I read this elsewhere and thought I'd ask here.

Sometimes you see high end cars for sale saying "never driven in rain".

Why? Unless you live near "acid rain", rain is pure distilled water. So why would people care about that?

 

It's less about the water than the muck that ends up on your car. If I were paying insane amounts of money for a car, that would be a nice selling point! But yes, in general, who cares?

 

There are pollutants in the air. When it rains these pollutants get deposited on everything including vehicles. A couple of years ago red clay dust from Texas got deposited on vehicles here in Chicago when it had rained. It turned any vehicles sitting outside a nice red.

If rainwater was distilled you would not be able to tell when it had rained by looking at your vehicle. But most times rain does cause spotting, at least here in Chicago.

 

Rain water is distilled water; it is formed through a process of evaporation and condensation.

http://www.getalife.net.au/mag/water_html

I can believe it picks up crap in falling but I hever had water spots from rain. I have from the sprinkler. But still, the question is ...

So what? Don't these people WASH their cars?

 

I always get water spots from rain.

 

+1
On the car, under the car, in nooks and crannies that begin the dreaded car cancer, in the car from shoes slopping through muck.

 

I have no problem with water spots or mud.

It still begs the question ... So what???????

Wash the silly car

Clearly their are some ppl obsessed about detailing but not driving in the rain is a bit extreme???????

 

I do. But sometimes it rains more than once in 2 months.

 

I think that is an overused term much like "always garaged".

 

Here's another thought. Maybe that's in the ads for the amusment of the
"old school" collectors. When they hear a guy talking about his newly acquired Ferrari he paid big bucks for and bragging that "it never even saw rain" they have a good belly laugh whilst sipping their single malt.

 

I always interpretted that to mean it doesn't run.

 

Actually, a car that is garaged is likely to have better paint than one that lives outside - doesn't have dust/bird crap/cats falling on it constantly, doesn't need to be washed/waxed as much, thus has a better chance of not being abused by a careless detailer.

But hey, if that's not important, or the car has been well maintained, then it may not be relevant.

 

The rain itself usually isn't the big problem, it's driving on the wet roads. Water on the roads will pick up every last bit of oil, tar, dirt, and debris and spray it onto the underside of your car [or anywhere the tires spray], ruining zinc plating, galvanizing, and other coatings. The result is cars driven in the rain rust quicker and are harder to work on due to siezed and corroded bolts, on top of looking dirty and ugly underneath. If it's a collector car we're talking about, driving in the rain is an instant way to create many hours of work cleaning up the disaster.

 

Before I opened this post Ryan, when I saw you were the most recent poster, I KNEW you would explain it completely and precisely!

 

actually it's about the seals and weather stripping. when they go through
wet/dry cycles it wears them out. ofcourse you can Nero it and call it
a day, but some people like to keep their original rubber/plastic look.

for me, i dont drive in rain cause i hate washing cars. lol now
i have to make a living so i use my commuters in the rain and snow to
go to work, but i make the washings/waxing to a minimum... thus turns
into another HYDRO advertising campaign. lol

 

Wow- another lead-in to Hydro for Ken.

 

i think chows was just trying to see how i would turn this
thread into Hydro discussions. lol

 

This is the closest thing, I believe, to the truth. If its a $1M collector car, its probably not going to see the outside of a collector's warehouse. Even for $200K - $500K collector cars driving on sunny days I can see

But for "regular" folks driving $100K recently built production cars, I can see the point if your doing concours or whatever, but it would seem to miss the point of having the car to drive.

 

People use all sorts of claims in ads for collector cars. My parents went to look at a '56 vette that 'just needs paint'. Should have been 'some assembly required. It was a frame with every other part in about 100 differnt card board boxes.

Never driven in the rain says nothing about birds, snow, hail, etc

 

Having a $100,000 daily driver is not going to be the norm. Lots of folks have an expensive car and they choose to try and keep it as nice as possible. Look how many MINI owners never drive it during the winter......same reason.

Chows is trolling again..........................hehe

 

water splashes up from underneath deposting grit in bushings, bearings, fittings, and flanges while removing lubricants

 

You beat me to the punchline -

"On LynnEl's car, those are the CLEAN spots"

 

I'm just curious about the rain thing cause I see no point in having something you cant use because your afraid of the rain

Sometimes I think of clearbra the same way as ppl who used to put plastic on their sofas so the sofa dont get dirty. When do you take the plastic off and actually enjoy the real sofa (or car). What is the point of having a fine car if your afraid to get it dirty. Most of them are MEANT to be driven, including in the winter.

 

Some poeple have enough disposable income where they buy an expensive car and only drive it on sunny day. With a true collecter car there is a world of difference between a driver and a garage kept car. In the late 80's I was selling Porsches and took a 3 year old 944 TurboS in on trade from a collecter. It had 2200 miles on it, never seen a drop of rain, stored in a garage on jack stands, that car was cleaner than when Porsche shipped it. The owner demanded and got $10,000 more in trade, the car was sold before the paperwork cleared my desk at a $15,000 dollar profit. A true never seen a drop car is easy to spot and will bring more money when it comes time to unload it.

 

clearbra is different cause in my case it's not there to really preserve
the finish for later. it's there so i don't need to keep putting touchup
after every drive as the dealer aftermarket paint is so soft on the
aero kit. it chips too easily. i don't have clearbra over the
factory paint. i got very minor chips but not really detectable unless
you're up against the car.

i dont use clearbra on other cars either, other than the little pieces
that came from the factory.

now you can drive your boxster in the snow if you want, but when
you got a awd car sitting at home, why? use the car that was meant
to be driven in the snow, i say. now, if you only have one car, then
story's different. you got no choice.