Does anyone take the 86 off the road during Winter?

[MuseChaser]

I'm a fellow snowball competitor from Syracuse area, and my FR-S is my daily driver so it sees snow, salt, and LOTS of both every winter. Salt isn't used for traction improvement; when I lived farther north in colder climates but with less total snow amounts, they only used sand occasionally. That, coupled with colder weather and hardpack, made for surprisingly good road conditions throughout most of the winter. Salt is used in our areas because we get so much snow that there's really no place to put it; without melting the snow, the banks would get so high they'd dangerously encroach upon visibility and road width. I wish they didn't have to use it, not only because it's terrible for cars (and bridges and other steel structures), but because it makes driving conditions WORSE. I'd way rather drive on snow than on snow melted into slushy ice.. especially after it re-freezes into a sheet of ice with more slushy lubricant on top of it.

As far as protecting my car from the salt.. well... I'm much happier just not worrying about it. Having run the gamut of conscientiously washing some of my cars throughout my life every week throughout the winter, waxing it, spraying the bottom, etc., to doing absolutely nothing until spring, I've found that there's almost no difference. When you wash your car, you're just driving some of that salt farther and farther into crevices you can't reach.

So far, the FR-S has stayed in EXCELLENT condition through the Syracuse winters and saltfests... not a speck of rust visible on the body anywhere, and the undercarriage including exhaust is holding it's own very nicely. Factory rust-proofing has come a long way, and dealer-applied coatings are a waste of money in my experience. After-market coatings usually just seal in rust that's already started so you can't see it until it's REALLY bad. I know.. my opinion. Lots disagree. That's cool.

It's a car. It's a fun car. It drives well in winter. It's cheap. Don't worry, be happy.

[DarkSunrise]

Yes ever since I switched to a BBK - no dust boots so I stay away from salt. Also my winter tire setup doesn't fit over the brakes anyway. It sucks since I enjoyed driving the FR-S in snow and ripping donuts in empty parking lots.

My other car in the snow is boring. Understeer everywhere. I recently drove my FR-S again and it just brings a smile to my face.

[Myriad]

Originally Posted by gutbuster

A real Winter. The kind that makes a few attempts to kill you.

When I was a kid people learned to drive in snow. We used to grab onto bumpers and hitch a ride. Nowadays people want to get to work without having to slow down. The towns buy mountains of salt and spread it around generously.

It’s not just the cars that get ruined. The roads and bridges take a big hit.

When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s to now, the amount of salt applied to roads is incredibly high. I can't remember exactly, but I think newspaper articles have reported at least 4x historical amounts. It is ridiculous. Cars are safer now than they have ever been with anti-lock brakes and traction control, all wheel drive, etc, but people seem to freak out about snow entirely out of proportion to how dangerous it is. If a road isn't clear in a few hours with plow trucks and salt, people think its the end of the world. And municipalities and land owners are terrified of being sued, so they slather the salt on, the more the better. I remember sledding down streets and driving on hard packed snow all the time as a kid. Never happens now. Come on people, snow is fun!

Roads, cars, bridges, all that is affected like you said, but people forget about the impacts on the water. It all washes into the local streams. I work in the environmental field and can tell you firsthand that chloride and conductivity levels after snow melts in urban areas can peak to near seawater levels. It is wreaking havoc on the aquatic life. Drinking water aquifers have seen steady rising salinity levels since the 80s, directly attributed to the higher salt application rates. Soon it will be an expense to desalinize public drinking water supplies. We've been working to demonstrate the impact, but it mostly falls on deaf ears. I've seen areas in Nova Scotia that ban the use of salt to protect the National Park wetlands, so I wonder if they will ever enact restrictions here in the US. Something needs to be done because its out of control now. I surmise some sort of recommendation based on lbs per road miles per storm should be in order. My 2 cents.

Myriad

[CJRhoades]

Nope, I throw on snow tires and drive. It's my daily. I've got an unlimited wash pass so it gets washed at least once a week in the winter in an attempt to keep some of the salt off.

