Paint quality/withstanding winter (salt/snow etc)

[jasonstang]

Given how many people have hood corrosion issue due to moisture, I try to keep mine dry.
Get a beater. Something that can do in the snow.

Sponsored

 

[UnhandledException]

Actually, regarding rust and corrosion anywhere on the car. Isnt this what the warranty is for? If anything on the car breaks or rusts, surely Ford will make it right? For example if the carbon composite black pieces on the front bumper suddenly have turned into white and their color changed due to road salt, thats their problem not mine.

The windshield wiper arms in my M5 rusted and it was replaced under warranty. I m sure rust is covered in all car warranties.

 

[TRS7139]

Since you mentioned "investment" in your question, one of the absolute best methods to eliminate that from the discussion is winter driving, especially in snow states.
You want to worry about something, in my mind it would be all that aluminum up front in sub zero temps.
That said, paint is paint, same technology, methodology, formula, as on an F150. Only thing different is lower, with more surface to catch gravel and chip.
Any vehicle I have ever owned......probably 95% of any stone chips come from November to April .

 

[MrCincinnati]

I agree OP -- part of the allure of this car, for me, was that regardless of the uniqueness of it and the awesomeness --- it's still a Ford Mustang... meaning I can get it cold, wet and dirty guilt free.

 

[SVTinAR]

Not exactly sure where you live but most winter areas use a lot of sand and small gravel on roads in addition to salt, and that does a fair job of media blasting windshields, Xpel, paint, wheels, chassis, etc. But windshields and paint are just as replaceable as anything else on the car so if driving a steamroller tired, ready made splitter snow plow equipped car with 526 HP and rear wheel drive on icy roads floats your boat then more power to you. It's a nice car but it's not a museum piece.

 

[k4show]

What about touchless car washes?

 

[ahl395]

There is a place nearby that does that but it costs $50 just the basic hand wash. Doing that once every two weeks between December and March is $400/year minimum. Its too much money down the drain no? In 5-6 years it will cost the same as xpel.

When I say there is snow on the ground for 3 days a year I mean there are no more than 3-4 days of a year where you are driving over uncleaned 1-2” of snow. It doesnt snow here like it snows in chicago and when it does everyone stays home. Schools close in my town even with 1/4” of snow on the ground. They salt very frequently and clean the roads right away. I didnt mean to say car doesnt see salt 3 days of a year.

Gt350 is very close to Gt3. Yes I agree. I drove a 991.1 GT3. I also drove several 997.2 and 997.1 versions. What GT350 lacks is the size. Porsche is like a glove you wear. It also has the giant wing in the back and it feels like the motor is strapped on your body. You feel and hear everything. Its a race car. So from a pure performance perspective GT350 is very close yes but from a driving race car experience perspective, they are very different cars. And as such its my dream to own one someday. THAT is the car I will baby and garage queen it. I havent owned a non performance oriented car in my life - ever. I m not one of those people who will have an SUV or a regular sedan like accord as their daily driver. Without a question if it werent gt350, it would be an M3, or an M5 that is my daily driver. When you see the world from my eyes, you will understand that gt350 is the perfect daily driver for a small family father like me.

Even if I had no money and no disposable income, I would never own one of those “normal” cars. I would rather own a GTI or a E36 M3 or a WRX that is 10 years old. You guys probably think I am crazy and I am but I live life on the extremes. This is just who I am.

To show you what I mean, I put a 4 post lift in my garage with 90” ceiling. There is 2mm or less clearance between the posts and ceiling. I can only use 4 of the 14 locks and on the 4th lock car comes 1 9/16” close to my ceiling

Keep in mind even with the xpel you still need to wash it. So I don't think the wash is money down the drain. I have a monthly wash plan at mine, which is $100/mo, That is about the same cost of you going once every two weeks. Even with Xpel you're still going to want it washed, so that's money that you would have to spend anyway (unless you dont mind leaving it dirty for long periods of time).

