Driving the Z with the salt but no rust proofing
 

I'm very fortunate to have a winter vehicle that I drive while my Z sleeps in the garage. As a result, I haven't rust proofed her because she never sees snow and she never sees salt and typically before I take her out in the spring, I wait for a couple of good rain storms to wash away any salt residue on the roads.

But I'm _dying_ right now to take her out. There's no snow! High of 9*C today! Would you all recommend driving in the GTA with the Z with no rust proofing given there is still some salt on the roads (a lot of salt in some areas)? If not, any recommendations for rust proofing?

Because the Z is a fancy sports car, people forget that it's built to Nissan standards. Look at all the Nissans still on the roads today. Any brand for that matter, Honda, Toyota, you name it. My beater is a '99 Honda Accord. It has a little bit of rust, yet it has been driven through every Cleveland winter almost every day for the last 14 years. Obviously salt isn't good for cars, but unless you plan on winning trohpy's, I wouldn't sweat a little salt here and there. Life is too short.

Don't worry about it. Now get out there and enjoy the spring weather.

I know I would be out in mine, if you look at the underside of our cars there is very little bare metal. I only wish I could take mine out today. haha

LOL!!! That's cute... I may have THE WORST luck with Nissans...
But lets be real, Nissan's standards aren't as high as Toyota's... Or Honda's...


To the OP, go for it, if you're worried, just come home and hose the underside off

you should be fine especially if the roads are dry . i have a 99 maxima with almost no rust . the cars do a lot better than nissans trucks rust wise . so get out there and enjoy :tup:

Hey Maddy! Been a while since we've seen you in these parts!

I wouldn't sweat it too much. Salt damage comes from extensive exposure and not keeping it clean after exposure - i.e. letting the salt sit on the vehicle. Go drive it to your hearts content and if your really worried about it, find a touchless wash with an undercarriage spray close to your home and run her through that! I'm like you, I store for the winter and when the spring comes, at least until May or so (after the rains), I keep the undercarriage rinsed fairly regularly. A lot of coin op car washes now even have undercarriage rinse option!

Drive on Z brotha!

Most of this car is aluminum underneath. Corrosion can be an issue over time.

I wouldn't really worry about it. Salt causes rust in bare metal. All modern cars have some sort of anti corrossive coating to the underbody. Salt only becomes an issue when you let it sit and it gets into areas that aren't protected. If you drive the Z every day, in heavily salted roads and plan to keep it for 20 years, rustproofing might be one of those things that doesn't really hurt to have applied. If you're vigilant in keeping the car clean and don't really drive it every day, rustproofing is kind of a waste of money. To get the best result, the car's undercarrage has to be spotless (basically new)... and even then, you need to have someone that knows what they're doing. That's not likely what you'll encounter at the dealership, so I always see it as a waste money to begin with. All the stories about relatively new cars with a lot of rust are almost always because the owners never wash thier cars. As long as you keep it clean, you'll probably sell the car before anything more than surface rust causes any sort of problem.

Your rust and corrossion warranty is 5 years I believe.

Thanks for the encouragement and replies, everyone! I think I will take her out the first opportunity and be damned with the salt. I plan to keep her till she falls to pieces so I'm trying to prolong that eventuality by doing things like this.

@Dizzy: Hey hey! Things are great. Wish I could get back into the Z scene more, especially after I met my fiancé through one of the meets :). Wonder if the old crew is still around...

How're you doing?

that only covers perforation...

I'm a 110%! A few are still here! The meets don't get the turn outs they did when you used to do them, but they still happen from time to time.

Fiance? Congrats!!