If Phoenix is that hot, why do so many move there? (dinner, quality)

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by Obadno

You don’t have to spend thousands on water here you choose too. You think that the cold causes more car maintainance? That’s absurd and I’ve never seen anyone needing new house paint everyb7 years more like every 20.

You are all incorrect on assessing that hot climates are somehow more maintainence intense in warm climates, it’s simply untrue.

Why do ruins in deserts last for thousands of years? You guys are fooling yourselves

Our place has been painted already in the 5 yrs we've been here, and is due for new paint on the balconies again, but those face due West, so the exposure is bad.


Car maintenance is surely worse here, trust me. I lived in cold climates for 35+ years, and here in AZ for going on 6 yrs. Tires, wipers, batteries, hoses, belts, and paint here go bad extremely fast. Dry heat destroys rubber and plastic like no tomorrow, hence the reasons batteries die so fast, dashboards crack, and paint peels. It also reeks havoc on cooling systems and a/c systems because theyre under near-constant intense operation.


And ruins last in the desert because, well, they're made of rock.

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

Our place has been painted already in the 5 yrs we've been here, and is due for new paint on the balconies again, but those face due West, so the exposure is bad.


Car maintenance is surely worse here, trust me. I lived in cold climates for 35+ years, and here in AZ for going on 6 yrs. Tires, wipers, batteries, hoses, belts, and paint here go bad extremely fast. Dry heat destroys rubber and plastic like no tomorrow, hence the reasons batteries die so fast, dashboards crack, and paint peels. It also reeks havoc on cooling systems and a/c systems because theyre under near-constant intense operation.


And ruins last in the desert because, well, they're made of rock.

To an extent. But we don’t have to deal with road salt, which wreaks more havoc than any of the others.

Almost all of the above problems can be remediate with shade, a garage, or covered parking.

You don’t need a winter beater in AZ.

[Bates419]

I can't speak for the US but almost nowhere in Canada uses road salt anymore.
Eastern Canada has salt to deal with but not the West. Winter beaters are also a thing of the past generally.

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

To an extent. But we don’t have to deal with road salt, which wreaks more havoc than any of the others.

Almost all of the above problems can be remediate with shade, a garage, or covered parking.

You don’t need a winter beater in AZ.

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

To an extent. But we don’t have to deal with road salt, which wreaks more havoc than any of the others.

Almost all of the above problems can be remediate with shade, a garage, or covered parking.

You don’t need a winter beater in AZ.

Salt only affected sheet metal, nothing else, really. It could rot the frame over a very long period of time, but most people never kept cars that long anyways. Routine maintenance here on wear-n-tear items like tires, batteries, wipers, etc, is worse. I know, Ive lived in both areas. Batteries in IL would last a loooong time. Here? Maybe 2-3 years at best. And they die out of nowhere. Back in IL you could tell your battery was on its way out when your cranking got longer and slower. Here it works in the morning, and after work its dead. Its happened to me twice. So weird.


And the only people who bought winter beaters in IL were sports car owners who wanted to keep the salt off their cars and not deal with high power RWD cars in the snow with wide summer tires. Some people bought winter tires and coped just fine.

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

Salt only affected sheet metal, nothing else, really. It could rot the frame over a very long period of time, but most people never kept cars that long anyways. Routine maintenance here on wear-n-tear items like tires, batteries, wipers, etc, is worse. I know, Ive lived in both areas. Batteries in IL would last a loooong time. Here? Maybe 2-3 years at best. And they die out of nowhere. Back in IL you could tell your battery was on its way out when your cranking got longer and slower. Here it works in the morning, and after work its dead. Its happened to me twice. So weird.


And the only people who bought winter beaters in IL were sports car owners who wanted to keep the salt off their cars and not deal with high power RWD cars in the snow with wide summer tires. Some people bought winter tires and coped just fine.

But see how are windshield wipers and battery’s more expensive than sheet metal rust, buying new cars frequently, frame rot, and multiple sets of tires?