With that little amount of snow/salt, I would say the xpel (for that reason) is actually the waste of money, since you have to wash it anyway.

 

[UnhandledException]

One problem that destroyed my M5’s paint was my lovely wife and daughter rubbing all kinds of things on the car’s surface when they walk around the car in the garage or get in and out of the car. When car is coated wirh road salt and sand and someone even gently touches an area of the car, it scratches the heck of the paint sometimes going through the paint.

You have to wash the xpel too but I can simply pressure wash it without using any mitts or shampoo. Even wirh the most expensive mitts, and being as gentle as you can, you will still scratch the car. and if water freezes on xpel, who cares.

Also honestly up until this thread I didnt know about this aluminum rust issues in this car and now I think thats even more reason to do xpel on this car no? Xpel will prevent any surface rust to come out, period. It wraps under the body panels and no water or anything else can come contact with the body.

 

[Hack]

My last two 2011 Mustangs that I owned both had bubbling paint on the aluminum hoods. I don't know whether Ford has resolved that issue or not. I can tell you that with the 2011s the warranty coverage was only for panels that rusted completely through, not for bubbling paint.

I've really struggled with the decision on how much to drive a car and how hard to try to preserve the car versus driving it and having fun. There's always the $ side of it. Obviously if you drive a junky car most of the time you will spend less money on cars. However, the odds are you will enjoy your driving a lot less as well. If you enjoy having the car in your garage more than you enjoy driving it, you won't have a problem parking it for 4-6 months out of the year. Every time I walk by my GT350 I want to get in and drive it.

I am being a little hypocritical as I drove a POS 2003 Explorer to work today rather than drive my GT350. The longer I own the GT350 the more I love it and want to preserve it. So ironically I end up driving it less because I love driving it so much.

 

[UnhandledException]

My last two 2011 Mustangs that I owned both had bubbling paint on the aluminum hoods. I don't know whether Ford has resolved that issue or not. I can tell you that with the 2011s the warranty coverage was only for panels that rusted completely through, not for bubbling paint.

I've really struggled with the decision on how much to drive a car and how hard to try to preserve the car versus driving it and having fun. There's always the $ side of it. Obviously if you drive a junky car most of the time you will spend less money on cars. However, the odds are you will enjoy your driving a lot less as well. If you enjoy having the car in your garage more than you enjoy driving it, you won't have a problem parking it for 4-6 months out of the year. Every time I walk by my GT350 I want to get in and drive it.

I am being a little hypocritical as I drove a POS 2003 Explorer to work today rather than drive my GT350. The longer I own the GT350 the more I love it and want to preserve it. So ironically I end up driving it less because I love driving it so much.

Nothing like starting her up at 7am and selfishly not pressing the clutch pedal and hearing the 130db loud roar and waking up the entire neighborhood (and your wife punching your shoulder and yelling “didnt I tell you not to do that?!?!?!).

I see what you are saying but the issue is in 2-3 years there will be some other car and this one wont feel the same way. Life is too short. I bought this car instead of a 997 GT3 I almost did for a lot more precisely because wife and I decided we want a sports car that we dont have to worry about. I can take it to shop rite or township’s library where all soccer mom’s go and do god knows what with their doors and shopping carts.

As long as the driveterrain and the soul of the car is intact, this is a car to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Its so much fun listening the idle go left right left right left right left right firing order as I wait for my train and then watching and hearing her as my drives her away. Gives me something to look forward to for the rest of the day

I already put 15,200 miles on mine in 13 months. I drove her to missouri crossing 7 states. It was so much fun. Its a car I have memories and its a car I want to make more memories. If one of those memories is just getting stuck in snow and making a fool out of my self and township cops coming and making fun of me, who cares. But I know it wont be me getting stuck with my snow tires haha

I didnt mean for this thread to turn into not daily driving a gt350. I already made that decision. The question was how the paint holds up against harsh winter and whether $2500 is worth spending. And when I created this thread I had no idea about the rust issue. Now that I know the rust issue I think its an absolute must have especially if you are planning to put 200,000-300,000 miles on the car like I am because that rust is guaranteed to happen in my driving scenario. It doesnt matter how much I wash the car.

