First Ferrari. Can I drive it in the rain?

If I had a 71 challenger (again) would I drive it in the rain? No because water makes rust and its an old car. A 308 is even worse for potential rust issues and they are all OLD. If its a turd then who cares? If its a nice car and "first ferrari" implies there will be more then keeping it as nice as possible to retain resale value is important. Lastly I hate cleaning my cars (any of them) and a ferrari is a PITA to detail after a drive through the rain especially the engine bay.

 

Another urban myth squashed.

Seriously. How many times have you heard someone brag that their car " has never been driven in the rain!"

Excuse me. Have you not WASHED the car in 25 years either? Maybe you use nitrogen instead of water?

I always want to laugh when I hear this.

 

Major league +1 on the tires. Replace immediately. I would do little to no driving with 15 yr old tires.

Congratulations on the car.

 

The way to go is keep your 308 out of the rain and spot clean it and dust it. There really is no need to spray your car down with a hose. None at all..

 

I had 2 308's and one Dino gt for 15 years. Washed them all the time and never had a problem. I took them to these coin op wash racks. They're just cars already. No wonder first time buyers are afraid to buy them.

My Dino was my daily driver -- the only car I owned -- for almost two years. Drove it in every weather condition -- even got caught in a hail storm once. Never got stuck once and had no rust issues. Did i dry it off when I got home? You bet. Did I not park it out in the rain all night? Of course. But I didn't sweat a little water touching it's precious skin now and then.

Now, salt would be another thing. That I would never do. There are limits!

But geez --you would think they were made of sugar the way some people talk.

 

Well, with all the people telling me what a "Sweet Ride" my 308 is. . .

 

One thing I always do after washing or being in rain is take it for a ride once dry to blow water out of hidden places.

Dave

 

drove in the rain twice last week. i use rain x on the windshield so i use the wipers sparingly. the only thing i do is dry the engine louvers as soon as i park in the garage as the salty rain here causes spots. the biggest concern i have driving in the rain is being seen by other drivers.

 

That it is. The 308 is one terrific car. Enjoy it.

 

Alfas used to have that issue, too. They put tiny little drain holes in the bottom of the door so any water getting in between the window and the door can drain out. Those holes can clog up and cause water to collect in the bottom of the door. That's what will cause it to rust. If you want to drive it in the wet, make sure the drainage isn't blocked.

I drove my 328, rain or shine, for three years. Even in rain that challenged the wipers on high. Didn't have engine issues, or leaks either. (Although if you open the window even a crack for ventilation, you will get water blowing in.)

Of course the 328 is post-'84, when Ferrari started using galvanized steel on the coachwork, so rust isn't as much of an issue as on an '81.

When I bought it, it had traction problems in the wet, but a four wheel alignment and a fresh set of tires cured that.

The only really annoying part is that when city rain beads up on the wax and dries, it leaves little circles of dirty rain residue.

 

What a useless piece of advice you just doled out.

In other words you unloaded the cars and someone else is dealing with the rust. Italian cars rust, hard to find a 246 with original rockers, possilbe but rare. Hard to find a 308 with door skins, fender heels or quarters that have not been repaired. Even fiberglass 308s rust around the structure of the hood opening behind the glossy fiberglass panels and rockers rot out - seen it myself. Front frame rails rot on 308s where they are boxed in ahead of the main tubes, rear trunk floors rot out in US spec cars too. Parcel shelfs on 308s get rusty under the vinyl covering as rain water enters the poorly sealed quarter windows, even the dash structure under the leather gets surface rust. Maybe if you stored the car on mars it wouldnt rust otherwise you're kidding yourself and giving bad advice. Or you're saying drive it in any weather but make sure you sell it before you SEE the rust.

 

There is zero need to spray the car down with a hose. If you spot clean it and three-bucket clean it every once in a while, you can avoid having to spray the car down. I am glad you have had no trouble with your cars but I personally have seen very few 308s with older paintjobs that didn't have rust bubbles in the bottom of the doors... that rust is there nine times out of ten from washing. Spot cleaning and bucket cleaning the car is how you can avoid that rust.

 

Hey, Mark!

You're on the right track now. . . I actually spent less for a set of four wheels and tires than I would have spent just to replace the TRX tires my 308 came with!

I suppose it's probably best to go with 16" original QV wheels, but the repros from superformance.co.uk are d@mn good.

I sent you a PM.

 

As to driving in the rain: No problem with the engine, so long as the distributor boots and wires are in good condition. The rest of the engine is not water sensitive.

 

I sold the cars with PPI and none had a rust issue. I have no idea what happened to the 2 308s as I sold them in the late 80's but my old Dino is still around and kicking.

