Winter driving ,Rot protection

[Garrick Clark]

So guys . I'm tempted to use my o.g panel  never welded 67 bug as a daily.
For 1 There's no tax to pay, no mot, cheap insurance plus I get to use the motor I spent ages building/tuning.
As it is now its only a summer car (sometimes).
It is wax oiled BUT  the risk of it rotting is making it hard for me to commit .
Who's using there bug as a daily and how is the body/chassis fairing up.
Also what  wax products are you using. I think wax oil is a bit old hat these days and there are better products out there to stop the rot.

[Neil Davies]

I think it's the risk of accidents that would make me wary of dailying it more than rust. A good hose down every weekend would see off the worst of the salt, but the standard of driving I see on my 10 mile commute, especially as the weather gets worse, is why I've not taken mine in to work since the summer holidays.

[richie]

I've been doing it in my red 67 cabrio last couple years as my daily all year round , last winter i only stopped driving it for about only 3 weeks while salt/snow was on road here, apart from that was pretty mild winter, just rained a lot so no salt just mud 7 general road grime to deal with, worse part for me was coming home from work at night in heavy rain, lack of heating/old windscreen/shitty beetle wipers & modern car lights being so bright it made it hard to see road clearly at times but this is out in middle of nowhere with no street lighting etc mostly.

cheers Richie

[Martin S.]

Since I live in the rust belt, I know what you're talking about  

Number one is to avoid the bad days, but take advantage of the good ones because life is too short not to drive one of these things whenever you want. They are not rare enough to worry. To me only an original paint vehicle is worth treating like the queen.
There's only one way to keep rust away if you want to drive something in bad weather, and that is oil spray.
I've done oil spray just before planning to drive a vintage vehicle in the winter, and it has worked over the years and decades.
I've had it swell up some spongy seals, like on a bus, but that's easy to fix compared to body work.
The oil attracts dirt and looks awful but cleans up fine with a pressure wash. Watch the video here: https://www.krown.com/en/our-promise/
For windshields the best treatment is Aquapel (ordered from Canada). It comes in a one-application and works amazing, especially if you have a new replacement windshield. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/6-PACK-AQUAPEL-Windshield-and-Glass-Applications-Original/262150897714?hash=item3d09694032:g:UKwAAOSwNphWZw~i
I use Rain-x treatment on the inside of the glass for anti-mist, and it's similar to the stuff for welding goggles.
LED headlight bulbs for bugs are about $50 a pair which is worth it, and super bright brake/tail lights are a must for about $10/ea.
I've also rebuilt my own gas heaters are they are a dime a dozen here, but they all need rebuilding to work.
The one I have running works amazing and you will be sweating within about 5 - 10 minutes of running it. Heater boxes work too as long as the plumbing is looked at, blown out and sealed up. Sometimes it's possible to find a working electric heated rear late glass which is awesome.

Last winter I worked straight north of me, up toward the snow belt and it was a wicked cold winter and I drove my low mile 68 and got to slide it into the approach for the parking lot at work (on a dead end road), and power through snow drifts that could stop a lesser car. Tons of snow last year and a must to have stock height, snow tires, note my Nokian 185/65R15 on 5.5" 914-2.0 rims.
The attitude I take with driving an unsafe car like a bug in todays traffic, is to drive it as if it were a motorcycle and be more defensive than normal and that should help make up for the odds of an accident.

[Garrick Clark]

Hey thanks for the reply's. Your right Martin. Bugs arent rare yet. But never welded o.g paint ones are, which is what mine is albeit in a patina style due to age. I dont no what type of salty grit you use in Usa/canada, but over here it seams to to be real potent. Around were I live after the winter gritters have done there job for a few months the authorities have to re tarmac a lot of the roads due to the grit/salt eating into the road leaving multiple  pot holes. Which is why good bugs turn to repro panelled junk after a few years. Shame really.

[Martin S.]

Sometimes it’s a curse owning a nice VW.
I drove my old bus as a daily year round in all weather and even winter cross country for 15 years straight before I found a mint low mileage original shiny paint 71 which I have now.
But I miss the days of driving the old bus. I had snow tires for it and could drive anywhere. 

The 71 now sits in the cold garage under a car cover. Boring.

[Garrick Clark]

That's it in 1 word. Boring.

[andy198712]

I know how you feel from both sides, I’ve just spent about a year going through my beetle, new frame head ect doing a lot of rust repairs and I said, I’ll never drive it in the wet again....

But the more I think about, in the uk, that’s almost every day lol

At the end of the day, these things can be repaired and replaced and unless you enjoy looking at it more than driving it.....

The bits to look after are the OG paint bits for you, so make sure they are well sealed with a good wax on the outside and cleaned, dried then under sealed on the under side. Then just give it a good wash after salty periods and enjoy it!

Collinite make good waxes that last a long time and give great beading....

[Garrick Clark]

I 'm gunna look into that liquid wax type product. It obviously needs warming up 1st or it won't spray properly. I don't no the name of it. I'll look for a  collinite/dimitroll demo on YouTube.

[Martin S.]

For each dream car you have, find another one, close - same colour and year, a doppelgänger if you will.
Drive the crap out of it 

[Garrick Clark]

  . Not a bad idea. What wax should I use

[Nico86]

Living in a place with snow and salt on the roads from November to March, my advice would be : don't drive your car during these months if you want to keep it in the long time!

