[Bob RS]

I drive my Camaro year round here in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. It does great in the snow with 4 Blizzak winter tires, surprisingly the Camaro has driven pass a few front drive vehicles struggling to climb a hill. Since there is a car wash 2 minutes from my house I hose her off extensively everytime salt hits the body, won't give the salt a chance to dry.

[Petrol Head]

Originally Posted by bobfic

Sorry...but sometimes the first snow looks good....Nice pic.
Have to admit..we had nice summer.

Oh I love snow. I hate driving in it when idiots are all around me but other than that, I actually like winter. We’ll turn the TV and lights off and lay on the couch and watch the snow fall out the front window at night against the street light

[m6-lt1]

I just bought all season tires and put them on my stock wheels because I missed driving the car too much last winter. The undercarriage is mostly covered on this car and a lot of the suspension pieces are aluminum. Cars don't rot nearly as fast from salt as they used too. Manufacturers have gotten way better at building cars in regards to them rotting from the salt. I sold my 07 Mustang Gt last year with 130k + miles on it. It was driven in winter weather. None of the frame/undercarriage had rust on it except the front control arms which I replaced because I needed ball joints but decided to upgrade the whole control arm. I removed most of the stock exhaust at 120k and that didn't have rust either (the manifolds were cast iron so those were the normal rust color but that honestly happens after the first winter on those cars)

I won't be driving my camaro in the snow but I will be driving it on dry cold days. Like others said, unless you are planning on keeping the car past 15 years old I wouldn't worry at all about the salt.

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by Zr8000

That brine is worse on a vehicle than salt. Keep the camaro inside. My truck is 2 years old and the under carriage has a lot of rust on it. My truck never sits either.Even with winter tires they are not fun to drive in any kind of snow. I see v6 ones stuck on flat ground out here when it snows

Very true. In fact, I remember reading a couple of articles a few years back saying that private plow operators were seeing significant upticks in the amount of rust and rot on their vehicles because of the change in how much of that stuff was being used. The states and towns tried to refute it but were actually suffering the same fate with their own plow trucks (remember that these vehicles are drive predominantly in that muck as opposed to those of us that can wait even a short while until at least some of it has been removed from the roadways).

Yes, cars can hold up much better overall than they used to in the past. However, not being able to put the car away clean is the area that should remain a concern. As a daily driver, most of the salt and brine can and will get knocked off or washed off over a short time. But, if you simply park the car with that stuff all over it and let it sit, it's going to eat into the materials more.

For me, my car isn't a Camaro, it's a convertible. I bought it to drive with the top down. I have another vehicle (4x4) that was always intended to be what I drove year-round through cold, rain, snow, etc. So, parking the Camaro was always in the cards. If I were to reduce back to one vehicle, the Camaro would be sold to finance that one vehicle.

[JSH]

I've lived in Denver for 31 years and have never owned a vehicle that suffered any damage from any ice melt substances.

Originally Posted by ember1205

Very true. In fact, I remember reading a couple of articles a few years back saying that private plow operators were seeing significant upticks in the amount of rust and rot on their vehicles because of the change in how much of that stuff was being used. The states and towns tried to refute it but were actually suffering the same fate with their own plow trucks (remember that these vehicles are drive predominantly in that muck as opposed to those of us that can wait even a short while until at least some of it has been removed from the roadways).

Yes, cars can hold up much better overall than they used to in the past. However, not being able to put the car away clean is the area that should remain a concern. As a daily driver, most of the salt and brine can and will get knocked off or washed off over a short time. But, if you simply park the car with that stuff all over it and let it sit, it's going to eat into the materials more.

For me, my car isn't a Camaro, it's a convertible. I bought it to drive with the top down. I have another vehicle (4x4) that was always intended to be what I drove year-round through cold, rain, snow, etc. So, parking the Camaro was always in the cards. If I were to reduce back to one vehicle, the Camaro would be sold to finance that one vehicle.

[Z28James]

For me I wont drive it in the snow...but I will drive it until the salt hits the roads. Milwaukee hasn't had any snow yet so that means no salt yet. Id say do what makes you happy, if you want to drive it in the snow then have at it! My winter car is a 2012 Wrangler so when it does snow deep, I have a lot of fun with that.

I used to drive my 4th gen in the snow way back in the day and it was useless lol....those were the days.

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by JSH

I've lived in Denver for 31 years and have never owned a vehicle that suffered any damage from any ice melt substances.

I've lived in New England my whole life and have never personally had the impacts to my vehicles "change" in a way that I noticed. I also don't drive until the storm is past and most has been cleared or melted (as opposed to going out and driving in it all night like a plow truck would) and I generally don't keep cars more than a few years.

I know someone with a truck that has had its frame replaced TWICE because of rot, though. So, the stuff is definitely hard on the metals, but it also is going to hit those hardest that drive during the storms as opposed to someone like me that waits until the storms have passed through.

[Invertalon]

Originally Posted by Petrol Head

Lol from North Olmsted!

This is the view out my front door right now:

Attachment 1051899

Hello Neighbor! (I am in the Old Brooklyn area off 176/480). I work right near the airport.

