the kid C6

Anyone who's ever walked around a wrecking yard knows the sun is brutal. I know the sun has done far more damage to my old Camaro than the rain ever did. The rain never fried my upholstery.

I don't drive my Corvette in the rain because of the way other people drive in the rain. Idiots around here don't slow down!

I think my beloved car is safer at home, and I drive my second-best beloved car.

csf

I dont think a rain-free car is worth more than a rain-touched one.

But like others here, I am at a point where we have 5 vehicles including 2 SUVs, a FWD sedan, a BMW convertible, and my C6 GS.

There is just no reason to drive a 440 hp RWD sports car with big *** tires in rain when an AWD SUV is sitting in the driveway also. Same for our convertible.


So yes, my GS has never been in the rain except once. And my plan is to keep it that way as much as possible.

WhoIsPat

There are two different questions being answered; "Why do you/don't you drive your vette in the rain?" and "Why would you/wouldn't you prefer to buy from someone who claims it hasn't been in rain?" Reviewing the thread so far the responses are roughly as follows:

Don't drive in rain / Prefer rain-free car

• Indicates high standard of maintenance. x18
• Easier to clean/wash. x11
• Not fun to drive in rain. x8
• Undercarriage stays clean/avoids road dirt. x6
• Avoids higher risk of traffic incidents.

Drive in rain / Don't favor rain-free car

• It won't Shrink/melt/fail (lol). x17
• Made/tested for rain. x15
• Don’t really care. x11
• Seller is lying. x8
• Seller must not wash it. x2
• ****-retentive sellers ask high prices.

airmed2

Wow! Now that's some serious 'thread' research and breakdown. What in the word did you score on your SAT? Impressive!

FortMorganAl

EVERY Corvette coming out of the factory for sale has to go through a water test booth. And the engine is running the whole time. If you do a search there are people who have had water come over the hood with no damage. But if you modify the car to suck air through the front rather than through the engine compartment, then you are asking for trouble if you get into deep water. or even as much rain s the factory test.

DirtRoad

Is someone from Seattle going to start a thread about the pros and cons of Corvettes that have never been driven in the sun.

I'm pretty sure the sun does more damage than the rain.

c1j1c2

As always, this is so subjective of a subject...I loved the pictures of the cars on the coast, and the cars in the snow storm...made me gasp for a second.

windyC6

How does one get water to come OVER the hood and not have it get "sucked" through the front ? Kinda seems like the laws of physics would have something to say about that.

1972bluelt1

Been there, seen that.

Cherokee Nation

I'm with you,I have another vehicle to drive from home,but if I'm caught in a downpour that's a different story.....

vetdude

IMHO, the term "never in rain" is a metaphor for a vehicle that's had a high level of maintenance and therefore should be considered when purchasing a used vehicle.

As far as cars getting wet during the booth test at the factory, the booth doesn't shoot water up from the floor, doesn't contain mud, road salt, tree limbs, tiny stones, unseen potholes, dufus drivers who haven't a clue about driving in the rain, etc., etc., etc.

If I have my druthers, I'll buy the vehicle described as never been in the rain over a daily driver every time. But, as with everything else in life, to each his own.

1972bluelt1

Well said. I paid all the money for my cars because I didn't want a car that sat on a used car lot. The owner of my C5 said it had never seen rain.
Wasn't a deal breaker, but nice to hear. It was 5 years old and 3300 miles. The trip odometers had never been reset.

plmkrzy

Rain doesn't hurt and they don't shrink or turn into Mustangs. Just makes you clean it a little better.

FortMorganAl

Yes, the law of physics has a LOT to do with this. Have you ever changed your air filter? It is just under the hood. A C6 will float before it ingests water if you are not moving and have the factory air intake. If you are moving water will slide over the hood before it goes under, changes to upward and forward, and gets back up to the hood, and then changes direction to sideways in enough quantity to do any damage. The people who have sucked water into their engines have almost always reported they had modified air intakes. This guy might be an idiot but the car came through just fine except for the water inside:

BTW, both the ECM and BCM computers would have been under water in that video. The car was designed to be driven in the rain.

FortMorganAl

That would have been a hint to me that none of the fluids had ever been changed in 5 years either. What did the brake fluid look like? "Never driven in the rain" would tend to indicate to me a "waxer" but not someone who is up on the requirements of changing engine coolant. 3,300 miles in 5 years would also indicate someone who let the car sit thinking that meant the car would stay like new without requiring maintenance. RTFM which says fluids need to be changed even if the car never moves.

mr84monte

Back in the day when I was 18 (1990"s) I drove a Chevelle SS 396 as a daily. At the time I was involved with lot's of car club type stuff, a large percent of the time at shows, I noticed that the clean (non-rain) cars won. Don't get me wrong I washed mine every few days and before shows yada yada. Now that I'm older I have 3 non-rain vehicles 2 cars and a truck and one rain truck. I do catch a lot of flack from people, they especially love it when I get caught in the rain and spend hours cleaning it. So to me, an ad like that will tell me a lot. I know how a car should look if it's "never seen rain", or very light rain. So if I show up and see signs of a dirty car, what else is this person lying about? The last car I sold, the guy had nothing that he could do but pay the asking price which was about $4k more than the others are going for, and kept commenting on how clean it was. In fact one z06 I was looking at was oddly dirty on the underside for 16K miles, I saw it for sale for about a year, then it sold for much less, and 2 months later the car was for sale again, has me wondering what's going on with it.

1972bluelt1

It was serviced by the dealer. Had receipts for oil changes. Coolant is supposed to be good for 5 years or or 150k miles. I think most cars go their entire lives without a brake fluid change, it was clean and clear. I have flushed it twice.

I've had it 10 years, 10,500 miles now and it's still like new.

DirtRoad

I drive in the rain when necessary. I own my Corvette, it doesn't own me.

mjg1200

So you have driven your car 10,500 miles in 10 yrs is that right? Like I said earlier in this thread there are all types of car people. I love to drive my car and will look for any excuse to drive it and I am not concerned with miles it had 45,000 when I bought it a year ago and it has 56,000 now. And it was raining on the day I drove it home. I will not drive in the rain if I dont have to but if there is a run or cruise planned I will go rain or shine.

ruxvette

Actually, he said he bought it at 5 years old with 3300 miles on it. It is now a 15 year old car with 10,500 miles.
I don't get it, either...