[arxm]

at first i tried to store it for the winter then one day I had to take it out for an emergency since it was my only car available to me then i realized how much fun these are in the snow, so no i do not store it lol

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by MuseChaser

I'm a fellow snowball competitor from Syracuse area, and my FR-S is my daily driver so it sees snow, salt, and LOTS of both every winter. Salt isn't used for traction improvement; when I lived farther north in colder climates but with less total snow amounts, they only used sand occasionally. That, coupled with colder weather and hardpack, made for surprisingly good road conditions throughout most of the winter. Salt is used in our areas because we get so much snow that there's really no place to put it; without melting the snow, the banks would get so high they'd dangerously encroach upon visibility and road width. I wish they didn't have to use it, not only because it's terrible for cars (and bridges and other steel structures), but because it makes driving conditions WORSE. I'd way rather drive on snow than on snow melted into slushy ice.. especially after it re-freezes into a sheet of ice with more slushy lubricant on top of it.

As far as protecting my car from the salt.. well... I'm much happier just not worrying about it. Having run the gamut of conscientiously washing some of my cars throughout my life every week throughout the winter, waxing it, spraying the bottom, etc., to doing absolutely nothing until spring, I've found that there's almost no difference. When you wash your car, you're just driving some of that salt farther and farther into crevices you can't reach.

So far, the FR-S has stayed in EXCELLENT condition through the Syracuse winters and saltfests... not a speck of rust visible on the body anywhere, and the undercarriage including exhaust is holding it's own very nicely. Factory rust-proofing has come a long way, and dealer-applied coatings are a waste of money in my experience. After-market coatings usually just seal in rust that's already started so you can't see it until it's REALLY bad. I know.. my opinion. Lots disagree. That's cool.

It's a car. It's a fun car. It drives well in winter. It's cheap. Don't worry, be happy.

This ^^^^^. Nothing else is reality! These are not the 80s where cars rotted away in 3 to 5 years.

[DaJo]

Yup, I top it up with gas, check the tire pressures and keep it hooked to a smart charger for 6 months. I drive my Lexus IS250 AWD in the snow and rotate that between the BRZ 6 months at a time.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

This ^^^^^. Nothing else is reality! These are not the 80s where cars rotted away in 3 to 5 years.

Tcoat 's snowmobile ..........


humfrz

[gutbuster]

I do agree that today's cars (from the factory) do hold up better in salt than say 20 years ago. Dealer applied is crap. I still think Fluid film is great stuff, but I realize a lot folks do not want to get the car up on jack stands once a year for a spray.

As brands go, VW/Audi/Porsche bodies with their extensive use of galvanized steel and very nice paint are way ahead of Subaru, Toyota and Honda. Unfortunately, they don't have that Japanese reliability.

In the end, it's just a car. You can't take it to the grave.

[Cole]

Lol at anyone who stores their car in the winter.

What are you saving it for?

[new2subaru]

Originally Posted by Cole

Lol at anyone who stores their car in the winter.

What are you saving it for?

Why?

For the next 20 years or so.

Mostly, I just don't want to work on shit that's rusted all to f***

[Cole]

Originally Posted by new2subaru

Why?

For the next 20 years or so.

Mostly, I just don't want to work on shit that's rusted all to f***

How many times have you been underneath your car? And for what purpose?

[new2subaru]

Originally Posted by Cole

How many times have you been underneath your car? And for what purpose?

None yet. I do have a few items here to install though. I'd much prefer to keep it salt free and that's what I'm going to do.

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by gutbuster

Roads in upstate NY get copious amounts of salt in the Winter. I have always had a beater for the Winter, like my 01 Odyssey with 185k miles. I like to have at least one car that is "clean" to work on.

At least I have something to look forward to in the Spring.

I would love to, but then that means you've got an extra car in the driveway taking up space and making things generally a pain in the ass.

Originally Posted by new2subaru

Mostly, I just don't want to work on shit that's rusted all to f***

That's exactly why I want to keep it off the road. Every car I've ever owned has fallen apart from rust, rather than dying a more 'natural' death due to mechanical wear. If you get 10 years out of a car up here, you're doing well. I have 14 year on our Jeep and it's on the verge of a terminal cancer diagnosis. Mechanically it's been great, aside from corrosion becoming a bigger and bigger issue whilst performing normal maintenance.