There’s only one way to minimize the risk of damage while daily driving a Spyder in the winter....snow tires.

As far as cleaning, yes...try to wash it thoroughly (that means the wheel arches & underside) as often as possible when the temp goes to >40F. There’s nothing special about 40F...it’s just the temp where I felt comfortable turning on my hose to spray the underside without having water freeze & burst a pipe. Once salt is on the road it doesn’t matter if you drive or not...other cars will kick up a salty mist all over the car regardless. Surface rust will happen within 48hrs of the first snow & salt....you’re never going to avoid that. FWIW cleaning your wiper blades each time will make sure you aren’t rubbing salt into your windshield. I could get really over the top and say that you need to put the car up on a lift & use a pressure washer on the underside of the car every time but that is clearly unrealistic. The name of the game is to minimize any frame rust, body panel rust, etc. If you can wash, clay bar, & then use a synthetic sealant that will give the longest protection on the paintwork of the car. The sealant I use typically lasts 8 - 10 months when applied in the late summer / early fall. Depending on the sealant it may be applied to glass & the wheels as well.

A few other things related to winter, not necessarily rust/car damage:
I would recommend removing all 4 wheels and putting a touch of grease on the hub where the wheel contacts (not on the lug nut threads!!)....otherwise you can forget about changing a flat tire without a weighted hammer once the wheel rust welds itself to the hub. Make sure you have jumper cables....used car = used battery, and batteries will be under additional stress in the winter months. And regardless of city, suburb, or rural area I would keep a set of oversized clothes & gloves in the car as a just in case if you get stranded. Being stranded & getting wet in the cold can be dangerous even if AAA is “only” an hr away.

 

There’s only one way to minimize the risk of damage while daily driving a Spyder in the winter....snow tires.

As far as cleaning, yes...try to wash it thoroughly (that means the wheel arches & underside) as often as possible when the temp goes to >40F. There’s nothing special about 40F...it’s just the temp where I felt comfortable turning on my hose to spray the underside without having water freeze & burst a pipe. Once salt is on the road it doesn’t matter if you drive or not...other cars will kick up a salty mist all over the car regardless. Surface rust will happen within 48hrs of the first snow & salt....you’re never going to avoid that. FWIW cleaning your wiper blades each time will make sure you aren’t rubbing salt into your windshield. I could get really over the top and say that you need to put the car up on a lift & use a pressure washer on the underside of the car every time but that is clearly unrealistic. The name of the game is to minimize any frame rust, body panel rust, etc. If you can wash, clay bar, & then use a synthetic sealant that will give the longest protection on the paintwork of the car. The sealant I use typically lasts 8 - 10 months when applied in the late summer / early fall. Depending on the sealant it may be applied to glass & the wheels as well.

A few other things related to winter, not necessarily rust/car damage:
I would recommend removing all 4 wheels and putting a touch of grease on the hub where the wheel contacts (not on the lug nut threads!!)....otherwise you can forget about changing a flat tire without a weighted hammer once the wheel rust welds itself to the hub. Make sure you have jumper cables....used car = used battery, and batteries will be under additional stress in the winter months. And regardless of city, suburb, or rural area I would keep a set of oversized clothes & gloves in the car as a just in case if you get stranded. Being stranded & getting wet in the cold can be dangerous even if AAA is “only” an hr away.

Awesome. Thanks for the advice. Out of curiosity, what sealant do you use?

 

If you can find a set of steelies to run in the winter, and you’ve got a place to store them that makes running snow tires way more convenient. Then you don’t have to pay someone to swap your tires, you can just swap your wheel sets out.
Like Form said, apply a very light coating of grease or anti-seize on the inside face of the wheel or hub where they contact. There is a shade tree technique for getting a stuck wheel off without a hammer, but only if the tire isn’t flat. If you still have a full tire, and you’re using a floor jack, you can loosen all the lug nuts on the wheel(but leave them on) jack the car up then gently lower it down just fast enough to knock the wheel loose. Not ideal but works in a pinch.

 

Awesome ill see if I can find somebody to sell me a set of steelies

 

Take all the money you would spend on washing, winter tires, sealant etc etc and just buy a early 2000s Corolla.

 

Also I was also under the impression that snow tires just increased performance during the winter but it was still driveable with normal tires. If I end up not being able to afford a set of winter tires, can I reasonably make do with

if insurance didnt exist i probably would

 

You’re young, so your insurance is through the roof and it might not help enough, but most insurance plans allow you to switch to a storage plan if a vehicle isn’t being used. My rates go down to almost nothing on the stored vehicle(it’s only comprehensive no collision or liability on that vehicle when stored).

Snow tires improve handling. On a spyder that means preventing you from going ass end forwards every time you take a corner. Most people on this forum run summer performance tires, and in much of the country(even the Southeast) that means running all seasons or snow tires in the winter. In NYC you can definitely get away with running all seasons on an average fwd or awd car in the winter. If you avoid driving any time there is snow or ice it might be ok too. But if you are gonna drive a rwd car, especially mid-rear or rear engine, in snowy or icy conditions you NEED snow tires.

