Papa Fittig

Living in California where even a rainy day is rare, but having past experience in a country with lots of snow and salt on the roads I have a question for you Great lakes guys. How much should I worry about car rusting buying a 2-3 y.o. car from that region? I know about Porsche rustproofing and body galvanizing measures, but still..If a car is a lease return and has been driven as a DD year round would you be concerned with the rust? How much salt is on the roads in the winter? Here even mufflers are rust free after years of daily driving. Buying OH car remotely makes me worry...

AnandN

I live in NH. Similar weather as OH. How much salt? Lots and lots of it and sand. My car gets absolutely filthy after every long drive. The dark blue paint gets covered in white crap. I do wash it at a touchless car wash regularly but the car does get dirty.
If you are worried, why not buy a CA or warm weather state CPO car?

phow

Tough to answer.

My 911 sees the garage until we have a decent day and the salt has been mostly washed away (so excited that we may have a few next week ). When I get home, I still do a quick hose down before putting the car back to sleep. Therefore my 911 sees pretty much zero salt or snow during the winter. Having lived in the midwest most of my life, I have had more than a few cars lives cut short due to the effects of our harsh climate.

Now I know plenty of owners drive the crap out of their cars in the winter here and that's what the car is meant to do... blah blah... but it's also the problem It's hard to know if you are getting a 911, like mine that doesn't see the harsh elements but happens to be located in the midwest or if it is one that has been driven all year round. I don't care what measures a manufacturer takes, salt takes it's toll on all vehicles.

My suggestion would not be to necessarily shy away from a purchase if the best spec/deal is to be found here but I would absolutely have a PPI done by an independent shop and specifically note you are concerned about this type of damage. A car driven in the elements all winter long that is properly washed regularly will still be better than one that was driven less frequently but was left caked in salt... A decent tech can spot a car that has seen a few winters of salt from a mile away.

Best of luck!

boatracer

chuck911

Snow, salt, rain, freezing temps, hail, stones, potholes, and bits of metal thrown up from deteriorating chains and studded tires. No worries. But, ultraviolet, ozone, heat? California is murder on a car.

Gus_Smedstad

I drove my Supra every winter in the Boston area of 10 years. I had some rust on the underbody when I sold it, but nothing too serious. And that was on a car built in '96. I wouldn't sweat 2-3 years of winter exposure.

.2PDK

+1 Drove my 1M for three winters here in Ontario and when they inspected it pre-sale you couldn't even tell, they were quite comfortable.

justabout

WhipE350

Will you be seeing the car in person? If you are like me and you like to wrench your own cars it will give the appearance extra age on parts like exhaust, bottom of engine, under panels, suspension, and brakes in particular if it wasn't kept clean. A car this new though I doubt you plan to wrench it, heck it won't likely need it. A two to three year old Porsche won't show much though. Not like it has been 10 years in those conditions. The sun down south here can be just as bad but more so on paint and interior of car. I just sold a 3+year old Cayenne that was garaged at home and work and it still had a strong new smell and the paint was like new (28k miles) this wouldn't have been the case had it sat in the NC sun for 10 hours a day.

You should be OK. Again I would want detailed pictures or a PPI by someone that also has a good eye for appearance. I'm buying a Cayenne right now from AZ and have seen only pictures but the records of how it was detailed professionally give me comfort it will be beautiful.

Good luck!

Fred2

Winter beats the hell out of cars.
Not only rust, but the salt and sand pit the headlights, windshield and paint.
Snow and salt coated shoes defrost in the car, and contaminate the carpets with a coating of salt.

Papa Fittig

Thanks for all the replies guys. I had the dealer to send me pics and a video showing the underside. They did not remove protective shields but exposed areas look ok.
And thanks justabout, yes I know how unprotected bolts would be an issue after few winters, as I used to live in that climate and owned and worked on my cars over there for many years.
Talking issues Chuck..... esp. chains Chuck, chains...they sure are a big issue.

R_Rated

and bad gas! haha.

I hear they put patchouli and hemp in all the low grade gas out there.