Do Our Cars Hold Up Well To The Houston Climate?

[slownrusty]

Hi Guys - There is a possibility of me moving to Houston and wanted to know how well do your Datsuns hold up to the Houston climate. Most of my friends seem to think there is a high percentage of moisture AND salt in the air that will be hard on the car (I have two ZXs and a mint all original '67 Roadster). I argued differently....what is the feedback from residents in Houston?

Thanks for your feedback.

Yasin

[jyz77]

humidity yes.. salt content not really (or maybe im used to it already). your in Co right ? you will notice that the summers are brutal (100 plus degrees) , and unless you have the "old school's" air condition units "tuned" up , it's not really an enjoyable ride in the hotter months during the day w/ traffic (july, aug , early sept ) ..

my cars all hold up well, no rust and such.. the only special care i give is the car cover / windshield sun visor to help combat the u/v rays and lock in heat for the interior. other that that ... coolant flushes are a must every few years (to be preventative ) and evac / recharge for your a/c tunes. oh, and if your hard on your tires , they will wear faster in the summer months.

 

i can tell you that i have lived here 27 yrs and love the city and state , however i have family in Co and have visited off and on for the past 8 yrs, i would love to live in the loveland/ denver/ ft collins area for the climate/ scenery.

 

what part of h-town are you looking @ moving to ?

[Chris240zTurbo]

Hey Yasin!

 

I moved from Denver to Houston in '99, I was sure I was going to hate the weather, but I actually enjoyed it, if it's not raining, it's nice out, yeah it's brutally humid, but I aclimated to it pretty quickly, we moved up to Ft. Worth in '05 and I still miss H-town.

 

Never noticed any undue wear on any of my vehicles, Z's included, but you sure won't want to drive them in the rain, it rains BIG TIME in Houston.

 

Housing will be a major shock for you in the Houston Area, it's probably less than half of what you'll pay for a comparable home in Colorado, taxes are quite a bit higher though. Harris County is one of the highest tax rates in Texas, if not the highest. Buy a house with a pool! You can use one nearly year round.

 

I lived on the north side of town, Spring/1960/Kuykendahl area, and liked it a lot, big town issues aside (My very next door neighbor murdered his wife, yikes!) I liked Houston, and would move back if I had a lucrative opportunity to do so.

 

Plus you'll be close enough to come up to FTW for some of our Z stuff, we have a couple track days a year and go to the drag strip occasionally, check out cowtownzclub.com my Wife is the treasurer.

 

 

Chris

[Guest Rolling Parts]

Most of my friends seem to think there is a high percentage of moisture AND salt in the air that will be hard on the car

 

Forget the weather; biggest threat are:

1) Everyone who parks around (and into) you has an F350

2) Illegals that have no idea about what lanes are or what yield means

3) Road trash, high speed bumps, road construction means that it will grind the chassis down.

4) Parking lots. No one and I mean NO ONE drives rationally in parking lots. People back out and turn into traffic thinking they have a rite-of-way. It's a wild west and watch out.

 

Weather? That's a non issue.

Lots of things will attack the car much faster than rust.

Get comprehensive insurance.

[jc052685]

^^^Truth

[GeeZ]

If you keep it in the garage, there won't be any problem from the weather. The county/city only uses salt during hard freezes, which happens once every 5 yrs. As far a "Rolling Parts" concerns, we all have pet peeves. Mine is people that try to text message while driving.

 

Good luck with your move. We'll all be glad to see you.

[slownrusty]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I appreciate it. I am still weighing things as I have offers in Atlanta and potentially one in NorCal. I will let you know soon.

 

Many thanks again.

Yasin

[srbigbutt]

Haha. The only salt you have to worry about down here will be from the beads of sweat rolling down your face! The older I get the hotter it seems to get. Its no joke. Heat and humidity suck!! Don't know how I did it as a child. I would play outside all day in the summer. I would die now!

 

As far as the Z goes. It seems to run great in the hot weather. Better than it did when it was cold outside. You will definately need working AC.

[S30TRBO]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I appreciate it. I am still weighing things as I have offers in Atlanta and potentially one in NorCal. I will let you know soon.

 

Many thanks again.

Yasin

 

Come to Atlanta you will be closer to me.

[Nismo280zEd]

Well I guess if you garage keep your car and don't daily it your fine.

 

However, daily driving your Z in houston will be HELL on it. Houston has more road debris than any place I've driven. The front of your car WILL get chewed up if you daily your car. 45 always has dump trunks driving on it without the covered tops on them they are supposed to have and 610 is known for foreign objects such as chairs, sofas, ladders, etc.

 

My car also rarely sees the garage (wife's parking spot) So my Z suffers from the cancer we call rust. I swear my car fell off the boat and got dragged here through the ocean. I think it more boils down to where you keep your car also, if it never dries out yeah it's going to rust.

 

The humidity gets stupid high as well as the heat which makes for terrible driving conditions in the summer (get ready for some Houston road rage)

 

Houston's climate it's self won't be that bad on the cars (as long as you treat your interior like once a week) but the people that live here will cause havoc on it.

 

just my .02

been here 22 years

-Ed