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Paint quality/withstanding winter (salt/snow etc)

Wriggly

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Granted my '17 is definitely no Shelby...but I've owned some rather rare and valuable cars (mainly older stuff)...they are meant to be DRIVEN. That's my belief, but I respect anyone's decision to do what THEY want with THEIR own car.

Find a touchless wash place that's convenient. The undercarriage wash will keep things from corroding if you do it on a decent regular basis.

We get snow here in central VA - surely not as bad as a lot of places - but I daily drove more than one late 60's GM A-Body, a 3rd gen F-Body etc without any issues.

I'm not big on the paint protection film, but I am considering it for the front end of my car...more from rocks / debris kicking up. Other than that - a day of paint correction in the Spring will fix anything that didn't get through the clear or base coat.

I once knew a guy who had (among other cars) a '63 Split Window Fuelie Vette. He drove it year round. People constantly nagged at him. His answer was the same every time (he was probably in his late 50's then).

"My brother had a couple of rare cars that he made into garage queens. When his health failed him, he always regretted never just driving his cars as much as possible - because in the end, that's what they are built for."

If you don't have access to a touchless place (year round) with the under carriage spray, you can do what a buddy of mine did years ago. He spent 3 years on a resto-mod and the frame / undercarriage was base coat / clear coat but he wanted to drive it year round. He took some PVC pipe, drilled small holes in it, and used fittings to attach his hose to it. He's slide it under his car and let it run, moving it around to clean the undercarriage every couple of weeks.
A little note about car wash undercarriage washes..... they use reclaimed water. Even the wash water in car washes is reclaimed. They usually use fresh water for the final rinse only. There are no filters involved in the reclaim process either. The water flows down the pit under the tunnel, then collects in a pit that usually has three pits in a series with walls that extend up part way between the pits. The water fills up the first pit, then cascades over the wall into the next pit, filling that one before cascading over the next wall before filling the last pit. The water pickup is about two feet off the bottom. The system is designed to allow particulates to settle out as the water makes its way through the pits before being recirculated. You are washing your cars with concentrated salt brine in the winter and only a 10-20 second fresh water rinse to take the salty water off the surface.

I owned car washes and I'd never take any of my cars through one. :thumbsup:
 

ctandc72

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A little note about car wash undercarriage washes..... they use reclaimed water. Even the wash water in car washes is reclaimed. They usually use fresh water for the final rinse only. There are no filters involved in the reclaim process either. The water flows down the pit under the tunnel, then collects in a pit that usually has three pits in a series with walls that extend up part way between the pits. The water fills up the first pit, then cascades over the wall into the next pit, filling that one before cascading over the next wall before filling the last pit. The water pickup is about two feet off the bottom. The system is designed to allow particulates to settle out as the water makes its way through the pits before being recirculated. You are washing your cars with concentrated salt brine in the winter and only a 10-20 second fresh water rinse to take the salty water off the surface.

I owned car washes and I'd never take any of my cars through one. :thumbsup:
Really? News to me. Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to ask a guy I know who owns 2 or 3 touchless car washes. I know he runs his Vette through 'em all the time - I've seen him do it.
 

k4show

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Really? News to me. Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to ask a guy I know who owns 2 or 3 touchless car washes. I know he runs his Vette through 'em all the time - I've seen him do it.
Yes please let us know, I live in Southern Canada with a 17 GT PP I plan to drive in the winter.
 
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UnhandledException

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What about jacking one side of the car at a time all the way using a regular jack (say 18-20” high) and use a pressure washer to just wash it off.

I just dont know if its a good idea for water to get in everywhere like engine cover, transmission itself and drive shaft joints, differential, all the fuel lines and everything else that is not body panel.
 

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I'm sure the 350 will handle the Jersey winter weather fine.

It's only when you safely park your 4000 mile, always cleaned and garage kept, never driven in bad weather 350, will the front fenders corrode like a 1971 Datsun 240Z. What a POS! Went to put some wax on the car today and this is what I find! I just bought a 31 year old Porsche whose aluminum fenders, hood and doors show no signs of corrosion. If I knew an issue like this would surface, in 2016 for God's sake, I never would have bought this car.

Hopefully the word will get out - How anyone aware of this "shortcoming" would buy a 350, or future 500 would puzzle me?

Now what, Ford dealer body shop? Body filler? New fenders? More bad, but now non-matching paint?

After doing some research, looks like this is known problem with aluminum panels on Ford products, and is bound to affect other 350s. See attached TSB. New fenders, here we come - not happy about this.


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UnhandledException

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I'm sure the 350 will handle the Jersey winter weather fine.

It's only when you safely park your 4000 mile, always cleaned and garage kept, never driven in bad weather 350, will the front fenders corrode like a 1971 Datsun 240Z. What a POS! Went to put some wax on the car today and this is what I find! I just bought a 31 year old Porsche whose aluminum fenders, hood and doors show no signs of corrosion. If I knew an issue like this would surface, in 2016 for God's sake, I never would have bought this car.

Hopefully the word will get out - How anyone aware of this "shortcoming" would buy a 350, or future 500 would puzzle me?

Now what, Ford dealer body shop? Body filler? New fenders? More bad, but now non-matching paint?
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I dont know what to say, that is extremely upsetting:( I believe that when I looked this up in the past, I found out that Ford’s warranty only works if there is substantial amount of visible rust. Paint bubbling isn’t considered warranty item but I might be wrong.

On another note, I genuinely believe that for a car like this, not driving it extended periods of time and different heat cycles is just not good. And thats not only for the paint but all other components, rubber hoses, coolers, engine components, etc.

I am very sorry again to see this:( I hope you resolve it soon.
 

datadatum

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^ No es bueno. :(

I live in Florida now, so winter driving is the most enjoyable time of the year. When I lived in Chicago, I winter drove a modified STi with blizzaks - some of the most fun I've ever had on 4 wheels. I would not want to drive a 500hp RWD car through a Chicago winter...

As far as winter conditioning... I had a 1996 VW that went through 10 winters in Chicago and the rear bumper literally fell off the car because the supports were rusted through. My 2005 STi went through 2 winters in Chicago and looked pristine. YMMV...
 

Davy_Baby9

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Living in Michigan my entire life, this thread makes me cringe. Brushless auto washes do not get everything off your vehicle. Once salt coats the underside of your vehicle, it's basically stuck there unless you scrub it off with soap and water.
 

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Strokerswild

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I'd be shitting a brick if I saw anything like Zombo's nightmare with a babied, low mile car.

That thing looks like it spent a decade of Minnesota winters without a wash. :shock:
 
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UnhandledException

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I sprayed fluid film under my car pretty much everywhere including plastic areas. I inspected the underbody multiple times during winter and I observed not a spec of salt. That stuff keeps water and anything away from the car.

For the exposed top body panels, about 70% of my car is covered in xpel ultimate. I also always add sealant at least once a year and for that I do full claybar.

The xpel installer who has been doing this for 20 years also told me that salt covering the entire car is actually good. He never washes his car in winter because that coat of dirt and salt forms a protective film on the paint. I dont know how much of this is true though.

I now have 29,300 miles on my car after 22 montha of ownership. I dont have a spec of rust on any body panel. The only thing that rusted are the driveshaft and suspension shocks.
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