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We don't get much salt (and I try to avoid driving when we get snow until streets are generally clear because of where we live), but I bought one of these and have used it mainly just for cleaning the underside after mud, etc. Works well for me. Easy too. https://www.theunderwasher.com/
Originally Posted by ~Stingray
That thing looks very cheap. The water doesn't even come out evenly. Sprinker seems to be a better bet.
I've had it 4 years, used probably 2-3 dozen times. The random spray pattern works and the multiple streams are much more forceful than a lawn sprinkler. Moving it side-to-side and back and forth gives great coverage... with no bending or stooping. The on/off control is great too... no getting wet.
Is it "industrial strength"? No, but it works well and is relatively inexpensive.
Last edited by NashvilleGrandSport; 12-10-2018 at 09:02 AM.
OP - You’re obviously stressing over the decision, so rather than worry about corrosion, tire safety, etc., let’s just focus on the mental aspects. You paid a premium for a nice sports car rather than a grocery getter. In your mind, you want it to be as nice as possible for as long as possible. Down the road, something on the car is going to corrode, tarnish, etc. At that moment, you’ll call yourself into question for driving it on salty roads. Until this moment, you’ll have the cloud of “did I do the right thing” hanging over you as you are ever watchful for damage. Driving the car in salty snow is fine for some, but not for others. The psychology of buying a sports car for some and I imagine you, points to a decision to not drive it home in the snow. Enjoy your car your way and if worry about getting salt all over the underside is a concern, pay a little more to get it home without the worry.
Hire a company to move your car for you in a enclosed trailer, it obvious to me that by you posting the question you have a problem with your car getting a potential salt bath, so don't do it & rest easy
This past Saturday we drove our 2019 GS from Central Jersey to LSD (Lower Slower Delaware). Left house at 10 am in partly sunny conditions with temp in mid 20's. Car was in 50 degree garage so tires (Super Sports) weren't exposed to the 20's. Southern NJ Turnpike had salt on shoulders so we knew roadway would have traces on it. 200 miles later arrived with no issues. Tires were still cool, according to DIC, but never felt uneasy driving at the normal pike speeds of 80 - 90 MPH. (any less than that you better stay in the right lane). Went to self serv car wash to clean her up and then parked her until the next nice day down there.
If the weather is dry, drive it.
Your best and cheapest bet is to ship it. Foolish to try to save shipping money by not buying A/S tires driving on Summer only tires in Wintertime on icy/snow covered salted highways. I wouldn't do it.
I'm moving from upstate NY to the northern NJ this month and I'm trying to figure out the best way to get my GS down there. We have already received a ton of snow, thus, a ton of salt.
I have the stock tires on, and I'm wondering... with temps looking sunny and ~30F throughout the trip (including the day prior so minimal concern on wet salty roads), do you think A: it's worth driving the 300mi down despite the salt already on the roads? B: Would the tires be able to handle the 'less than ideal' temperatures/conditions (if it does decide to snow)?
It would be the only winter trip it would have to take and I'd be sure to get the undercarriage cleaned up once I got to my destination.
I know what you're thinking... ship it enclosed! While I've done that before, I unfortunately have a one or two day window where it needs to be picked up. The whole "90% guarantee it will ship within 1-7 days" isn't going to cut it this time around. To ensure it getting delivered in the time I need it shipped requires a 4-digit before the decimal number, which I'm not keen on doing.
Other factors (maybe?): Except for the undercarriage, the car is completely ceramic coated, including the rims (ceramic pro gold package, courtesy of White Glove Auto Detailing). Car has less than 3k mi on it. Planning on keeping it for +25yrs.
Wisdom and guidance appreciated!
Greg
The white metal vehicle in the background is more susceptible to damage from dried salt on the roads than the Vette is. Almost all of the ferrous materials on the Vette are inside the drive train or are part of the brake system. Plastic and aluminum won't be bothered by the trip. Like the old adage says When it is quiet out at night you can hear metal cars rusting, buy a plastic fantastic.
So long as the tires are warm when you start driving, even 30 degrees isn't a problem for the standard GS tires.
