What can be done to keep a camaro from rusting from driving in the winter?

 

Rinse off the salt?

 

Store it in a garage and buy a winter beater.

 

What he said!! :werd:

 

I agree too... I drove my Firebird for 3 or 4 winters... it was only a V6 but it was... well... "fun" driving it in snow... can't beleive I never killed myself those winters! ha ha Actually, driving a 3rd gen in slow certainly teaches you how to drive well, thats for sure!!!

 

Dude, ... dude ... DUDE

Save $500 and buy a winter beater before the snow starts flying. I am a firm believer in the fact that no one should have to drive their thirdgen in the winter.

 

I crinch whenever I see a nice 3rd gen covered in snow, slush, and salt... just breaks my heart.

 

our cars are not made for snow..
simple
buy some honda and preserve that thirdgen
:lala:

 

That's in 2 weeks.

 

yea i think i will just use a beater for the winter

 

just get a beater

 

Yes Buy a Like a Jeep Wrangler... And u can get some with a Cheap Price (jeeps) Dont ruin your third gen

 

OR buy another camaro that's already rusty and use THAT for a winter beater :lala:

 

yes. a beater.....some people think i'm odd bcuz i bought a brand new 04 neon 5sd as my "beater" well, i don't drive my TA in the winter and not very often any other time. but i'm emissions exempt bcuz of it

 

Come on guys, not everyone here can just buy another car.

The best you can do without giving the car a POR-15 treatment is to clean every part of the car you can before the snow comes, and give it a good waxing. Get every part of the car you can with the wax: in the door jambs, the lip around the wheel wells, the bottom of the doors... Take off the ground effects, clean up the paint on the doors fenders and quarter panels, and wax all of that. Open the hatch and clean/wax everything around the weatherstripping.

Give all of your weatherstripping a good silicone lubricant treatment. If you have a little money, get some spare stock wheels and put some Blizzaks or other snow tires on them. You WILL need at least all-season tires on a thirdgen, but I really recommend snow tires.

Lastly, be sure your brakes, steering, and alignment are all in good order. Bad rear brakes could mean hell trying to get through snow and ice, and crappy steering/alignment will keep you on edge anytime you drive in slippery conditions. Your exhaust will likely take a beating, so keep an eye on it and try to rinse everything off the car if the temperature is above freezing. Be careful not to let water freeze in your door locks... climbing in the hatch is a bitch (yes, from experience). One or two cinder blocks or sand bags in the hatch will help traction a lot, too.

 

Move to the Bay Area. People around here freak out if it rains longer than an hour.

Serously though... CaysE has it right.

 

Which do they use salt, sand or cinders where you live/drive

 

For $400 plus getting them put on and balanced, i could buy myself a decent beater car that will go in the snow..

Just my but i don't think that there is anything practical about driving a 3rd gen in the snow.
If all possible, take the time to search for a beater. You will be much happier. I understand that not everyone can afford it, but if you can get one, don't pass it up.

 

He already said hes gonna buy a beater

 

My beater is a 1985 Pontiac Fiero that I bought for 95 bucks.

 

My 3rdgen is my daily driver. It always will be. I see no point in buying a car and NOT driving it. It may snow around here a little bit (more so just a sh*tload of rain) but I'll still drive the car. I've learned to handle the thing in rain and snow and I don't mind drying off the car and kicking off some ice clumps after a particularly hard drive. Like CasE said, grab some winter wheels/tires, throw some weight in the backend and stay off the throttle alittle bit. I bought my TA to drive, not to sit in my garage while I'm forced to drive something else. It might be a completely different matter if I had another project like a truck/jeep or something that would be meant for that kind of crap.

 

There is a very good reason why not to drive it. I bought a camaro as a toy, if i wanted anything other then a toy i would have bought something thats reliable, handles well in all weather, and doesnt guzzle gas, but i didnt i bought an iroc instead. So the reason i have my car is because its fun to drive. Watching my car get eaten away in the salt, and fighting constantly for traction as im trying to get to school isnt my idea of a good time. Hell i dont drive it in the rain unless i have to just because on anything other then a dry day its just no fun.

 

You've got a reason not to drive it. That's great. I have a completely different metality. But it's good to see that you're appreciate your car enough not to drive it if you don't like to in adverse conditions.

 

im scared winter is coming soon too, i'll just make sure i dont drive it in the snow , id rather walk 20 blocks to skool like i did before in the snow rather then take my baby

 

Sooooo like I was saying Id never drive my car in the snow (wink)

Ok sorry I suppose my opinions mared by the fact that I live in alabama and its snowed 2 or 3 times in my life time of 18 years and I have an untouched camaro no restoration or modding mainly cause Im dumping it in a few years and getting a 91 or 92 350 TPI
anyways......................

 

19Doug90- 100% correct-a-moond-o!

 

A freakin car that will be rusty as hell from the salt. Atleast here. I do body work on my car every summer (Winter car), it amazing what a winter will do to it.

Some people may not want the bottoms of there plain old birds/camaros to look like hell.