Living in MN I’ve unexpectedly spun out many times in all sorts of vehicles. But in rwd even without a mid engine and with excellent all season tires I’ve still had very close calls with striking other vehicles. In my awd Chrysler I’m running “all weather” tires which are special all seasons that also have a snow rating. But those tires don’t come in spyder sizes and that vehicle doesn’t need the absolute best in rear traction since it is awd and heavy in the nose.

 

yeah i think when i see snow ill say no-go

 

I use Ultima Paint Guard Plus...it is stupidly easy to apply, which works well for me because I don’t have a garage. Each coat takes 10 mins to apply, 3 coats...8 months of protection. The bottle I bought for around $25 is still going 8 yrs later.

There is no such thing as “regular” tires. Summer tires, all seasons, winter tires, & studded tires all have their time & place. Summer tires shouldn’t be used below 40F, so definitely not for a daily. You can get by with all season tires...the emphasis is on get by. you will not be able to drive with confidence in even a few inches of snow. They are strictly made for being able to function in the warm as well as in the cold, and can work well when roads have been at least somewhat plowed. Snow tires are made for just that...they give significantly better traction in standing snow. This doesn’t give you world rally cross performance but the difference in grip between all seasons and winter tires is easily noticed. In some countries they mandate that between certain dates you must run snow tires for exactly this reason.

 

I use Ultima Paint Guard Plus...it is stupidly easy to apply, which works well for me because I don’t have a garage. Each coat takes 10 mins to apply, 3 coats...8 months of protection. The bottle I bought for around $25 is still going 8 yrs later.

There is no such thing as “regular” tires. Summer tires, all seasons, winter tires, & studded tires all have their time & place. Summer tires shouldn’t be used below 40F, so definitely not for a daily. You can get by with all season tires...the emphasis is on get by. you will not be able to drive with confidence in even a few inches of snow. They are strictly made for being able to function in the warm as well as in the cold, and can work well when roads have been at least somewhat plowed. Snow tires are made for just that...they give significantly better traction in standing snow. This doesn’t give you world rally cross performance but the difference in grip between all seasons and winter tires is easily noticed. In some countries they mandate that between certain dates you must run snow tires for exactly this reason.

well i think when i see snow im just not going to drive at all. It hasnt snowed that much the past couple years here

 

All great advice here but Id just like to add my friend's anecdote about his really nice nissan 240sx. He loved that car and barely drove it in the winter time in NYC but everytime he did drive it out, he would wash down the undercarriage as best he could. Few years later he sold the car to a mutual friend. And many more years later the friend still has the car in his garage as he didn't drive it much and was planning on modding it alot. Rear subframe is rusted to hell as well as all the usual places. Point of the story is you can't escape rust.

 

damn. guess ill start mentally preparing myself to deal with the sight of it

 

There are ways to minimize the damage but driving on salty roads will start to take its toll immediately.

I have an 89 Honda Civic that came from Georgia with not a spot of rust on it. The bolts connecting the cat pipe weren’t even rusty. I’ve been driving that as my winter beater for about 4 or 5 years now in PA and NY. I was really good about washing the underside of the car for the first few years and noticed the rust starting to build up on all the suspension bolts after the first winter and now the body has a hole in the rear fender and the rocker panel on the passenger side is getting soft. I will probably only get one more winter out of it. Rust prevention technology has gotten way better and even the difference between 1990 and 2000 technology is impressive but it’s still made up of mostly coatings and some of those coatings are designed to be sacrificed to protect the vulnerable steel underneath. It’s only a matter of time before your suspension bolts will be rusty to the point that the angle grinder is required to take stuff apart and there is permanent damage on parts of body you can’t see or access with a pressure washer.

 

guess im looking at a 3-4 month retirement of the Spyder or inevitable rust. Ill weigh my options, thanks

 

The best way to avoid wintertime damage to your car is to get yourself a set of winter tires/wheels (preferably steelies), a box of 55gal trash bags, and a couple pounds of moisture absorbing desiccant (it can be natural or synthetic - I prefer damp rid).

Before the winter season, prepare each "winterized" wheel by double wrapping them in 2 55gal trash bags. Before you bag, add 1 cup of desiccant in a small bowl and place near the center of the hubs. Lay the wheels flat. Make sure to leave a little air in the bags before sealing them off. Leave each bagged wheel on the garage floor (about 1 foot apart) and then move to California.

 

yeah looking like that'll cost me about a grand, which very much blows. Might make a post seeing if anybody has a set for sale. Thanks for the words

 

Sorry man I couldn't resist. It's spyderchat tradition to for us to poke fun at all the "winter normies" while they poke fun at our ridiculous smog laws and taxes.

 

hahaha.

 

@scotched had me wondering where he was going with that post all the way till the punch line...nicely done lol

If you're doing steelies there's no way wheels & tires come out to a grand. Steelies are cheap & a set of Blizzaks isn't expensive (as far as quality tires go). If you're trying to get a flashy set of wheels and use the stockers for winter then thats a different story. Btw is the Spyder your first car?

