Rust protection (undercarriage) and winter daily driving

[Fly2High]

IF you buy a beater, isn't that more likely to break down? I didn't buy a new car only to drive during the worst part of the year worrying if it will start or leave me stranded. Sure, you can find a good car but that will cost more. Beaters need upkeep too. When a car gets old, it will need more replaced/repaired. I guess it depends on your drive and also on how you store it.

My car lives outside - driven or not. My cars do not have any or much rust. I have heard that getting snow/slush on them and then bringing them in the garage cause it to melt and it is the melted snow/slush that causes it. Keep it frozen and it does nothin. May be why those more northern climates have little rust. I have kept my cars 10-16 years and only the older ones had rust(70's and 80's). As the years progressed, they each had less. Touch up paint is your friend. Why leave a chip open? The sooner you touch it up, the less likely it will rust.

I also wash my car weekly by hand. Warm bucket of water, several microfiber towels and ONR and at least I keep the paint as salt free as possible.

I love driving my car. Next weekend the summers come off and the winter go on. I love being one of the few Mustang GT (PP2 too) driving through snow with rather little difficulty. You still need to be smart and drive conservative but it is not the crutch many make it out to be. They use to have rear wheel drive long before there was traction control and all the nannies and they did it just fine. You just need to learn how to do it. Go to a large parking lot in the snow with proper winter tires and learn to read and feel your car. The rain snow mode really makes a difference. You still cannot drive like a pedal masher, street light racer. You need to be smart. The car has a throttle that can be modulated and can be driven sanely. you just have to learn to press less on the accelerator instead of using a weak underpowered car.

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[StangTime]

Buy this and use it once every few days. Will clean any salt or crap that sticks to your undercarriage.

https://www.amazon.com/BE-PRESSURE-85-400-062-Undercarriage-Cleaner/dp/B0065OYYQQ

Oooh, das pretty neat! I guess you need a pressure washer for that tho, yes?

Maybe, but I see no reason you can't attach a garden hose to it. Maybe modify the jets to work with the lower water pressure. I might pick one up to play with.

 

[Bit_the_Bullitt]

Your biggest issue is going to be tires, rims, suspension, and paint chips from the potholes and busted up concrete and asphalt from the plows. I'd get some winter tires, spare set of winter ......
came that way. Key is to avoid chips and when you get them fix them immediately.

I am aware of the fact I'll be needing winter tires and new rims. I priced them out to be about $2,400 for all 4 (Bullitt has a staggered set and I'm not going to be messing with tires or wheels not recommended by Ford), now they don't have non-run flats for the Pirrellis, so more like $2,600. We are likely going to get a beater truck for the house and LLC, but I got the Bullitt to love it daily, not 8 months out of the year. I understand your concerns though.

Just my opinion and god knows my opinion goes against popular opinion when it comes to .....
unnessiasry. you bought a car to drive it not look at it in a garage.

Yeah, I can respect and understand the point of views of people that garage it. I mean, I garage it every night, but it's my daily. We have 2 cars only, might get a truck as a "crap" hauler, but exactly, I spent this money to drive the s*it out of my Bullitt.

Maybe, but I see no reason you can't attach a garden hose to it. Maybe modify the jets to work with the lower water pressure. I might pick one up to play with.

Post your results in here. I think I need to get a pressure washer anyway tho.

IF you buy a beater, isn't that more likely to break down? I didn't buy a new car only to drive to learn to press less on the accelerator instead of using a weak underpowered car.

So you have a PP2, which comes with the slicks, right? Bullitt is essentially PP1, I got the Pilot 4s, but looking at the Pirelli Sottozzeros mainly after the year-round Car&Driver test. What rims and tires does your baby have?

 

[Bit_the_Bullitt]

By the way, everyone, I am very glad that you are giving me this input. I thank you all very much. I completely get both points of view - garage it and use it only when nice, vs make it a daily in all 4 seasons.
I'm leaning towards the latter. I've used the wet/snow mode in heavy rains and it makes the car incredibly tame (I was actually very surprised by that), so I reckon with a dedicated set of winter tires+rims it should be easy...

