i say wash and wax baby

 

So is your 2004 WRX an appliance?

 

Kinda. Actually, it is my wife's driver. And like my first wife, she loves her car. So, I may be in the same fix as before.

 

Def try not to drive it during the winter and put on the clear bra on the front bumper and hood. mine is only 4 yrs old and it is beat down. Time for new paint soon.

Also, tint the windows to protect the seats from UV rays. They seem to fad over time and look pretty ugly.

 

I clean my car, under the car as well, on weekly basis and check for all kinds of things, that's really the only thing you can do, imo.

 

Paint every 5 years, regular maintenance, and cleaning will keep it looking new!

 

+1
if you drive it daily get a good quality paint job every 5-6 years, maintenance, and careful driving

 

Beater ftmfw

Garaging the car is the single best thing you can do to preserve your car, aside from keeping up with maintenace

 

Yeah, don't wait for rubber parts to fail, hit them on the maint. intervals. I'm about due for a couple of those things myself.


Thats not so much a winter thing as it is simply a driving thing. The biggest problem I've had (aside from construction zones) are other ******* drivers who don't respect anyones ****ing property dinging my car, whacking the bumper, backing into the front, etc. Nothing seriously broken or bent, but man, it DESTROYS the paint.

Yeah, the sad state of ****ty paint from mitsu affairs. I'm about to that point on mine. I suspect in the next year it'll get repainted. Probably be a good time to switch to an IX bumper, eh?

This. Except I have one and I just can't bring my self to drive it over the evo

 

driving in winter is fine...just don't live in the northeast or near the ocean and you don't have to worry about salt corrosion....lol....if you live in these areas then rust is gonna happen eventually.....so keeping a car forever isn't a good idea....seriously...any car is gonna rust eventually no matter what....have you ever looked at an older car like a mustang or something....if you look under it the whole frame is rusty...i'm surprised these things still hold together....lol....only way to keep it new would be a major overhaul and alot of work....i mean the evo came from the factory with rust already on it...lol...just look under the rear crash beam...but i fixed that as soon as i got mine....i haven't seen any rust anywhere else yet....the longest i had a vehicle was my old toyota truck....it had like 300,000 miles on it...started burning oil ...leaking oil and such....still ran fine ....i never saw any rust on the frame though.....but there were some spots made by the old bed liner rubbing the paint and the entire exhaust from the engine back was rusted......small things like that.....i mean the bushings were wore out on the suspension and the paint was faded and things like that....a car only lasts so long ....once you get to that point you have 2 options....either get rid of it or do a major overhaul which costs as much money as going out and buying a new one almost...lol

 

you can pick up a beater at a junk yard for no more then $400 and the thing may not look good, but as long as it runs you can keep your evo pretty in the bad weather

 

I drive my Evo daily and thru all seasons. I wash it and clean it regularly but there's only so much you can do. If the car is not garaged especially in winter that automatically reduces the life of the car IMHO. Winters that we have here in NH are brutal and I am really surprised cars survive at all around here. LOL From the day I bought my Evo I knew that it will never be as clean and shiny as compared to other Evo owners cars that store and keep their Evos in a garage.

Since it’s your DD this is what I would do:
- wash and clean regularly
- keep up with maintenance recommendations
- no food or drinks inside the car
- keep aggressive driving to a minimum
- don't borrow your car to anyone

Hope this helps.

 

I am due for a paint job...I think I'll use POR-15 on the underbody where I see specs of rust and then use 3pm clear vinyl tape on the front of the car for small rocks.

 

Salt is a cars worst enemy. Not so much water but salt so winter times suck..get a beater if you can..also when these cars start to be considered old it will just be like the supra..the VIII's and IX's will be rare. I dont think the evo X's took off as much as the VIII's and IX's..there will be a lot of ppl restoring these I would imagine.. With that being said if you really wanted to you could have it stripped right down to the unibody and have it all stich welded if you wanna track it a lot re upholster the whole car replace all the bushings..pull the engine..paint and have it clear coated like the rest of the car in the bay..drop a new motor in..drop a new trans in..

Its all about how much you wanna spend.

 

I agree and think that the IX's and VIII will be come rare over the years.