the usual springtime depression

[Rodzilla]

so how did your car weather the winter??

being on vacation this week and it actually being somewhat warm and sunny...i stopped by the carwash and washed my car...now last fall my car was pretty much intact,it had a couple minor spots that needed some attention,but it was nothing serious so i have been putting it off....today i noticed i now need to have the bottom of all four doors repainted before they require actual repair,and both quarter panels need some paint work as well,probably requiring removal of the rear bumper cover to uncover god knows what hidden underneath...it's just depressing,typical gm galvanized body,is the paint coming off cause it's rusting?or is it rusting because the paint's coming off??...i live on the east coast of canada,cars in this climate are biodegradable,it's best not to get too attached... i was planning on trading it in this summer,but now have to decide if and how to fix this stuff before what was a nice looking car turns into an ugly piece of crap...my least favourite part of spring

[Morts]

Do they use road salt in Canada? I thought they used Sand? Here in Buffalo my 2000 is already rusting like crazy. We are the Rock Salt capitol of the USA:D

[HomerJ]

Up here it's sand and gravel but out east (Montreal is really bad (or was)) they just drive a dumpster and toss out salt licks out the back.

[Rodzilla]

Morts...we got you beat,yes we use salt[lots of it],but on top of that our seaside environment here on the east coast is corrosive to start with...combine that with a wet winter typified by repetitive freezes and thaws...and you have one of the most hostile environments for cars on the planet...they just melt away like nowhere else

[Rodzilla]

damn....i stopped by our bodyshop today[i work for a car dealership]looks like i'm gonna have to do this myself...estimate was "about 700" for basically some quick sanding and painting,i know they would do a flawless job and that i get a deal on labour...but no way i pay that much for this minor bit of work,it's been a while since i did any bodywork...might be fun[not]...lol at least it'll get painted it's not like i could make it look much worse :)

[Morts]

Well Rodzilla you know what I am talking about now. My 00 Taurus was on the Lift at the shop yesterday and I almost PUKED. It looks worse than my 79 F-250 under there. My rear sway bar link snapped off because it actually Rotted off:D Add our Massive Pot Holes and you have a recipe for a car to last no longer than 10 years MAX. You know the conditions of our roads here are Horrible when President Bush comments on them. He was here and said to a group that he felt like he was in a Blender when being bounced around from all of the Massive holes in the road here. Some holes are so big my 8 year old can swim in them:thmbsp:

[Rodzilla]

yup i DO know exactly what you're talking about,my car is a 99 Intrigue..saved by a previous owner who apparently rarely drove it[only about 100k km's/60k mi on it]i've recenty had to replace a rear control arm and it's body mount due to rust...i'm trading mine in this summer it's reached the turning point and it's all downhill from here :)