I regularly take mine (2018 GS M7) out in 30-40 degree weather, when the roads are clear (salt residue free) and dry. The traction is surprisingly good - I leave it in tour mode (which is what I use 95% of the time) and it will take full throttle in 1st gear up to about 4,000 rpms and in 2nd to over 5,000 rpm without hitting the traction nannies. My car is kept in a 68-72 degree garage, so the tires are plenty warm when I start, and I don't usually stop moving for more than a minute or three until it is back in the garage after a nice 35-60 mile drive.
Don't worry about it, just get it down there between snow storms and wash it asap.
That's exactly what I did coming back from Austin TX. last January, on PSS ZPs.
Had an ice storm the night before I left. Mid twenties and sunny when I left in the morning, but the ice was caked on and had to muscle the door open. Drove that day, and by lunch it was in the high thirties.
Day two out of Vicksburg. Right at freezing temps, but not that big a deal.
Day three out of Augusta. Cold (er) front coming in and I had to make a decision to go or stay. I got up at 4:30 before the front hit, and left at 23 degrees. The tires took about a half hour to warm up, but were honestly fine after that. The temp, as I worked my way east dropped, and by the time I hit the 95 corridor, it was 9 degrees F. I only stopped long enough to fuel or pee, but not long enough to do both.
Once the tires were warm, just being gentle was good enough. I left plenty of space in front, and a couple times, I did have to do a few radical moves to avoid others. The warm tires handled this just fine.
Once into VA, there was blowing snow, but again, it still handled fine.
Would I recommend planning a trip like this? Probably not, but I have driven over the Rockies in a blizzard in a Vette as well. As long as you are cognizant of the issues, and are careful, then you most likely will be fine, even if things don't go according to the trip plan.
OP - You’re obviously stressing over the decision, so rather than worry about corrosion, tire safety, etc., let’s just focus on the mental aspects. You paid a premium for a nice sports car rather than a grocery getter. In your mind, you want it to be as nice as possible for as long as possible. Down the road, something on the car is going to corrode, tarnish, etc. At that moment, you’ll call yourself into question for driving it on salty roads. Until this moment, you’ll have the cloud of “did I do the right thing” hanging over you as you are ever watchful for damage. Driving the car in salty snow is fine for some, but not for others. The psychology of buying a sports car for some and I imagine you, points to a decision to not drive it home in the snow. Enjoy your car your way and if worry about getting salt all over the underside is a concern, pay a little more to get it home without the worry.
IDK. I paid a premium for a nice grocery getter, that happens to serve pretty well as a Sports Car.
I understand this is a dream car for a lot of us, and it is for me - to some degree. It was never my dream to sit around looking at my car in the garage because a butterfly might brush against it if I pulled it outside. They’re plastic and aluminum, and Chevy builds 30k of them a year. Ten years from now, they’ll be worth less than half what we paid for them, and we’ll all be dead before the price of a C7 rises above what we paid for it.
Be safe. Don’t drive like an asshat. Run the car through a touchless car wash with undercarriage wash a couple times. Get out there and enjoy your dream, rather than living in fear.
IDK. I paid a premium for a nice grocery getter, that happens to serve pretty well as a Sports Car.
I understand this is a dream car for a lot of us, and it is for me - to some degree. It was never my dream to sit around looking at my car in the garage because a butterfly might brush against it if I pulled it outside. They’re plastic and aluminum, and Chevy builds 30k of them a year. Ten years from now, they’ll be worth less than half what we paid for them, and we’ll all be dead before the price of a C7 rises above what we paid for it.
Be safe. Don’t drive like an asshat. Run the car through a touchless car wash with undercarriage wash a couple times. Get out there and enjoy your dream, rather than living in fear.
I think it has been a while since GM has sold 30 K Corvettes. I'm not sure they will even sell 20K this year. I'm think and I am hoping that the C7 might hold their values better than you suggested. I am on the bandwagon GM will have trouble selling these C8 cars in the numbers they need to in order to make them profitable. The C7 could wind up being the very last FWD. It could be the last with a man trans. C7 could be the last NA corvette. Lastly, after C8 (which will not sell in large numbers like C7) the C7 will be the last ICE popular with Corvtte owners. The C7 I believe will be a collectors cars and desirable someday comparable to the C2. That's my 2 cents and I'm sticking to this.