 

yeah lucky enough it is actually

 

I'm in SoCal so my winter plan is to drive my Spyder whenever I felt like it. Although it did snow during Thanksgiving and on Christmas in 2019. If it happens again I was just going to drive my other car.

 

gotcha

 

Winter is when the car goes up on blocks and gets a good cleaning... Old Rav4 gets back to work !

 

ol reliable

 

It snows more than you might imagine here in Georgia. I drive it, then wash the underside with high pressure and haven't had any problems with rust. The key is not to let the salt sit on there for any length of time.
Of course what we have down here is nothing compared to the conditions up there.

 

i think my plan is ill drive it in the winter but when it snows i j wont drive. It doesnt snow all that much. Its just when it does it usually snows hard and the roads get hammered w salt

 

Having a winter beater car is also nice to have for rainy days as well. you might also find that you can lower your overall insurance cost with a cheap second car depending on how you set this up with your insurance carrier.

 

It’s not always a matter of stupid..it can be a single lapse in judgement and that can happen just from being tired. An MR2 was my first car as well. I’m not roasting you, I’m just stating the truth...which was the same for me back in the day. Winter tires were a night & day difference over all season tires, especially in one of the unforcasted blizzards I got stuck in on I-95. Kinda amusing to be the one driving past AWD Audi’s that spun off to the shoulder and couldn’t get out of the snow. But to put your main focus on salt being the determining factor of whether you drive in the winter is like seeing a bear cub while hiking...cute & all but don’t focus on it when the real danger is the momma bear you haven’t even thought of yet.

Also, you’ll learn that salt gets churned into a spray, which is why cars located coastally do so poorly as well. It’s not so much a matter of driving...the spray kicked up into the air from street parking has a high enough salt content to do the damage as well

 

Got it. Yeah im going to take it all very slow and meticulously. Thanks for the advice

 

Driving a rear engine car on a slippery road is very tedious. The car responds so quickly that it can go out of control in a second, and the continuous focused attention gets to be old very soon.

 

Yeah ill make sure to be careful. I'm going to have my uncle who's been up the block with this kind of thing

 

I wouldn't drive it in the winter. I say a death machine in a bad accident. BTW, wintertime is when you do all your mods!

 

yeah seems like I wont unless weather is unusually nice

 

@NicholasKGP - my Spyder came with snow tires and I will not be using them. They have to be about 14 years old, but the previous owner did not use them and had them stored very well. There's no dry rot either. Where are you located?

 

The Bronx, NYC bb

 

At some point you should find a safe way to get a feel for the car at is limits. Best place to start is find a local Autocross event.

 

yeah i've already found some things I can attend. Doesn't look too expensive either

 

About 10 years ago, I moved from WI back to the Washington, D.C. area. While I was in WI my DD was a MOPAR FWD minivan. Because I was in business for myself and provided services year round on a time limited basis --- I had a Home Inspection company and most of the time the Inspections had to absolutely take place on the day scheduled No Matter What --- I routinely drive that van when there was ice --- sometimes black --- on the road and up to feet of snow on the ground. What kept me going --- even when some of the 4X4 SUVs were stuck spinning their wheels --- was properly sized, properly inflated Blizzacks, which were changed out every 3-4 years to ensure that they had plenty of tread on them.

Fast forward to my Spyder purchase a couple of years ago. I knew that I wanted to drive my Spyder in winter. In fact, I was looking forward to some ice and snow covered large parking lots where I could safely learn my Spyder's handling characteristics in a safe environment. In late May, I went to my "Go To" tire information source, The Tire Rack to do my winter tire research. Turns out that Blizzacks are still highly rated for winter use, but there were some new tires that just as high to higher ratings. Checked out new tire size recommendations for the Spyder and got cost estimates. Then I started checking out EBay and my local Craigslist for used, but in nearly new condition, used Blizzacks.

After a month or so, I picked up a complete set of properly sized Blizzacks (which had approximately 1,000 miles on them) for $200. Given that I had recently upgraded my OEM Toyota wheels to new alloys, I had the Blizzacks installed on my OEM rims for $60.

I drove my Spyder with the Blizzacks only in winter and found that they provided excellent grip and traction. Having said that, I need to add that ANY winter driving requires additional levels of caution and attention to detail than normal driving! Additionally, at least once a month, I took my Spyder to the local "DIY" car wash and did a complete undercarriage and full car wash. For the undercarriage I did the high pressure soap spray and the the high pressure water rinse.

When Spring comes, off go the Blizzacks and they are properly stored as described in previous posts. My non-Winter tires are Yokohama S-Drives mounted on Avanti alloy wheels.

The only other things that I feel it is important to add is that the fitment of Winter tires is different than the OEM specs. I would absolutely recommend that you consult with a Winter tire specialist to find out what tires work best with our RWD Spyders. Plus, if you do not already have extensive experience with RWD mid-engine cars, I would highly recommend that you find a safe place to experiment with the winter tires on your Spyder to determine how they interact with each other!