Driving a classic car in the rain

[Drache]

At last years Williams Lake car show it PISSED down rain. Many were worried the show would empty out. Only about 8 cars pulled out and left. The rest of us closed our hoods and waited it out.

Many of the car owner's said "Why leave? Where will we take our car, back to the motel to get rained on?"

Hell the Superbird didn't even close his hood. As he said, it's just a car.

[HeavyFuel]

Only if I absolutely have to.   

[TUFCAT]

mine has not been out in the rain  , since I bought it  !! second week of april 1989     , never wash it either    just blow it off with compressed air , then wipe a   tac rag over the vinyl top first  , then wipe the whole car down with a leather , rinced in  clean warm water from  a bucket  ,  

I totally agree.  There is never a reason to "wash" a classic car.

What T-Top has said.... compressed air is your very best friend with dust and dirt!

The key step to remove the vast amount of dust and dirt (abrasives)  without any muss or fuss, and keeping the car bone dry is compressed air!  

Unless of course the car's dirty from driving in the rain.....

At this point I wouldn't grab a some well-known brand detailing product and just wipe it down....however depending on the situation, but I'd still be very careful about the "volume of water" being used to wash any classic car.  

I suggest doing the actual cleaning by rinsing and ringing a thick terry cloth towel in water with a high quality car wash soap.  Apply light pressure to the cars finish starting from "a bit soggy" then working your way down to "medium soggy", gliding along the car and rinsing as needed.  Once you get into a "damp ring" stage the dirt and abrasives have eventually been removed.  Numerous rinse of the towels in a very large bucket of warm water is essential. The hotter the water the better, the better it is for removing grime.

Dry the car with a micro-fiber cloth, and use a detailer product similar to "final inspection" to remove any marks from wiping and add a "just waxed" shine.

[Highbanked Hauler]

 I have been caught in the rain a few times with my 500 and we survived. The scariest thing is the poor lighting on the car and other people being able to see the car and also the wipers giving up which mine did during a  test before I went out with it.

[green69rt]

I get the impression that there is a lot of concern about rust.  Maybe other things but that is the big bug-a-boo.  Driving in the rain slings water in all those places that we can't see.  Those of us, who have restored a car that has rust in all the usual places, are a little more paranoid about the water thing.  If it is a high value, unique car I can see the need to keep it away from water, the rest not so much.  But we really have a big attachment to our cars so I really can't blame anyone for wanting to protect their baby.

[TUFCAT]

....."Driving in the rain slings water in all those places that we can't see.  Those of us, who have restored a car that has rust in all the usual places, are a little more paranoid about the water thing.  If it is a high value, unique car I can see the need to keep it away from water, the rest not so much.  But we really have a big attachment to our cars so I really can't blame anyone for wanting to protect their baby".

 Thanks.... water getting trapped into unknown places (on a seldom driven and stored vehicle) is a major concern - IMO.  

[green69rt]

....."Driving in the rain slings water in all those places that we can't see.  Those of us, who have restored a car that has rust in all the usual places, are a little more paranoid about the water thing.  If it is a high value, unique car I can see the need to keep it away from water, the rest not so much.  But we really have a big attachment to our cars so I really can't blame anyone for wanting to protect their baby".

 Thanks.... water getting trapped into unknown places (on a seldom driven and stored vehicle) is a major concern - IMO.  

Yeah, what you can't see really worries us.   I don't know how to solve the problem.  In Texas, we just leave it outdoors in the sun and bake it out.  I still wouldn't feel good!!

[myk]

Valuable or not, none of us wants to deal with rust elimination/reduction.  My car's not valuable in the least bit, however I still won't take that struggle on again if I don't have to...

[1974dodgecharger]

driving in the rain in these cars is just plain STUPID!!!!!



























































































































DONT YOU KNOW THEY MELT 

[toocheaptosmoke]

I try to avoid driving it if I know it's going to be a downpour, but it's been in the rain a few times.  It will NEVER see road salt though...    I spent quite a bit of time coating the underside with grease and spraying corrosion inhibitor inside all the panels and places I could get to.  The car is store outside anyways so there will always be humidity, but like already said keep it driving to dry it out asap. 

[c00nhunterjoe]

I have wipers, and they work.... but they suck, and so does the defroster.... no wait, it doesnt do crap. Lol. Ive been caught in rain plenty of times and its not fun. The wipers chatter and smear, even on new blades, i cant see, drag radials blow in it.....

  we got totally drenched in pretty much a hurricane at ocean city 2 years ago. I found that i needed a raincoat INSIDE the car. It leaked from every crack, seam and crevice and i could have put goldfish on the floor with me. Yeah, it was that bad. Were we crazy for cruising in that weather? Probably. But i spent the money to go and the car was getting hammered anyway. Besides that, there were guys with 100k racecars out driving so i figured why the hell not. Lmao

[DAY CLONA]

mine has not been out in the rain  , since I bought it  !! second week of april 1989     , never wash it either    just blow it off with compressed air , then wipe a   tac rag over the vinyl top first  , then wipe the whole car down with a leather , rinced in  clean warm water from  a bucket  ,  

I totally agree.  There is never a reason to "wash" a classic car.

What T-Top has said.... compressed air is your very best friend with dust and dirt!

The key step to remove the vast amount of dust and dirt (abrasives)  without any muss or fuss, and keeping the car bone dry is compressed air!  

Unless of course the car's dirty from driving in the rain.....

At this point I wouldn't grab a some well-known brand detailing product and just wipe it down....however depending on the situation, but I'd still be very careful about the "volume of water" being used to wash any classic car.  

