I plan on keeping my Z for quite a while.

My DD BMW 318is is showing its age, and the many winters it has gone through since 1994. With this age, rust has become quite a problem. Rocker panels, windshield, underbody, etc.

I do not drive the Z in snow, and rarely in rain, but I do take it out occassionally in the winter on nicer days to keep it running. I am thinking I should just park it for the winter from now on, but I'd rather look rust protections for piece of mind.

I just looked into RustCheck, but the closest location is in Syracuse, NY and I am quite a distance away. I will make the trip if it is worth it. Looked at the few rust threads on the forum, and there's not too much to be said about rust proofing. Please give me the scoop as to what to do! If you live in the North, you know that rust is a HUGE issue if you plan on keeping your car for a substantial amount of time.

Thanks in advance

 

bump

 

bump

 

your local nissan dealership should offer corrosion protection packages

 

Coat the underbody with polyurethane.

 

explain

 

You'll notice it on newer cars/trucks.

The underbody will have a rubber coating sprayed on the underbody to protect it.

You can have this done to your car if not done already.

 

Oh okay. Thank you.

 

not sure if this would help but i made this thread awhile back

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....highlight=rust

 

Nice thread!

The only problem I have seems to be driving her in the winter. I only take the Z out once a week on dry roads, but they are still dusty from salt. I'm not sure if I should just park her for the winter or what. It's just hard not driving her for such a long time. I wonder if it's making a difference.

Thoughts?

 

I am planning to use http://www.3mestore.com/60440096497.html?WT.mc_id=3MAAD for covering the rest of the metal areas in the wheel wells not covered with OEM "rock guard" / rust prevention. Is this a bad idea?

Also, I was thinking today (almost all day) about other vulnerable rust places. What most concerns me are the outer fender lip, and the inside of this lip, pictured here on this BMW:

Outer (under):



Inner (both the inner edge, and actually "inside" the fender lip):



The area inside front fender wells not covered with factory rock-guard, nor plastic shrouds, and this same general area in the rear near the strut mount are where I originally planned to spray with the 3M:

Front

Rear (this shot is off of a BMW, which has the sprayed rock guard all the way up to the edges of the shock mount - I don't remember the Z having this complete coverage):



Would it be worth it to disassemble the suspension to get complete coverage of the spray around the mounts? I'd rather not have to do that, but in the name of preservation...






I just know how paint chips expose bare metal and that causes rust, blah blah. Despite "clean" roads in the warmer months, there is still the potential for rocks to kick up and ding the paint. Should I not both spraying the areas shown with the red arrows above and just take a look every now and then for chips and then use the touch up paint? Please let me know! I know some of you have more experience with this subject!

 

I drive my G four seasons including the snow and live in CT. Because my early 2003 MY Z had open diff and was a Base, it wasn't practical to drive in the snow - you at least need an LSD which every other model had. I'd drive it more like you describe, which I did for 2 Winters.

Biggest thing you have to do is really clean the car well, and frequently. Watch out for sand and salt traps in the front of the car, and behind the front and rear fender guards.

After 4 Winters, the only corrosion I am seeing on my G Coupe is mild surface on the aluminum engine parts from salt spray, and on the subframe brace where I scraped the hell out of it hitting an surprise frost heave at a fairly high rate of speed (bottomed out the rear springs and lifted the car off the road a bit).

Also 3M makes a very good undercoating which is flexible and can be used to cover spots Nissan missed. I don't have the part number with me but have used this with my older Nissans (e.g. '91 Sentra SE-R) to add coverage and it seems to work well.

On the good news side, the actually alloy used in the sheet metal contains rust inhibitors, so even relatively unprotected metal is resistant to rust.

It's a personal decision but I could not stand garage queens...

 

Hm...very good to know Steve!

Do I know you from Team 350Gz? If not, join up. It's a nice local(ish) community

 

Nope, CT-based? Drop me a link, I'll check it out

g35driver_pics

 

Not CT based, but has a CT chapter. I think we'd all agree it's Boston-based, originally. It's CT/RI/MA. I guess your best bet is to take a read through the most recent thread since it has the most current info: https://my350z.com/forum/north-east/366547-update-team350gz-update.html

We do mountain runs up in northern MA and VT, have small/medium meets in Berlin on the pike, etc.

Where are you specifically? PM me if you don't want to post it publicly.

 

North Canton, CT - near Granby town line. Hell, anyone with Google can see my driveway and house now...

 

Ooh, I just noticed your sig says Base - like my old superblack '03 Z - forget using it in the snow or ice entirely, w/o an LSD, no TCS, it's not going to move. VDC isn't very helpful in snow or ice and in fact works against you, but at least an LSD with TCS is somewhat of a plus, because the TCS cuts/modulates torque sent to the rear when the wheels are spinning.

I literally got my Z stuck by parking with one tire on the snow, the tire still on the pavement just sat there while the open diff just spun the passenger side tire like crazy. It would get stuck on a heavy dew frozen on the driveway!

The G Coupe is no snow superstar, but with 4 Pirelli's Snowsports I've driven through some hairy stuff. If the road is plowed hardpack, that's ideal. Slush and deeper than about 6" of fresh snow, the car gets packed up from underneath and sometimes that's enough to "high center" part of the car and make it pretty hard to keep moving. Starting off on steeper hills can be a challenge, too.

I may park it more this Winter, I used to have to take a lot of longer drives for work during the week, now I don't. Without that, I have a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab Pickup that works really well in snow, and an Altima and a '91 Sentra SE-R.