We got hit over 12" here, easy, by the time it finally stopped. Dog was loving it, though! Super heavy wet snow, terrible... (But looked nice at least!).

[JSH]

Old Brooklyn
You definitely need a second vehicle!

[Petrol Head]

Originally Posted by Invertalon

Hello Neighbor! (I am in the Old Brooklyn area off 176/480). I work right near the airport.

We got hit over 12" here, easy, by the time it finally stopped. Dog was loving it, though! Super heavy wet snow, terrible... (But looked nice at least!).

Beautiful Husky! This is definitely his/her kind of weather!

I grew up in Old Brooklyn! On Portman near Broadview. Went to grade school at St. Leo's, my parents grew up on South Hills and Bader.

There's a couple of us Clevelanders on this forum I think. When all this covid garbage is over we need to meet.

[Petrol Head]

Originally Posted by JSH

Old Brooklyn
You definitely need a second vehicle!

Are you from Cleveland too?

The irony here if you're not is that we have a suburb of Cleveland called Lakewood too

What would be even spookier is if you are from Lakewood, Ohio and moved to Lakewood, Colorado

[zaimer]

Originally Posted by Invertalon

I don't particularly agree with this. It really just comes down to the care and maintenance given on the vehicle by the owner. Regardless if it was winter driven, or not.

Just an example cosmetically, the paint on my 11 year old, black car I had previously with 150,000 miles looked far better than most new cars with less than a year on them in terms of swirls/dents/dings/etc... Compare to some Camaro's I went and took a look at when shopping around used at first... Some with less than 10,000 miles, a few years old, looked like the paint went through one too many car washes with quite a bit of wear/tear, etc... I was surprised at the condition of some of these low mileage (likely garaged) vehicles.

And honestly, most people trade the car into the dealership, not privately, in which they hardly care. They worry about mileage and demand for said vehicle, you won't really get that much more out of a trade-in because you didn't drive it in winter. You will for lower mileage and avoiding any significant wear/tear, of course (which applies to any season you drive in).

On a side note, I still get baffled on the mentality of having a vehicle and hardly driving it and avoiding winter JUST so it holds residual value better in their mind (versus say, keeping it nice for the long-haul with no intention to trade in or the value in "X" years). Did you not buy the car to enjoy? You already lost a shit ton of money off the lot, it's only going to get worse regardless if you get a little rust and pick up some dings/scrapes along the way.

For the "care...given on the vehicle by the owner" - would driving continuously on gravel, salt, & sand fall under care or neglect?

Dealers do care about the condition of trade-ins, to some degree. You're kind of talking in circles. Didn't want to buy a used car because it was in poor condition. Dealers don't care about the condition of your vehicle, but you will get a better trade value by avoiding significant wear/tear. Again, wouldn't winter be classified as that?

I'm not parking it in the winter to hold residual value; I wouldn't have bought a damn Chevy in the first place, if the residual was my primary concern. I do agree with what you are saying there, though. I certainly did buy the Camaro to have fun. For me, part of that fun is keeping it in the best possible condition. As you had said, the car gets enough wear/tear as is (especially rock chips on the rocker panels) and the thing has never seen winter! For the record, I didn't lose a ton money of money driving of the lot. As with most of my other deals, I lost a minimal amount, if any. My deal was good enough that I could basically trade in now (without trying) and I would break even.

[Invertalon]

Originally Posted by zaimer

For the "care...given on the vehicle by the owner" - would driving continuously on gravel, salt, & sand fall under care or neglect?

Dealers do care about the condition of trade-ins, to some degree. You're kind of talking in circles. Didn't want to buy a used car because it was in poor condition. Dealers don't care about the condition of your vehicle, but you will get a better trade value by avoiding significant wear/tear. Again, wouldn't winter be classified as that?

Dealers do care, but it's not some significant factor in how much you get if it has normal levels of wear/tear. Brother worked at Toyota for many years (now at Infinity) as sales manager and talking with him you see how cut/dry most of that stuff is as far as how much you will get for a trade-in and all that. Basically, how long will it take them to sell, mileage and the vehicle itself (desirability) in a nutshell. They won't look to see if you have some minor rust on the under-carriage. It's cheap enough for them to repair/respray a bumper if need be and all that for excessive rock damage or whatever else. At the end of the day, they make their money regardless whether they give you more on trade-in or discount more off MSRP (or combination of both to make their target margins).

As far as avoiding a car because of wear/tear, there was other reasons I didn't buy those used cars. The paint itself is easy enough (I have been detailing for 15+ years as a side 'hobby', so swirls/scratches and other stuff is more of a PITA the first time around than anything). Just surprised such low mileage cars had such terrible paint care by the owner. Just an observation than anything, it wasn't a deal breaker. Most people won't look at the paint like I do, considering I do detail and take care of my cars to a higher degree than a majority of people looking to buy cars. Just saying, just because it's low mileage and not driven in the snow won't mean that the car is in better shape than one with higher mileage and driven in all conditions.

By "significant wear/tear" I am talking dents, deep scratches, etc... Those absolutely will effect the 'resale'. But as far as small rock chips, light rust and all that, not really.

[JSH]

This shot of the next week's local forecast says it all for me on the "do you park it?" topic