Why do cars down south look so clean??
Posted by Adorable_Wind8845@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 25 comments
I live in Connecticut and every car looks like total sh!t. They are all covered in crap and Im not even sure what it is. I recently took a trip down to Atlanta and everying is so clean! I see 25 year old cars that looks spotless. I think it may be the salt/pollen but that's only during the winter.
d__max@reddit
Trade northern salt and sand for southern heinous UV damage to clear coat and plastics lol
Original_Jagster@reddit
Um, UV is everywhere. Or do they not have sunshine up in those parts?
afraidofthe-dark@reddit
It’s much more humid in the south, which makes uv worse
_iamacat@reddit
Nope!
Adorable_Wind8845@reddit (OP)
Uv is worse down south
Nearby_Knowledge8014@reddit
No perfectly running car has been made un drivable due to clear coat peeling.
d__max@reddit
I did have an amusing experience with a 30 yo Floridan miata where the plastic rear finish panel exploded into pieces while I was waxing the car 😂. But yes much easier damage to work around
FrankCostanzaJr@reddit
no rust...but dude, you wanna see some ultra clean classic cars?? especially 80s/90s japanese cars? go visit California. specifically LA and SF...you'll see some beautiful old accords, celicas, civics, etc in MINT condition.
i dunno why for sure? but i think its a combination of COL being very expensive there, so it makes more sense to just take care of what ya got...rather than just trade it in for a new car every few years. there are SO many people driving MINT 80s/90s cars out there...its awesome.
smurffenbutt@reddit
Low humidity, zero road salt. My sister lives outside of L.A, I visit her every year. Love seeing all the pristine classic cars
JuanOnlyJuan@reddit
It rains a lot
Tree_Weasel@reddit
No salt on our roads. Clear coats stay intact, undercarriages don’t rust. Our cars stay cosmetically nicer for longer because of it.
I live in Texas, and I had a buddy who had family in Michigan. When he was ready to sell a car he would drive it up there and post it in marketplace with his Texas plates and a photo of the rust free underside of his car. Usually sold it within 2-3 days.
StashuJakowski1@reddit
Hole-in-the-wall car lots up here in Chicagoland will do something similar. They’ll partner up with Southern hole-in-the-wall lots and swap cars because most Southerns don’t think about rust and never get them inspected for it.
AlwaysBagHolding@reddit
As a northern refugee in the south, it always makes me laugh seeing such obvious northern garbage at the BHPH lots down here.
DesperateDon244@reddit
Evil
Cool-Bunch6645@reddit
Clear coat stays in tact if they can be garaged. You see a lot of cars that their clear coat gets destroyed by the sun in the south
AlwaysBagHolding@reddit
Dashes get destroyed too.
I'll take that trade off over dealing with rust though.
meatinmybriefs@reddit
It's so hard to find old southern cars up here. So when one pops up, it commands a premium that people are absolutely willing to pay.
midwestern456@reddit
California - same. The bodies and suspension last a long time. My two cars are 14 and 25 years old.
Echterspieler@reddit
road salt does more than make cars dirty. it corrodes them from the inside out.
meatinmybriefs@reddit
I'm so jealous of rust free 30 year old cars being a dime a dozen. Freshly southern cars are quite rare up north, and when they do go on sale, they're usually gone within a day of being listed.
KittiesRule1968@reddit
Former Windsor Connecticut resident, now living in South Carolina. We don't salt our roads like in Connecticut, in my area in the foothills of the blue ridge mountains, they will scatter salt on hills but that's about it.
Pussy-Wideness-Xpert@reddit
We pahk ouah cahs in the garahge
cans-of-swine@reddit
I live in TN, I have an 04 350z and an 05 f450 both have over 150k miles and not a spot of rust on either.
reidft@reddit
It's the salt, it hardly snows so they're not subjected to road salt 6 months out of the year. My 89 Probe is from the southern US and doesn't have a spot of rust on it. My 2010 F150 from Ontario is rotten.
-Cool_Ethan-@reddit
they don't salt the road down here