 

[Hack]

Nothing like starting her up at 7am and selfishly not pressing the clutch pedal and hearing the 130db loud roar and waking up the entire neighborhood (and your wife punching your shoulder and yelling “didnt I tell you not to do that?!?!?!).

I didnt mean for this thread to turn into not daily driving a gt350. I already made that decision. The question was how the paint holds up against harsh winter and whether $2500 is worth spending. And when I created this thread I had no idea about the rust issue. Now that I know the rust issue I think its an absolute must have especially if you are planning to put 200,000-300,000 miles on the car like I am because that rust is guaranteed to happen in my driving scenario. It doesnt matter how much I wash the car.

I agree - do what you can to protect the paint. The main body of the car has a lot of galvanized panels, which helps a lot with the under body rust, at least.

I start it up at 5:30 am, but I don't open the garage door until after the initial racket is done.

 

[GTP]

My last two 2011 Mustangs that I owned both had bubbling paint on the aluminum hoods. I don't know whether Ford has resolved that issue or not. I can tell you that with the 2011s the warranty coverage was only for panels that rusted completely through, not for bubbling paint.

The current warranty covers bubbling paint if on an aluminum panel, no perforation required, and for up to 5 years. Ford will also reimburse you for the cost to replace stripes, clear film, etc.

As for underbody rust, well, clear film doesn't go there. So either put some spray on protection (won't cover every nook and cranny), or go to touchless wash where you drive slowly over the under-chassis pipe, or both.

My car has Xpel on all the upper horizontal panels - hood, roof, trunk, as well as the usual bumpers, etc. Only my sides aren't covered. You will find that the sides remain smoother to the touch, because all the crap falls down from above. So OP, get the upper panels covered at least, if you go with more clear film. Plus, you use the snow brush more on the upper panels.

 

[UnhandledException]

The current warranty covers bubbling paint if on an aluminum panel, no perforation required, and for up to 5 years. Ford will also reimburse you for the cost to replace stripes, clear film, etc.

As for underbody rust, well, clear film doesn't go there. So either put some spray on protection (won't cover every nook and cranny), or go to touchless wash where you drive slowly over the under-chassis pipe, or both.

My car has Xpel on all the upper horizontal panels - hood, roof, trunk, as well as the usual bumpers, etc. Only my sides aren't covered. You will find that the sides remain smoother to the touch, because all the crap falls down from above. So OP, get the upper panels covered at least, if you go with more clear film. Plus, you use the snow brush more on the upper panels.

Thanks I got this: https://www.amazon.com/S100-16300A-...93572710&sr=8-1&keywords=s100+rust+protection

Can I just spray this everywhere including all the moving parts like transmission, joints, diff, suspension or just exposed body panels?

Not sure if rust issue can apply to diff and trans covers.

 

[ctandc72]

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.

 

[GTP]

Thanks I got this: https://www.amazon.com/S100-16300A-...93572710&sr=8-1&keywords=s100+rust+protection

Can I just spray this everywhere including all the moving parts like transmission, joints, diff, suspension or just exposed body panels?

Not sure if rust issue can apply to diff and trans covers.

Well, you will want to apply it around the underside "perimeters" of the chassis first. If it was me, I would take my car to the DIY garage to use their 2-post lift, because it would be hard to get the can to spray nearly upside down if using only jack stands.

I would remove the fender liners to spray the inner edges of the wheel wells. Spray the pinch welds. These are the areas that will rust first. Large areas in the middle of underside panels, not so much.

The drive shaft and iron diff are expected to have surface rust which is not a concern.

Let us know how far a can goes.

Sponsored