 

[Jhamp232]

Fluid film. You can get cans like this or buy it by the gallon and spray with an air compressor. It’s one of the best reviewed rust protection products I have heard of.
To be honest, I use it on the Honda I drive in Chicago winters while I garage the Mustang, but good on you for keeping the mustang on daily duty. I think that’s awesome.

 

[Fly2High]

I am aware of the fact I'll be needing winter tires and new rims. I priced them out to be about $2,400 for all 4 (Bullitt has a staggered set and I'm not going to be messing with tires or wheels not recommended by Ford), now they don't have non-run flats for the Pirrellis, so more like $2,600. We are likely going to get a beater truck for the house and LLC, but I got the Bullitt to love it daily, not 8 months out of the year. I understand your concerns though.



Yeah, I can respect and understand the point of views of people that garage it. I mean, I garage it every night, but it's my daily. We have 2 cars only, might get a truck as a "crap" hauler, but exactly, I spent this money to drive the s*it out of my Bullitt.



Post your results in here. I think I need to get a pressure washer anyway tho.



So you have a PP2, which comes with the slicks, right? Bullitt is essentially PP1, I got the Pilot 4s, but looking at the Pirelli Sottozzeros mainly after the year-round Car&Driver test. What rims and tires does your baby have?

I see you want to stick with stock sizes on the Bullitt which is not what Ford recommends for winter. If you look around,

https://www.wheel-size.com/size/ford/mustang/2019/

only the GT has a snow/winter tire size recommendation. They recommend a 235/50R18. I have been told that there a very few 18" wheels that will fit over our 15" Brembo front brakes. Like you, I wanted winter tires but found no hope at dealerships not forums as to what winter tire and wheels to use.

My baby wears 19x10.5 ET24 wheels in the front and 19x11 et48 in the rear as OEM for the summer. 305/30R19 PS4S (removed the Cup2 and have plans to sell them) all around. Great tire but as the temps are now at or slightly below 50F, they need a mile or two to warm up. The traction control activates and the wheels spin when I leave a stop sign on a left turn on 30mph roads going gently from the stop.

For winter, I went for the following:

Wheels VMR 710 (gunmetal):
Fr: 19 x9.5 ET22
Rr: 19x9.5 ET45

Tires
Blizzak LM-32 275/35R19

Why did I choose these?
Well, I was very slow with finding wheels and only have one car to drive. the Cup 2 had to come off after owning the car a month (last year) and the temps were getting cold. I put about 1000 miles on them - barely. Taking the wheel measurements, i looked at calculators for the smallest width tire that would fit. Narrow is better in the snow. I used those Bizzaks through last winter and saw two snow falls - both driven smartly and manageable.

Over last winter, I finalized the wheels and received them (Thank you UroTuning - great price and even better customer support). I chose the smallest width wheel that would fit the Blizzaks I now owned which was a 19 x 9.5. I searched for the closest offsets to stock. I swapped the tires to the new rims and then, put a new set of PS4S on the OEM.

The Blizzak are within the recommended 3% circumference difference of the OEM tires so I have no issues with traction control nor speedo. They also give me a little more clearance than the stock size tires.

With the new wheels, I will be switching to either a set of 245 or 255 maybe 40's. when the 275/35 wear out. I would have gone with 245 or 255 from the start but they would not fit my stock wheels.

With the fact that I only put 5K miles/yr on any car I have owned in recent history, I have a feeling I will be stuck with these two sets of wheels for a long time. I live 5 miles from work.

Hope this information helps.

Here is a photo from last winter with my baby in her snow boots. Also added some RokBlox mud guards to help with the paint chipping.

 

[Fly2High]

Also, I chose a square setup (ok, the tires are square, the wheels are almost). You do not want wider tires on any one axel. Wider tires will have a greater chance of breaking free than narrow ones. Winter is not the time to worry about going fast. You should be thinking TRACTION!! Square , I feel, will make all four corners respond similarly and should be easier to control.