 

im suprized nobody mentiond the downside of the interior getting all messed up from dirty snow being drinded into the carpet maybe its because i focused alot of my time in the interior and as to what aredross said i dont think id be too happy with myself if i spent every cent i could spare into my car and then be so careless to drive it in the winter and turn all that cash,love, and time that goes into a car and turn it to ****

an you said not caring about driving the stock camaros/firebirds and the winter but if you think about it almost everyone on this board pretty much restores the outside of the car to stock with the exeption of diff hood,rims,and motor. besides stock 3rsd gens are worth alot more than modded out ones. cant imagine what some people would pay for a mint condition 3rd gen

but to make this all short NOBODY should drive a 3rd gen in the winter even if its a pos for the main fact that they handle like crap in snow

 

i just bought a beater saab for winter for 500 bucks. it runs great, this way i can build my motor in winter too

my car is also already on cinder blocks and covered.......im a little too ahead of the curve

 

They handle bad enough in the rain, I can't imagine driving one in the snow.

..although I could make some extra money by attaching a plow to it and doing driveways for $15 a shot...

 

Here is my solution.



can't beat AWD in adverse weather conditions.

Iansane -- You can get away with driving a nice car in the NW, we don't salt anything. Seattle might be a diffrent story, being right on the sound, you might have rust problems, but in Portland, the cars just don't rust.

 

Oh man you're sounding like one of those old men "I walked 20 miles to school in the snow. We didn't have cars. If the horse and buggy wasn't making it, we walked."

Anwyay yeah, I'm gonna be looking at a V6 Monte for the winter. Since its already beaten I won't worry too much.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DigitalMonarch0
They handle bad enough in the rain, I can't imagine driving one in the snow

Heh, you should try driving in the rain with the Eagle HPs that the last owner put on mine. Those things SUCK in the rain, and its almost as if driving on ice.

 

winter will be here before you know it! Last year was hopefully the last winter I'll have to drive my bird in the snow.

You'd think with the 4 cylinder motor it would be a bit easier to drive in the snow than the v6-v8. Not true. I had just as much trouble in the snow as my bro's old 350 camaro

bill

 

No you didnt. With the amount of torque that engine makes you have no clue how hard it would be to keep those rear tires planted on the ground, and dont think about even breathing on the gas pedal when going around any corner because it will guaranteed spin you out. I'm still trying to figure out why they ever made a camaro in a V6 let alone a freakin 4 cylinder.

 

My winter beater is a 82 camaro with a 2.8 and an automatic. Other then when I had a truck it's probably the best thing I've driven in the winter

 

it wasn't really the rear tires I had too much trouble with (being rear wheel drive and no weight in the back is bad for anyone), i had trouble keeping her in a straight line due to the lack of weight in the front. Ive got less than half the motor most v8 fbody's have.

I can't number how many times ive needed to turn but nothing happend.

 

you basically have hamsters under the hood.

 

yep the kids love the snow and I never had a problem with it however Ive never had to drive in it

 

i drove my car for the last 2 winters and with some firestone winterfires it was surprisingly good in the snow. I drove around most suv's in storms, felt like i was ralleying!! It was hard on the car though, i would rinse it whenever it was above freezing, interior took a beating too. I was considering getting some new snow tires for this year ( they are NO FUN when it is dry!) but i solved my problems with a new trailblazer!! Now i can lower my car again and get some hot n sticky gumballs and never drive it in snow again!!

seriously though, dedicated snow tires will whup any SUV or FWD in the slippery stuff. A great investment in safety. Other than that, scotchguard your interior, undercoat any bare metal, wax the paint and keep it clean whenecer possible.

 

I still havent driven a third gen in snow. However my 2nd gen was a POS in snow. I am luck I got out alive. It was a large storm and I was driving it (dumb) I got stuck on a little hill, so I had to drop it in 1st and crawl (barely) when everyone else was beeping at me (kind of fun). There is hell of a space in third gens to drop some big *** sand bags. It will handle much better with all that weight in the back. Here in colorado it does snow but we use sand instead of salt, so no worries for rust.
How good do the third gen V8's handle in snow??

 

with the right tires it can be really fun, with the wrong tires a nightmare. I originally had yokahama avs intermediates. it snowed about 6 inches, i made it to work in the beginning of the storm (*** must have been watching over me) then i slid past my building. parked it and wasn't even able to pull out of my space later in the day. I got a ride home that night.

the next storm i had fresh firestone winterfire tires 215/65-15's on my old 7x15's WOW, what an unbelievable difference. i could acellerate faster than most 4wd's, brake better and actually turn the car. it would track thru turns amazingly well. Combine the traction with 400 or so ft/lbs and you had better control than in the dry! you could put the rear where ever you wanted. If you have to get thru snow get snow tires on steel rims.

 

Heh it took me 4 days to get mine out the driveway last year, Then I stopped to talk to someone on a downhill snow covered road and couldnt even get moving again wishout getting my brother to get out and push...Im moving to PA for school up @ Wyotech in a month and I already snatched up a truck for free and put a clutch and fuel pump in it, So I have transportation once it snows!

 

I rinse mine off daily. I have even drove 3 winters with polished TTII's. They are fine. I have some beater IROC wheels now though. HA...no beater car...just beater wheels.