I keep my bugs away from the road in winter months, I just drive them around town every 2 weeks or something to keep them running. When I do I clean the pan and underskirts with a Karcher to get rid of salt and dirt.

For this reason several years ago I bought a 1977 Golf to drive in winter, cheap but very clean, and I drove the thing in the snow/salt/rain not caring about it and knowing that would destroy it : the result is next month it won't pass the MOT because of rust, and honestly even if it was passing it I would not drive the thing anymore   It's completely rotten by rust and falling apart, and most of it was cause by salt and wet weather during winter months, there's not a sheet of metal on the car that didn't suffer and the car is good to be sent to the junkyard. I did everything to it : wax, retouching the paint every year on the pan and underskirt with epoxy paint or rust-stop (frameto, hammerite...) paint to chase rust away. It only slowed down the process a bit.

Comparing it with some of my friends living on the mediterranean coast, they drive their car all year round and none of them suffered rust like my Golf did. There's a considerable difference I noticed. I asked bodyshops, restorers, painters, and there's no miralce solution. Waxing the underskirts of the car might slow the problem, but you will never be able to protect everything. Having seen many old cars from my area I can say it's not a legend that winter will ruin a car. Especially cars from the 60/70s that were not protected from factory.

Maybe the place where you live isn't as bad in winter than where I am living, here there are period of 1 or 2 weeks where the temperature stays below zero even in the middle of the day, and they put salt on the roads several times during the week, and that's when the wet area on your car won't dry and destroy your car.

Now if you don't plan on keeping the car for long, then why not driving it and you'll "pass the problem" to the next owner. Bugs aren't rare but it doesn't mean you have to ruin yours (and a never welded 67 with og panels is rare in my opinion)
You mentionned how salt and wet damages the tarmac on your local roads, imagine it doing the same to your car.

[Nico86]

That's my Golf in winter a few years ago, and how our cars look like here after a few days, most of it is salt/grim from the road :



Here is the Opel of a friend of mine, he bought it og and clean and after a few years driving in winter here it is :

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[DaveN]

Don’t bother! Salt will rot your car or someone will drive into it, the amount of people I see daily using phones is unbelievable, chances of one of these idiots spotting your old bug indicating will be slim. Far too many distractions in a modern car for most people to concentrate.

[Garrick Clark]

I'll leave it we're it is then. I'd be F  ING furious if it rotted. Suppose I've done the engine mods at the wrong time of year. Gone bigger turbo with carb mods, engine is running again but can't test to see if the hard work has produced any torque gains. I'll have to think up another mod to do. Possibly ignition.

Cheers guys.

[Nico86]

I'll leave it we're it is then. I'd be F  ING furious if it rotted. Suppose I've done the engine mods at the wrong time of year. Gone bigger turbo with carb mods, engine is running again but can't test to see if the hard work has produced any torque gains. I'll have to think up another mod to do. Possibly ignition.

Cheers guys.

You can still do occasional short winter drives if you need to tune things up, but do it on a dry road and take the time to clean your car after it.

[Nico86]

Don’t bother! Salt will rot your car or someone will drive into it, the amount of people I see daily using phones is unbelievable, chances of one of these idiots spotting your old bug indicating will be slim. Far too many distractions in a modern car for most people to concentrate.

It's crazy the number of arsholes I see using their phones or playing with the screens on their car while driving. But what do you want to do about it, watching car commercials lately all they can brag about is how you can connect your phone to it and have it on your dashboard screen. At some point there was even one of these ugly Citroens they do today with a camera on the rear view mirror on the windshield, that you could take pictures of what you were seeing through the windshield with as in first person view, and they were selling it as "your car taking selfies" or something stupid like that.

If it was me not only I'd make this illegal, but I would do something that forces your phone to turn off as soon as your car is on drive.

[DaveN]

I do drive motor car occasionally in winter only in the dry though

[Garrick Clark]

Ok, so if like me and ya not driving ya bug's over the winter months, what winter jobs/tech upgrades have ya got going on.
I'm thinking either ignition do something with the interior. The front seats are the standard ones and look shabby. I might de glue the Inner arches/pedal area and clean it up. I don't have carpet I like the metal on show

[Martin S.]

I had my wife’s 65 at Krown Rust Protection today to get it oil sprayed.
They drill a few holes to get at the inner panels. I hang around and show them where to spray, like inside the tunnel.
It’s proven, with our mess of winter lasting for so long, to be the only thing that works.
Messy and disgusting as it is, there’s something about driving a bug in the winter that’s super fun!

[DaveN]

Today I have been winter driving

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[Martin S.]

Now that the 65 is almost prepped for winter I realized it needs snow tires. As you can see it still has the original 4” wide rims.
Looking at some used cheap tires locally, there are 175/65-15s available, used on minis etc.
Hmmm wonder if they’d fit  
Donuts in the snow, here I come!  

[Martin S.]

I took this pic when I was trying to sell this winterized beater 68 one spring, parking it around the neighbourhood with the FOR SALE sign on it.
I also had Porsche 914 steel 5.5" rims on it (for that stock stealth look) but it came with these wheels which I liked after blasting and clear coating, and with winter tires and dual kadrons it was a fun car in the winter.