I didn't have to suffer driving around in a cheap shit box.

  20. #20
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    7
    Rides
    0
    Quote Originally Posted by R3K1355
    You'll save that in fuel costs alone just pottering about in a small eco car.
    That's a good point like, at least it would offset the cost some. Can't see it being 60mpg style eco.


    Fair point about garaging it and not driving it. I'm not one to just keep the car garaged for the sake of keeping it mint (other than to avoid it rusting) so I will be making the most of it, just don't want to deal with rust problems down the line. It will probably go away when the roads are first gritted until about march time.

    I agree with the snow being dodgy to drive in, but honestly we only get like 2 weeks of snow here, max. And even then, it's only on the housing estate roads. The main roads are usually fine. So I wouldn't be worried about driving in it as long as I could get out of the estate lol (common problem with the BMW+summer tyres, doesn't even get off the drive). Still, I see your point, FWD is definitely easier for that.

    But yeah it's purely due to dealing with the rust aftermath. I do a lot of work removing rust on my E36 and it's not something I would wanna do with the S15 as well, especially if it starts rusting inside out. It is super tempting to drive in all weathers with an s15 though.

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •