Winter hibernation

[BillyB]

Glad I was able to get out on Sunday and again yesterday , ( that's probably the latest in the year since I got the Z ). As they were out last night with the dreaded grit/salt / molasses mix that they use now. Oh well time to get on with the planned jobs.

 

[Idleness]

My Z3 was put to bed before the end of October, now SORNed until March/April

 

[DrWong]

The Z is my only car and I used to avoid winter driving if the roads had been salted. But last year I bought a cordless pressure washer that can be fed from a 2l pop bottle instead of a hose and it was a game changer. If the gritters have been out, it's now just a five min job to rinse the underside of the Z before putting away under the carport.

 

[GZed]

The Z is my only car and I used to avoid winter driving if the roads had been salted. But last year I bought a cordless pressure washer that can be fed from a 2l pop bottle instead of a hose and it was a game changer. If the gritters have been out, it's now just a five min job to rinse the underside of the Z before putting away under the carport.

That sounds ideal, do you have any details? Just wondering if 2 litres is sufficient to flush the salt out of all the nooks and crannies? I suppose it’s no hardship to keep filling the bottle up though …

 

[Jam03]

Hibernating not an option for me. Because I don’t have a garage the cost of dry storage would be far in excess of the saving in road tax and fuel. So for me, it’s driving all year round and I must say that there are plenty of good days and nights to enjoy outside of summer. I’ll just ignore corrosion for now🫣

 

[DrWong]

That sounds ideal, do you have any details? Just wondering if 2 litres is sufficient to flush the salt out of all the nooks and crannies? I suppose it’s no hardship to keep filling the bottle up though …

I got a Worx Hydroshot WG630. This version has the brushless motor and more powerful/better all round than the brushed version which I tried but sent back.

It has an adapter that takes a standard Coke neck so you can use any size bottle you want. I've tried with 3l but it starts getting a bit heavy but still doable. It can also be fed from a standard hose or from a bucket using the mini 6m filtered hose that comes with it. I tend to use a bucket as it's more reliable than the pop bottle (need to tilt the pressure washer to get under the car, but the tube picking up the water is at the bottom of the pop bottle, so can draw air if less than half full). The bucket approach is still just a five min job though.

Honestly, it was a game changer for me and pretty liberating to be able to use the car all through winter.

 

[DrWong]

Bucket + optional snow foam bottle attachment

 

[Ianmc]

I use mine all year round, wash it most weeks. It's a car after all and I love driving it in winter conditions!!

 

[Hut van]

I have a friend who works as a gritter driver, he said between the molasses ,grit and other chemicals in the mix, he wouldn’t take a classic car out when the gritters have been out, apparently it’s so sticky they struggle to wash it of the truck.
The mix up here in central Scotland may be different from what is use a bit further South, but my bikes stay in the garage during the winter as for me riding a motorcycle is a pleasure actively and there’s no please freezing to death then coming back and spending a hour with the power washer.
So when I manage to track down a good 6 cylinder Z3 ( hint ) it won’t be out in the grit.

 

[t-tony]

That sounds ideal, do you have any details? Just wondering if 2 litres is sufficient to flush the salt out of all the nooks and crannies? I suppose it’s no hardship to keep filling the bottle up though …

If it’s like mine you ran run it from a bucket too via a thin hose. A 10 ltr. bucket is plenty. Mine is a Ryobi 18v tool.

Tony.

 

[Idleness]

Even in summer I won't take mine out if the roads are wet or there is the slightest chance of rain. It mostly lives in the garage under a cover,

 

[Jam03]

Even in summer I won't take mine out if the roads are wet or there is the slightest chance of rain. It mostly lives in the garage under a cover,

Fair enough if it’s pristine and/or low mileage car. I think my enjoyment of cars is 70/30 split between driving and looking. If I had a dedicated garage I would love to have a perfect car in there for show and a ragged car outside to rag around in.

 

[Idleness]

Fair enough if it’s pristine and/or low mileage car. I think my enjoyment of cars is 70/30 split between driving and looking. If I had a dedicated garage I would love to have a perfect car in there for show and a ragged car outside to rag around in.

It's not pristine but pretty good and got 70k on it so less than 3k a year from new.
I believe it was also garaged by the previous owner for 15 years

 

[Duncodin]

It's not pristine but pretty good and got 70k on it so less than 3k a year from new.
I believe it was also garaged by the previous owner for 15 years

Mines the other way round. It's garaged now but was outside for 15 years.

I got my z3 about 18 years ago with visions of me doing some top down driving - but around that time we got rid of the missus's fiesta and she just, kinda, took over the zed and I hardly got a look in for the next 15 years. No garage so parked outside. Driving through every weather and season doing 10 miles to her work and back through salted roads every day then parked outside on the drive.

Never hosed it down to get the road grime off. Didn't own a hosepipe. So all that salt just festered away under there till the rain washed (some of it) away.

So. Anyway. To cut a long story short. A couple of years ago I managed to get the car back off her and started taking care of it. Carpets out to dry it out. Footwells full of water but floors completely rust free. Sills off to inspect the damage and sure there's rust and a few holes needed welding but nothing major.

The places where salt gets behind the wheel arch liners and between the inner and outer sills. That salt is going to stay there because no amount of hosing will get in there and wash it out.

But seriously. For a 25 year old car that was used all those years all year round and never looked after there is surprisingly little rust. I've always had Mercs. But if a Merc was treated the same way as my zed for so many years there would be nothing but rust.

I've now stripped it down for a rebody and inspecting and fixing things that I find and I am gobsmacked by the z3 build quality and factory rust protection.