When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Other than getting your car dirty, does it do any damage driving your car down a dirt road? I live in the country on a dirt road and hate driving my 07 Turbo on the road. I enjoy the car so I guess that's the price you pay for living in the woods..
You bought it knowing you live on a dirt road....drive it and enjoy it! Keep a nice layer of wax on it and give it a bucket wash once a month. When she shines, it will put an even bigger smile on your face!
As for resale....Blue Book is Blue Book doesn't matter what you have done or how you treated your car...your prospective buyer will only go by KBB numbers as will his or her bank if they are financing.
As others have advised, go slow. This has the tires throwing up fewer rocks. The underside of the car is well protected by panels and what exposed sheet metal there is not covered by panels is well protected with a very durable epoxy based paint. Next time you have your car in the shop on a lift have the tech show you this paint and give it a feel. It has a very durable and damage resistant feel to it.)
(But it can be damaged and one common way is to lift the car without using rubber lift pads to keep the metal lift pads from possibly damaging this paint.)
Even though the paint is quite resistant to rock chips -- something like it was initially developed IIRC to paint motorcycle frames to keep the rock chips down -- if you go too fast...
Watch for excessive crowning. From when I drove in a rural area sometimes roads would over time get heavily rutted and while back then ground clearance wasn't a real problem with a low car like a Turbo it doesn't take much to possibly damage that very expensive front air dam, or damage the underbody panels.
Also, you have to watch for larger rocks, tree branches, wildlife (alive or dead), live stock (ditto), or old roofing material, old sofa or refrigerator some dumb *** elected to dump on your road that might possibly appear in your car's path.
Avoid following any other vehicles too close. Not only does this subject the car to more dust the lead vehicle will likely kick up a lot of trash and if the radiator fans are running these will hoover that dust/trash up like, well like a Hoover vacuum.
It also doesn't give you as much time to react to something that might suddenly appear from under the lead vehicle. Many a car has more ground clearance and the driver won't even react to something he knows his vehicle will clear and if you are following too close...
Not to mention there is more risk of the leading vehicle tossing a rock onto your car's paint or windshield.
On that note when you reach the pavement after having been on a gravel/dirt road beware of any vehicle that was ahead of your car as it speeds up its tires can shed/toss rocks your direction. So stay way back.
Chances are the engine compartment fan is running 100% of the time (my 03 Turbo's engine compartment fan runs all the time the engine is on), and if it is real dusty from say a vehicle that has passed down the road before your vehicle -- on a day with no wind I've seen dust raised by a vehicle on a gravel/dirt road hang in the air for a long time after the vehicle has passed -- the engine compartment fan will pull in the dust with the air and direct air with its load of dust at the engine. The engine will over time collect a good layer of dust, I suspect. (You can of course give the engine an inspection once in a while and confirm or disprove my suspicion.) What to do about this I am not sure. I know my Boxster's engine is quite dusty due to the 12 years I've owned it and the 282K miles I've driven it (few dusty road but in many dusty environments, even a few dust storms out west) but I've only washed it once and I'm not a fan of regular engine washing.
The engine I don't wash, but after venturing on a dusty road afterwards I washed my car and gave the undercarriage a thorough rinsing. Be sure you then take the car out and drive it long enough and use the brakes hard enough to thoroughly dry the undercarriage of all water and dry the brakes so they do not rust.
You should shorten the time between engine air intake and cabin air filter services.
BTW, the intake filter is not perfect so some dust -- very fine dust -- will get through and can end up in the oil. An oil analysis may turn up a high silica reading which comes from dust being ingested by the engine. Since the silica particles are very fine they probably do no harm, but you might consider a more frequent oil/filter service just for peace of mind.
07-29-2014, 07:56 PM