What is the cost of windshield wipers? $30/year when you realize they’re worn?

A battery is about $100 on my truck and lasts about two years. If you play the warranty game with OReilly you basically get two for that price

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

But see how are windshield wipers and battery’s more expensive than sheet metal rust, buying new cars frequently, frame rot, and multiple sets of tires?

What is the cost of windshield wipers? $30/year when you realize they’re worn?

A battery is about $100 on my truck and lasts about two years. If you play the warranty game with OReilly you basically get two for that price

I have only bought 2 sets of wipers in the nearly 5 years I have been here, and that's only because i traded cars. I am not replacing them constantly.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

But see how are windshield wipers and battery’s more expensive than sheet metal rust, buying new cars frequently, frame rot, and multiple sets of tires?

What is the cost of windshield wipers? $30/year when you realize they’re worn?

A battery is about $100 on my truck and lasts about two years. If you play the warranty game with OReilly you basically get two for that price

Walmart has a three year replacement warranty and five year prorate on their MAXX line. And they don't cost an arm and a leg. The problem though is you never know when the battery is going to bite the dust. They usually give no sign until the "click". So, if you wait to get a new one on warranty you might die out in the desert somewhere first. If one has been on the same battery here for three years, they are living on borrowed time. It's a PM thing to go buy a new one.

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Walmart has a three year replacement warranty and five year prorate on their MAXX line. And they don't cost an arm and a leg. The problem though is you never know when the battery is going to bite the dust. They usually give no sign until the "click". So, if you wait to get a new one on warranty you might die out in the desert somewhere first. If one has been on the same battery here for three years, they are living on borrowed time. It's a PM thing to go buy a new one.

See in my experience and it’s just mine, I will start knowing my battery is dying based on my interior lights dimming substantially while starting and the cranks slowing down. I also have a battery gauge on my gauge cluster and when it starts dipping low to start it’s time.

If you get to that point, you just go to OReilly and say you think it’s dying. They test it and almost always give you another one. YMMV but I almost always get a free warranty battery and have never been left stranded (except that time I blew a fuse but that’s another story).

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

But see how are windshield wipers and battery’s more expensive than sheet metal rust, buying new cars frequently, frame rot, and multiple sets of tires?

What is the cost of windshield wipers? $30/year when you realize they’re worn?

A battery is about $100 on my truck and lasts about two years. If you play the warranty game with OReilly you basically get two for that price

Based on my experience, it took about 8 years or so for a little bit of surface rust to form on cars in places that used salt heavily. And barely anyone keeps cars that long. My problem is I love 90s and early 2000's Japanese sports cars which rusted bad, so I always had rust form on my cars, despite my best efforts to keep it at bay. On new cars (like most people had), there was no issue at all. And during those 3-5 years most people kept their cars, there was no battery replacements, tire replacements, etc. The mild climate with humidity is much better for components than dry, extended periods of intense heat. As a matter of fact, I had driven my car in IL for 5 years w/o a single hiccup, and within 3 months of moving here, during July the t-stat housing cracked, spraying coolant everywhere creating a great smoke show going down the road. Replaced that, then not even a month later the top radiator tank (plastic) cracked, followed shortly thereafter with my a/c went kaput. Source of that was 3 leaky a/c line o-rings that dried out in the heat (according to the mechanic). Coincidence? Nope.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

See in my experience and it’s just mine, I will start knowing my battery is dying based on my interior lights dimming substantially while starting and the cranks slowing down. I also have a battery gauge on my gauge cluster and when it starts dipping low to start it’s time.

If you get to that point, you just go to OReilly and say you think it’s dying. They test it and almost always give you another one. YMMV but I almost always get a free warranty battery and have never been left stranded (except that time I blew a fuse but that’s another story).

Yes, there are signs for those who notice them. I am always taken by how fast my engine cranks right after I replace an old battery.