Don't do it daily but a couple of trips wont hurt. Those tires will be hard as a rock unless you warm them up or you wont have nothing but issues. I have driven one with factory tires during the snow in Dallas put didn't make a routine of it. I drive mines in Chicago but I have all season tires.
Salt can and will get everywhere and stay indefinitely no matter how well you clean under and supposedly everywhere.
I've spent 30 years racing at Bonneville and believe me, I avoid ALL other salt no matter what. If I lived in a locale that salted the roads I'd have a beater for driving during those times. All the best!
Corvettes were made for driving in nice, preferably sunny weather; rain, snow and ice, especially salt are a big no no, IMO.
I feel my C3 has been one of the better winter cars having an almost perfect 50/50 balance front and rear. Of course I learned to drive growing up in the western NY snowbelt between Buffalo and Rochester. In fact my first legal road driving was on my 16th birthday with my brand new drivers permit. I should mention my birthday is in late November. Walking out of the license bureau my 17 year old brother handed me the keys to his pretty much new '74 Camaro and said "here, drive". The snow was flying and the license bureau was situated between two merging 4 lane highways. Where we were heading I'd have to make a left turn from a side street onto a 4 lane highway with left center turn lane and parking on both sides. Not the debut I wanted. I declined. But big brother ordered me into action. I pulled up to the corner and couldn't see left at all due a tractor trailer parked right on the corner. I wanted to go right. My brother wouldn't allow it. I finally hit the gas. And the horns and my brother started screaming. Somehow I made it across unharmed. And I'll say the lack of any weight on the rear wheels of the Camaro was no help as I had to manage the rear end leading the front part way through the turn due to the snow. We managed to make it to our destination - my grandfather's service garage where our '32 Ford Roadster with flathead V8 was waiting for more work. We yelled at each other the whole way there and through the shop to the car - my brother's comments were basically, "you'll never drive my effin car again" and my replies amounted to "I didn't want drive your effin car in the first place" The mechanics enjoyed the show. I never had anywhere near that much trouble driving a vette in the snow.
So, back to the topic, fact is the vette's been one of my better rear wheel drive snow vehicles. Way better than my wife's 83 Firebird manual tranny which I actually ditched intentionally on the side of the road one evening in heavy snow when it simply had no control at all going down a winding hill. Twice it just went into spins and there was zero controllability. Somehow it stopped short of hitting guardrails both times. As there was another hill ahead I just ditched it in the snow, waited for my wife who was following a few minutes behind, took out the screaming 9 month old number 2 son, and came back for the bird the next day. In contrast, the one time my vette did break into a spin on snow it was still responsive to steering and power inputs allowing me to correct the spin and keep going in traffic without incident. I have to think with near 40 years of advances in traction control they ought to be even better. The only reason in my opinion to be afraid of snow driving is all the salt on the road.
Last edited by vince vette 2; 12-22-2018 at 08:50 AM.
Reason: added
So I got lucky and was able to get it shipped to NJ. It ended up being about 700 bucks in an enclosed trailer. I used the "Same Day Pickup App" and was able to get a driver within about 18hrs of posting my shipment request. For a one day notice pick-up and a reasonable price, I'll probably use it again if I have to move.
Having said that, it seems like an even 50-50 split on whether or not to drive in these conditions. With the amount of salt on the roads of northern NY, I'm glad I ended up finding transport for it. Had a couple nice dry sunny days here in northern NJ! Took 'er out for a spin and it loved the cool 45 degree air! Even better... no salt! (Or none laid in about 30 days)
I also saw the CF wrote an article on the post, so thanks for all the input. I hope it helps another Corvette owner in the same predicaments!
12-10-2018, 09:02 AM
Corvettes were made for driving in nice, preferably sunny weather; rain, snow and ice, especially salt are a big no no, IMO.
Congrats on the new CLEAN car.A great start to you and your Corvette 