Rain/Snow mode is your friend.

Take the car out to a parking lot the first snow chance you can and see what your setup will do.

All seasons are nice for 3 out of 4 seasons. Nothing beats a set of winter tires in snow. Do a YouTube search for all those videos where a 2WD with winters out does a 4WD/AWD with all seasons. All cars have 4 wheel braking. Winters help in snow traction that all season cannot reach. they are getting better and some are close but you will always find a winter better than the best all season.

I find Nokia to have the very best followed by Michelin. The rest follow. Do not skimp on any tire. It is the only contact you have with the ground. The money you save will be spent with less traction, longer stopping distances and lesser handling. Did I also mention the spending on accidents? This is NOT the car to save tire money on.

 

[Vlad Soare]

Nothing beats a set of winter tires in snow.

This cannot be stressed enough. The cheapest winter tires are better in snow than the most expensive all-seasons. But of course, one shouldn't settle for the cheapest ones. Once you've seen what some good Nokians can do in the snow, nothing else will do anymore.

 

[bknight21]

I just had my undercarriage sprayed today. I specifically looked for a shop near me that applied Krown to the undercarriage as I have read nothing but good things about that product. The total came to about $140. Last week I switched back to the stock 19 in wheels that came on the car and had a set of Michelin Xi3s put on all 4 corners (245/40/19). I was looking at the Pirelli sottozero 3 tires but decided to get a more snow focused tire just to be safe.

 

[Fly2High]

Fluid film. You can get cans like this or buy it by the gallon and spray with an air compressor. It’s one of the best reviewed rust protection products I have heard of.
To be honest, I use it on the Honda I drive in Chicago winters while I garage the Mustang, but good on you for keeping the mustang on daily duty. I think that’s awesome.

This stuff reminds me of what my wife's uncle did to his GTO Judge. He told me he got some heavy weight oil , took apart the interior and sprayed in inside the body. He then put everything back and drove down the dustiest road he could find. He felt the dust would help the thick oil to stick in place. Last I recall , he said it still has less than 50,000 miles and he drives it to car shows. He said, a guy checking in cars said to him, if you are driving this in, what did you bring to the show? , He responded, I brought this! The car is still all original and in perfect condition.

 

[Bit_the_Bullitt]

I just had my undercarriage sprayed today. I specifically looked for a shop near me that applied Krown to the undercarriage as I have read nothing but good things about that product. The total came to about $140. Last week I switched back to the stock 19 in wheels that came on the car and had a set of Michelin Xi3s put on all 4 corners (245/40/19). I was looking at the Pirelli sottozero 3 tires but decided to get a more snow focused tire just to be safe.

That's the price I saw roughly as well. Seems lot of people have good experience with this, so I'll probably do this as well.

Quick question - your car doesn't have a staggered set does it...

 

[bknight21]

That's the price I saw roughly as well. Seems lot of people have good experience with this, so I'll probably do this as well.

Quick question - your car doesn't have a staggered set does it...

My car came stock with a square setup (which is what I use in the winter) but I have a staggered set for the summer

 

[Bit_the_Bullitt]

My car came stock with a square setup (which is what I use in the winter) but I have a staggered set for the summer

Okay, so factory setup was not stagerred. I'm just kind of worried about putting different sizes than my current one on the car...

 

[bknight21]

As

Okay, so factory setup was not stagerred. I'm just kind of worried about putting different sizes than my current one on the car...

As long as the wheels clear the brakes you should be good to go

 

[Vlad Soare]

What worries me most about using the Mustang in winter is not the snow on the road - the Nokians will take care of that - but the frameless doors. This is my first car ever to have this feature, and I don't really know what to expect. I can easily imagine the doors covered in a thick layer of hard ice after a freezing rain, and myself looking helpless at the car, cursing, unable to open it for several days.

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