Lay it up or keep on driving?

[lemoncurd]

Right, well winter is coming and we are set for the usual couple of months of grim weather and not much fun on the roads. Living in the south with its nuts house prices I am not fortunate enough to have a garage so I am wondering if anyone has an opinion on this dilema... do I :

1. Keep the car on the drive. Run it as often as possible to keep things working and dry out any damp that might have worked its way into the car.
   
2. The same as 1 but invest in an outdoor car cover and risk the cover / wind interaction damaging the paint on the car.
   
3. I have had the offer of somwhere to lay it up for winter so store it there. Unfortunatley this is long way from me so it would literally be laid up and would not see much action in that period.
   

What are peoples thoughts? I know these cars really like to run regularly, but given the nature of the car and the british weather I am wondering which is the lesser evil?

Ben

[islandbloke]

Keep on runnin'...at least she won't go rusty!

[Advantage]

Use it.

[Mark Blanchard]

Keep on running. And rent a garage (off some old Fogey). I've kept mine in a rent garage for the last 5 years. I rent it off a 90 year old Granny, for

[Paul C]

I'd say use it

Have not used mine since stoneleigh as have not had free time when it's

either not been raining or i have been drinking the night before. Tomorrow

rain or shine she goes out for a spin as for me three weeks is long enough

to stand.

[Splodge s4]

You can have some of the best drives in the winter, those dry cold fresh frosty Sunday mornings, that cool dense air giving you more power... use it, its what you bought it for.

If mine wasnt in a garage though i'd have a car cover.

[dodgy]

last year, my 'normal everyday' car developed a slight problem - cam belt snapped

due to it being Xmas/new year time, it took 2.5 weeks to return to the road

well, the temp at the time was -5c to + 5c but i didn't care, the esprit got used every day and i loved it

the one thing i am glad it didn't do, was rain/snow. I was lucky there

i keep the car on the road all year ( unless its broken ) just in case we get that 'perfect drivers day'.

And it keeps everything from seizing up taking it out round the block- once a week.

[tfi204]

Yes, Use it and get a cover. It really will not hurt the paint finish. I would invest in some sort of thing that will collect the moisture from inside the car. I notice that mine often seemed damp after uncovering.

Cheers

[Jonathan]

IMO Esprits dont like standing - esp outdoors.

Mine was laid up over 5 months last year when I was working on it and it was fine but that was in a garage.

I don't find much fun in driving Esprit in the wet, cold, blinding sun in the morning - get dark early winter either but I make a point of just driving it to keep it awake as it were (Elise was another matter, the wheel spin and tail out action was hilarious).

Unfortunatly I don't have many fond memories of winter drives with Esprits

Covers are great imo, get one like mine with a fleece lining and it wont damage your paint any more than driving it along the motorway will. If you're going to leave it, where you park it is also important - ideally you want it on a waterproof mound so any moisture etc rolls away from under the car and doesn't evaporate up into the bodywork - so dont leave it on grass, gravel (with an earth under lay) and so on.

[esprit350]

drive it, use it and love it, mines is going out on christmas day if it is dry, quiet roads just got to be driven.....

[lemoncurd]

Thanks for all the replies!

I think you have all convinced me what my heart was probably telling me anyway! The first dry crisp day and I would be sat around the house pining for it!

Will look into getting a nice cover to keep off some of the soggy leaves!

Ben

[WayneB]

I never drive any of my collector cars in the winter (November to April in Canada) as the winters destroy cars here (snow 3 feet deep, salt, ice, grit trucks , bad drivers etc.)

Whilst I lived in the UK, I never winter drove my decient cars either.

As I like the underneath /engine comparment looking good too, I dont like the corrosion/deterioration winter driving causes.

Laying cars up indoors for a few months doesnt seem to hurt them at all!

Now when they sit for 6 months to years thats a whole new ball game

Seals dry out and leak, shock absorber shafts/ brake components rust and stick, and electrical components (headlamp lift / wiper /power window /motors all refuse to work , tyres perminently flat spot and more often than not varmints move in and chew up the interior.

[martynv]

I'm going to keep driving my car through the winter as long as there's no salt or really wet conditions on the road. Mine's outside at the moment until I build a garage big enough for it to fit in !, so I reckon its better off giving it a weekly run. I've got a cover from Specialised Carcovers which is the best I found so far which fits really well and has plenty of straps and I'll use it when the weather gets really rough. I'm sure it probably will mark the paint work a bit but it needs a re-spray anyway !!!. Club Lotus are doing a discount on the covers, I think they work out at around

Edited December 1, 2006 by martynv

[peteyg]

DRIVE IT!

I'm a huge believer in the more you use it the less will go wrong. I used a Specialised car cover for 4 years whilst the car was outdoors immediately after a respray and no issues with the cover affecting the paint.

