The using their car all year thread

[studog]

Just out of curiosity who here uses their car all year round rather than summer use and winter polishing?

So as a starter I have driven my seven to work today. It had stayed in the garage too long over Christmas!

[Kevp]

I use my Stylys all year, but only on sunny days to the local market & occasionaly on the weekly 1hr round trip off the plateau. It sits in the hanger uncovered ready to be used mostly.
☺

[mikeveal]

I tend not to use the Skunk much in the winter. Salted roads will mess up the anodised wheel rims. It's bloody cold and wet with no heater and there is not a lot of grip on damp or wet roads.

At the moment, I'm not using it at all. It's stored at my parent's place where they can keep it under cover. Project 'complete the new house refurb so I can reclaim the garage' is progressing somewhat slowly.

[Happy Jim]

Yep, brought my Cobra into work today - Chilly but Blue Sky's so why not!!

Jim

[johnymac]

For seven years back in the mid nineties to early noughties, I had a Sylva Leader as my only car. At times it was cramped and uncomfortable but I really loved that car and never regretted it being my only form of transport. The only car I've loved more than that is my Lotus Elise - which I have had 16 years.

If you have the right mindset I don't see any reason why you couldn't use a kit car as a daily.

[Frankthered]

There was a chap I worked with years ago that was considering getting a JZR to serve as his sensible winter transport.

His usual vehicle had only two wheels.

[LLantrisant]

salty road will eat your chassis,, suspension parts ....anything.....

i have driven once my trackday scimitar in winter to bring it to the cage-builder...it was fitted b4 with brand new GAZ shocks....the yelow anodised steel ones....

the distance driven was 8miles and return....comming back in the garage after 2 weeks i got a shock when watching undeneath the car and viewing the shocks: the shiny new yellowish coating was transformed into a dull surface with grey/white powder...the shocks looked like fitted already several years.

on my mass-produced daily driver.....the same treatment on bolts is even not effected after 3 winters

the quality of bolts, steel, zinc, anodised treatments, powdercoat on kitcars is really rubbish....the best you can do is: keep it away from salty muddy roads and if you cannot avoid that: wash the gunk off immediatley....

[Fury1630]

You can't anodise steel - well, you can - it's called rust. Anodising is the intentional & controlled oxidisation (corrosion) of the metal surface to prevent unintentional, uncontrolled corrosion. In aluminium the oxidised layer is impermeable (waterproof) so when oxidised to a desired thickness the oxidisation stops, in iron & steel it isn't, so doesn't.

Years ago the yellow coating would've been cadmium, then that was banned & they used a yellow dye in zinc plating which looks similar but is nowhere near as good.

I used a Rickman Ranger soft top as my daily driver for ten years. I have pictures of it with 6" of snow on it after I got home from work.

Edited by Fury1630 on Thursday 10th January 12:31

[LLantrisant]

ok...than its called yellow zinc plated

[Hiryu]

If it's not raining, I'm driving her. I can put the hardtop on and drive in the rain, too, but then I never put any miles on my other rigs. If it's freezing out, I just dress up. If it's snowing, her AWD helps. I'll average about 10,000 miles a year on her (going on five years/50,000 miles now).

This was me in...last January, I think? Just a bit over freezing:



Maybe I'm getting used to the cold; I didn't need gloves, a scarf, or a coat today when I took her out today. It was a balmy 45 degrees (F).

[Equus]

I ran a Westfield, then a Caterham, then (briefly) a Raffo Tipo 12 as my only cars, all year round, when I was much younger.

The Westfield coped fine (good powder coating and a fibreglass body tub); the Caterham less so (crap powder coat + aluminium bodywork). The Raffo's chassis was stove enamelled, and that finish appeared to be impervious to absolutely everything, but I got soft and bought a Sunbeam Stiletto, so it became a second car after its first winter.

[nelmo]

Sorry, late to the thread but since no-one actually is using their kit car all year, I'll tell you about mine

It's a GBS Zero which I finished building in June 2017 (blog here: https://zerolifebuild.blogspot.com/ ). I spent 18 months fixing my screw-ups and improving bits and pieces and since the start of the year, I've been commuting to work every day. It's only 10 miles each way, so not excessive but I'm really enjoying it.

I used to commute by motorbike, so I'm used to the cold, although halfway to work, the engine finally gets hot enough to send some heat to the cabin

I don't know why people go on about salt - I've commuted on motorbikes for 20 years, through all seasons and while bits look 'corroded', nothing has ever failed or broken (my previous bike had 95k miles on it and was perfectly reliable). I washed them on average once a fortnight. I'm expecting the kit to be no different...

Arty pic from a brief trip over to France last year...

Edited by nelmo on Friday 15th March 21:16

Edited by nelmo on Friday 15th March 21:17