I suggest doing the actual cleaning by rinsing and ringing a thick terry cloth towel in water with a high quality car wash soap.  Apply light pressure to the cars finish starting from "a bit soggy" then working your way down to "medium soggy", gliding along the car and rinsing as needed.  Once you get into a "damp ring" stage the dirt and abrasives have eventually been removed.  Numerous rinse of the towels in a very large bucket of warm water is essential. The hotter the water the better, the better it is for removing grime.

Dry the car with a micro-fiber cloth, and use a detailer product similar to "final inspection" to remove any marks from wiping and add a "just waxed" shine.

To me they're just machines if they've been restored with quality paint products, proper techniques, every nook and cranny treated, everything else properly painted, plated, anodized,sealed, etc...you should have no concerns, I drive my cars in just about everything short of snow (OK a few times) my Tona' just like my other cars, gets abused, washed and sometimes put away wet, 11 years later it still looks resto fresh (with a through detail) at any show


Mike



race, wash,show, have fun....don't be a baby!

[tan top]

mine has not been out in the rain  , since I bought it  !! second week of april 1989     , never wash it either    just blow it off with compressed air , then wipe a   tac rag over the vinyl top first  , then wipe the whole car down with a leather , rinced in  clean warm water from  a bucket  ,  

I totally agree.  There is never a reason to "wash" a classic car.

What T-Top has said.... compressed air is your very best friend with dust and dirt!

The key step to remove the vast amount of dust and dirt (abrasives)  without any muss or fuss, and keeping the car bone dry is compressed air!  

Unless of course the car's dirty from driving in the rain.....

At this point I wouldn't grab a some well-known brand detailing product and just wipe it down....however depending on the situation, but I'd still be very careful about the "volume of water" being used to wash any classic car.  

I suggest doing the actual cleaning by rinsing and ringing a thick terry cloth towel in water with a high quality car wash soap.  Apply light pressure to the cars finish starting from "a bit soggy" then working your way down to "medium soggy", gliding along the car and rinsing as needed.  Once you get into a "damp ring" stage the dirt and abrasives have eventually been removed.  Numerous rinse of the towels in a very large bucket of warm water is essential. The hotter the water the better, the better it is for removing grime.

Dry the car with a micro-fiber cloth, and use a detailer product similar to "final inspection" to remove any marks from wiping and add a "just waxed" shine.

To me they're just machines if they've been restored with quality paint products, proper techniques, every nook and cranny treated, everything else properly painted, plated, anodized,sealed, etc...you should have no concerns, I drive my cars in just about everything short of snow (OK a few times) my Tona' just like my other cars, gets abused, washed and sometimes put away wet, 11 years later it still looks resto fresh (with a through detail) at any show


Mike



race, wash,show, have fun....don't be a baby!

...        


 yeah I see what your saying  , true using the proper products , I done that too on mine & then some !! even seam sealed the joins , where the frame rail is spot welded to the floor & trunk pan !! & any over lap join or similar I could find anywhere damp or moisture could get in !! ,  when it comes to  my charger im  seriously nutts    

[Ghoste]

Just because I don't purposely take it out when it's raining, how do you know I'm not having fun with it?  (it doesn't rain every day here) 

[Tengun]

I keep mine out of the rain as much as possible. In the Seattle area, this real time phone app is great for determining what type of weather you are dealing with. My car is in the garage today!

[68CoronetRT]

Got caught in the rain ONCE and it was enough for me. Talk about sketchy, turn a corner and even touch the gas and here comes the back end.

When they were new I bet they would have been a blast to play in the rain. But I like my body panels just the way they are. Cali drivers are some of the worst.

[myk]

California drivers SUCK...

[bill440rt]

I'm one of those Charger owners that HATES getting caught in the rain in these cars.

Driving purposely in the rain, definitely no. Getting caught in the rain? Yes, it's happened. Nope, don't like it. The mess, the cleanup, the accelerated corrosion (yes, it does happen), etc.

[Lord Warlock]

Rust isn't a concern for me, although I won't intentionally take the car out during a rainy day, if caught out in the rain with it, I'm not gonna freak out, that's why I got tires with tread on them so it can be driven in all weather types.  Its also why I put new seals around the trunk or window weatherstripping, to make it as weather tight as it should be.  Doesn't mean some won't get in, especially when I drive the charger with the driver window down regardless of weather conditions. Would have to be pouring to make me roll it up.

Some parts of the car frighten me still, the brakes for one in particular, even with totally new parts, I still have visions in my mind of losing control in a hard rain when I first got it in 78, did a 180 slide and went off the road backwards through his front yard narrowly missing two trees, one on each side of the charger.  After that I learned to slow down when it rained.

[Road Dog]

Those drums can be pretty scarey in the heavy down pours. The water gets up in those drums sometimes creating unequal braking side to side or virtual loss of brakes. Especially those 10 inchers. I do like how little rain comes in the car with all the windows down cruising down the road.

[lukedukem]

when i got caught in the rain once, i hit my lights so others could see my car. but once i put my wipers on, i had smoke coming from the dash. i had burnt the connections on the amp gauge. luckily i was under an overpass and just pulled over and parked it till the rain stopped. it wasn't heavy rain. amazingly the car started and ran fine after that, i got home and took the dash out and it had soldered the wires to the post and it still allowed it to start. i have since upgraded with new wiring harnesses though out the car and did nachos upgrade. i still haven't driven it in the rain or tried all the lights and wipers on at once, little gun shy

Luke