BTW: Yes, when I restored my Dino, I repaired a lot of rust in the door panels. Hey, they rust. Deal with it but don't get a hissy fit every time a drop of water hits it's precious skin.

You know what's really bad? Telling potential owners won't be able to drive or wash the car of their dreams because of the evils of water.

Hey, I drive my cars. I don't let them sit in a heated garage and wipe them with a diaper. If I go out and it rains, I don't have a panic attack. And, if I want to spend a day washing my car, I do it without worry.

Do I suggest dipping it in the backyard pool? Of course not. But, I sure as heck didn't worry if the clouds suddenly opened on me either.

I did use my Dino as a daily driver. Shoot me. Its new owner doesn't seem to mind. I took pretty good car of it for 15 years. Good enough for it to find a new home.

Telling others that there's no need to wash their cars with water or you shouldn't drive in the rain just continues the fear.

You put it really well. You can repair rust. What you cannot repair is the fear of never owning a car because you'd be constantly worried it's going to fall apart in the first rainstorm.

Now, for sure I wouldn't drive ANY car you care about in salted snow. That for sure would kill anything. Now you're talking about car suicide. I think I was pretty clear about that.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with anyone. But, you have to admit that the advice the OP got on his new purchase is just plain wrong. Its this myth that stops owners from enjoying what they own.

No, I didn't live on Mars. But, I didn't live in a museum either. To me, that's the better advice.

 

Modern extreme performance tires are a very soft compound.

One of the biggest performance upgrades you can give a classic car is a set of modern tires.

They have far more grip than older generation tires, but they lose their flexibility after a few years and lose grip.

So one safety factor in replacing old tires isn't just the risk of losing air. It's the risk of losing traction in a performance car.


My S03s weren't worn or rotted, but they no longer stuck to the road after about six or seven years.

What you do with a car is go, stop, and turn. All three have to be translated through the tire contact patches.
Tires are one place you don't want to go bargain basement.

 

All of this to-do about driving in the rain (I'll kill my own mother before letting a drop of rain fall on my car!!! haha) reminds me of a photo in an Autoweek magazine from the latter half of the 80s which, as I remember, showed a Ferrari coming out of some sort of automatic car wash. Over the next issue or two, there were a number of letters from outraged readers asking how they could have put such a car through a carwash for the sake of a photo and how they'd never even let their cars drive on the same block as a carwash, much less subject them to the indignity and, no doubt, ruinous damage that any automatic carwash would cause. Turns out the carwash was at the Ferrari factory and everyone who had a recent Ferrari had had their car go through that very carwash.

I seem to recall a big flap in the same era over a photo of a Porsche 959 with Al Holbert seated on the hood with one shoe resting on the bumper of the car. Some readers were aghast!! I, personally, thought Al Holbert easily earned the right to put his butt and foot anywhere on any Porsche he wanted to.

At any rate, wonderful as they may be, in the end, they are automobiles, not the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

driving in the rain can be more fun than you think

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Rain? We don't care bout no stinkin rain.
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The tyres on the car will have markings on them which can be used to determine how old they are.
Best to check that before consigning them to the bin. You never know, they might have been replaced more recently.

 

Just a couple of issues to be aware of driving a 308 in the rain.
1: Windows can fog up quickly. have something handy just in case.
2: Make sure your plug extenders are in good shape. Once you get water down around a plug it will likely stumble all the way home.

 

Drive it and enjoy it!
Seriously, my only comment about rain/water relates to a Mondial 3.2. I don't know about the location of a 308/328 ECU (listening FChatters?), but it might be where mine is, namely in a well in the bottom right corner of the trunk. This is located with geometric precision right under the electric antenna, which retracts into a cup shaped area with a hole in the bottom of it. Obviously, a cup with a hole in the bottom will eventually leak ... right into the well containing the ECU! For all of Maranello's brilliant engineering, a third grader would have done a better job with this area!

 

Right after I paid for my Ferrari, I drove it home during the rain, it was the 1st and only time it was driven during the rain, the previous owner asked if I wanted to wait until the next day avoid the rain. This was 10 years ago.

These Ferrari are 20+ years old now, seals and weather strips are hard and tired now, so make sure they seals properly, the 3x8 has many openings that can get water in and hide them, so make sure you dry out the water before storing the car. The rust proof technology on these early cars is nothing to be proud about. I remembered reading here someone drove his car in the rain, the water got onto the rear shelf fabric and ruin it, the original fabric is expensive to be replaced.

Your cars and my car, do whatever you/I want but I would not drive my pristine Ferrari again in the rain and will never drive it in the snow, I have 2 capable Toyota Land Cruisers, there's no need to do that to my 328.