I consider my car a work in progress but if I drive my car in the winter here in Minnesota I am afraid it would just degrade not improve. Rust from all the salt we use here just makes me want to cry sometimes.

 

This is really the only thing that worries me about driving it in the winter. I try to rinse it off as much as possible whenever I get the chance.

 

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned what a pain in the *** the windows are. They always get frozen shut and don't drop when you open the door!

 

A little. I love dropping the top in the fall though. in New England it can be quite spectacular. Never had snows on my 2000 GT and got stuck in a bit of snow more than once. Car gets covered when I hear the first snow is coming.

 

I drove mine last winter with no issues here in NJ. No issues with the window either. I would try some sort of lube (maybe dry type) on the widow channels if they ice up.


I found a neat trick for those who store their mustang or other vehicle. Use a small charger with a lamp timer set for about an hour a day.
I use this with my motorcycles (4 total with the wife's) and classic cars/trucks. I hook up 1 amp charger for the bikes and 3 amp for the cars/trucks, and hook it to a lamp timer set to be on for just under an hour. Each day the batteries get a small hit of power and it could save you the cost of a battery maintainer/tender.
I got the idea from a cycle magazine. Someone wrote in, he hooked up the charger for his cycle to the lamp socket of his garage door opener. Twice each day when the door opened, his cycle got a 10- minute hit of power. Since I don't keep my drivers inside and have no openers, the timers do the job instead.

 

Drove mine in the rain yesterday, second time already. And I'll be driving it all winter too...

#california

It disgusts me to drive it in the rain. I have no choice though. Nor do I have a garage.

 

Well...

...I figure that if I had bought a Honda Accord with leather seats and bluetooth phone, it would have cost me $3000 more than my Mustang V6 Premium.

So, I don't mind driving it in the winter. A big factor is how long will I be keeping it?

I'm probably looking at a 7 year time horizon, so I don't think the winter will affect it that much in that timeframe.

If I was going to keep it "forever", then I might be more prone to garaging it. Same if it was a Shelby, or a higher-end potentially collectable Mustang.

But I've said "forever" on my last 3 cars, and each of them was really only around for 5-7 years.

TLDR: Lesson is --> Enjoy your car

 

All this talk of snow is confusing...now you add rain? What's rain?




San Diego

 

Lol NorCal. We has rain. And idiots go no faster than 30mph.

 

tell me about it!! Here in Indiana we got robbed of a majority of our summer with either constant rain, or abnormal low temps. Not to mention that long winter with a blip of spring.

 

Fall in new england is great for riding. As soon as the first application of salt, its going in the garage until spring. The nasty spray liquid deicer is brutal to any steel. It will kill me but take a look at the underside of a winter driven car here and its an easy decision. I'll drive the 4wd truck for a few months.

 

Exactly! I drive my 4x4 until the salt is gone after the first good rain. My truck though is paying the price but at least my Mustang is staying nice and corrosion free. Too bad the Winters seem to be getting longer and longer the last few years.

Anyone else cover their interior and engine compartment with Bounce dryer sheets? It smells nice and works to keep the mice at bay.

 

I've violated almost every winter storage rule and seemed to have gotten away with it. I didn't mess with the tire pressure or use sand bags and never had flat spot issues (although I did move the car by hand once a week). Never used a battery tender, and the car still started. Never put steel wool or anything in the exhaust pipe - no mice problems. Never put Stabil in the gas and I didn't store it with a completely full tank - ran fine in the spring. I also stored it with about 3k miles on the odometer and didn't change the oil beforehand. I did change the oil like 2 months before storing it, but not RIGHT before storing it like they say. I never noticed any moisture buildup in the oil.

Only thing I did do was put some dryer sheets in the inside and spread moth ***** around the perimeter. I used 4 tubs of DampRid too. That stuff really works. I had to drain them weekly and pour in new DampRid about every 2 weeks.

This winter I do plan on changing the oil right before storing it because it's almost due for a change anyway. I'm also going to get a battery tender because I have a garage now instead of a storage unit.

 

Same here I didn't do shyte! Washed her, had the oil changed, gassed her up and covered her. I start her once every few weeks and that was it! Now granted she isn't very old so the battery isn't a problem yet!

 

I put a large tarp down on the floor to help reduce condensation coming up from the concrete floor of the garage. Fill the tank, cover it and start it every so often. Works for me......

 

Just get a battery tender and it tops off the battery when it senses the charge gets a little weak. I have 2 cars on a tender and the batteries are always fresh.

 

I keep mine on the battery tender too and start it up every week or two and let it warm up just to keep oil up in the top of the motor. I made the mistake of letting my last car (Infiniti G37) sit for a month without starting it up and when i did it sounded like a tractor with all the valve noise until i got oil back into the valve train. It only has a little over 2 K on it but i've gotten the oil change warning already - I think it goes by age and mileage and my car is a weekend warrior so it doesn't get much mileage put on it. I'll change it out with Mobil One before it gets too cold but i have a month or two yet (Hopefully).

Scott

 

Fortunately I'm in North Texas, have a garage, and a Jeep Wrangler for the few "yucky" days we get.

I did get a nasty surprise last winter though. Temp got down to 20 degrees or so, I headed to work and thought "It didn't rain or snow- so where did all this ice come from?!?"

Turns out the warning label on the door jamb (about the Track Pack tires being "summer use only") should be taken literally! Those Pirelli Zeros do NOT work well in the cold!

 

With the old cars/trucks/bike I usually add some sort of gas stabilizer on fill up even during the summer months.
I have heard starting a car every week or so can cause condensation build up, as oil temp lags coolant temp a good deal and if oil temp never goes over 212, the water stays.
Tenders of some sort are a must for a long winter. our battery can partially discharge and sulfate. That is like decreasing the amp hour or making the size of the plates smaller. It will read the right voltage, but have no current to back it up.
Car wax on chrome and Aluminum will sort of seal moisture out, and pledge is great for interior and tires. Heard some really bad stuff about armor all type stuff believe it or not. The pledge also helps if you windows are shut for a long time and the car smells musty.
I never tried "bounce" sheets for mice, I have used peppermint oil, mice hate the stuff.
Best of luck to all and hope the winter is real short where ever you live.

 

A bit of silicone lube in the rubber where the windows slide into will fix that issue.