Agreed it's not much fun driving in the wet (at least I don't have a turbo to worry about!) but what's a little water going to do. I took the old girl out last Sunday as it was my birthday, put 200 miles on her in the pissing rain and grinned all the way. OK so now she's covered in muck but what the hell, it's a car!! IT needs to be driven!! The chassis is galvanised, most other components are either alloy or powder coated, by the look of the weather so far what are the chances of them salting the roads? (trying not to speak too soon!!).

USE IT, ENJOY IT, IT'S AN ESPRIT!

Rant over.

Pete

[robcun]

more often than not varmints move in and chew up the interior.

yes we canadians have to deal with such pesky critters

out here on the frontier all the bears and racoons love to munch on fine sportscars - its thier favourite thing!

especially english ones

[bigsi]

mines under a car cover in the crap weather as i have no garage and cant move it yet.

i will take it off the road over the winter, and store it at a friends place, going down every few days to start her up drive around his lot and then rest it up again.

mind you i will still be continuing with the work on the car at the same time.

[Jonathan]

Ben - I am really happy with this product :

http://www.hamiltonclassic.co.uk/ProductIn...tdoorMoltex.htm

It's not 100% breathable or waterproof as my tests have poved but it does keep the vast majority of the rain off - infact I have only washed my car once in the past 2-3 months, it's been kept that clean by the cover !

My car is always under that atm and it works a treat (I got the SL size btw, you might opt for the slightly larger one for the spoiler) - its also DEAD easy to take on and off, you'll have to remove your bee sting though (which is why I got shot of mine !) the elastic is very strong, you wont need to worry about it coming off I can tell you.

The important things on the later Esprits are all galvanised so rust isn't a big problem unless you're like me and like everything shiney, imo a car standing in the wrong place will rot a lot quicker than if it was in use in all but the worst conditions...you know what they say about a rolling stone gathers no moss.

[arbell9]

Hello all,

I got mine on the 15t Nov this year and have done ~750 mile rain or shine since then. It gets crapped up during the week but a nice TLC wash at the weekend sorts it out. You have to drive it unless you can afford to keep it as ornament. It seems a waste to not drive it a least couple of days per week, got to yer fix you know, feed the habit.

People seem dead worried about driving in the wet, only when it has lashed it down and I had to get home in it did I think, pants .... best be careful now. Mind you I dont have an agressive driving style so I think that helps. I rode a motor bike for 4 years straight all year in all conditions and that didnt faze me. When the salt and ice arrives, the volvo will take over because they do increase wear and tear and increase driving risk respectively.

I want to move to a house with a double garage, but cant afford that yet. My mate said I should have bought the house first and waited for the car!! Now thats just daft!

I am still undecided on the car cover, I like the idea of the fleece lined one, especialy when the frosts arrive. Seems a 50:50 split on the forum for and against. Could we have a poll on this?

cheers

Alex B)

[Jonathan]

whats the against on using a car cover ?

[arbell9]

whats the against on using a car cover ?

The against is about using one outdoors and there are suggestions about paint Chaffing. This seems to be the con that others are talking about.

Alex

Edited December 1, 2006 by Alex --GT3--

[Jonathan]

So bird crap, ultra violet rays, airbourne debris, falling leaves / twigs, insects, cats, tree sap etc etc is any better ?

You probably do more damage to the paintwork driving it

[arbell9]

Yes they are all bad, bird crap in particular, thats etched the lacquer on my other car in several spots and that was from little tiny bird crap you dont notice, not the huge white jobbies which are easy to spot and hence remove. The independant volvo garage I use reckons its because we use water based lacquers and paints these days rather than solvent based ones. Sounds plausible but I dont know if its true.

Cats do my head in. Like to sit on the bonnet to keep warm and then leave tram lines from their claws!

What I wonder is if I got a cover, would it really make any difference either way or is it all in the mind, cos it looks wrapped up and cosy. Would it be a wedge of cash down the pan? I am all for driving it and accepting what comes my way. Also when I am out I am not going to wrap it up where ever I park up so why do it at home?

Cleaned and polished the car still looks good, even with minor marks that really only the owner notices when they clean it, thats what leads to the annoyance and paranoia.

The longer it goes sitting out in the elements the more I think well, she just has to survive out there.

Alex

[Jonathan]

I absolutly swear by mine, been using it on the red car whilst the white car takes up the garage until it's finished...then they'll swap over - seriously it goes away washed and comes out as clean as it went away.

I don't take it with me becuase someone will nick it

If you get a cover make sure it's soft and furry on the inside and breathable so it does not trap moisture underneath, all do to an extent, imo this is the worth thing a car coer can do.

Red is one of the worst colours for swirls and I've never noticed anymore than usual becuase the cover is actually very heavy and the elastic is so tight it doesn't move about much - if at all.

It's not so much the rain but the crap in the air that lands on the water drops and becomes a solution that sticks to the paint over time, leaves etc. Plus rain gets into the rear vents and runs all over the engine cover / engine.

[arbell9]

OK , got me convinced, I will try the link you suggest earlier

cheers

Alex

Edited December 2, 2006 by Alex --GT3--

[iainskea]

Car in a bubble!

- there's your soln - even if just for the freak factor

Iain