Two Stupid Questions, but nessisary to me
 

Ok these questions might sound insignificant and dumb but it has been nagging on my mind for the past couple of months.

One of them is about thrashing the SVX. So I start the engine leave it running for about 4-5 minutes maybe 10 until the rpms fall to a thousand or about 600. When I use the brakes I most of the time slowly press on the brakes ever increasing it to make sure it comes to a stop without that all infamous jolt. I also try not to use my brakes that much and when I do I use it in good distance of something and gradually come to a stop most of the time, unless I have no other choice but to suddenly. When I park my car I do the whole pull up the emergency brake, then put it into park and disengage the parking brake, unless I am on an incline of course.

So what it comes down to is I like to take it a bit briskly on turns, not fast, but not at your average speed either. I also have a tendency, to do quick sweeping turns at times. Would this be detrimental to anything too much?

I also want to know if it is a good idea to take a hose and just spray the bottom of the car to remove salt on a day when it is not below freezing point. Or is it just better to take it to a car wash where they can quickly dry it as well? I also heard something about commercial car washes make coolant magically disappear. Can someone please explain that?

Well the harder you drive the car the more it wears out. There's no way to gauge how fast.

You will probably wear out struts and bearings quicker than normal.

Maybe some of the regular autocrossers will share the maintenance done to their cars as well as the frequency of their repairs.

As for car washes I stay away from the automatic ones (I don't trust them).

David how do you wash your car in that freezing climate?

I wait until it warms up to above freezing then go to a wand wash. If it's cold enough out it doesn't really get dirty anyway.

Re: Two Stupid Questions, but nessisary to me
 

You're kidding on the car wash thing, right?

If not, I've never heard that rumor and I've never had a problem with loss of coolant other than the headgasket failure on my SVX (which BTW had noting to do with a car wash)

Car washes do not dry the bottom of the car only the painted surface. IMHO, the best thing you can do for a car confined to the salt zone is to have it washed regularly. Dislodges the built-up crud and rinses away the excess salt from the crevasses. I routinely take my cars (all of them, including my '03 Ram and my wife's '03 G35, both more valuable than the SVX) to car washes in the winter just for that reason.

Todd

Re: Re: Two Stupid Questions, but nessisary to me
 

Yea i get ym car washed once a week summer or winter...except in summer ill go full out with the armoral ;)