cold weather driving=body cracks? [Forums - C4 Technical]

C4 Technical > cold weather driving=body cracks?
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flyboy	cold weather driving=body cracks?	#1
Elite Guru Westmont, Il. 2632 Posts Member since: 2008/9/28 12:47	A fellow C4 owner told me the body panels will crack from cold weather driving. Any truth to that? Aren't the gen 4 up plastic bodies tougher than the earlier fiberglass?
	Posted on: 2010/1/5 13:57

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bogus	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#2
Grand Imperial Pooh-Bah San Pedro, CA 20859 Posts Member since: 2005/9/7 0:00	SMC - Sheet Molded Compound - won't crack from cold. I suspect the earlier sprayed on fibreglass would crack in cold, but that was also due to the vagaries with body-on-frame construction.
	Posted on: 2010/1/5 15:11
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jhammons01	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#3
Senior Guru 1044 Posts Member since: 2007/10/29 0:00	I doubt that would occur..... I just spent about 20 minutes looking at SMC. The temperature related articles deal with extreme heat and Cold is not mentioned. I did learn the GM and Kia..... Quote: After an earlier GM-developed SMC called Dbl-Lite shaved 18 kg (41 lb) from the 1997 Chevrolet Corvette, designers were able to beef up other components because of the reduced bulk of the car's door, hood, and wheelhousings. A 0.9-kg (2-lb) savings in the hood of a Buick LeSabre may not sound like much, but "it allows the engineer to use that mass wisely somewhere where the consumer will see it," said Kia. After the success with the Corvette - and its demanding customers - designers and engineers told the materials group they'd like to use more of the structural composite, but needed a material to withstand the demanding environment around the engine. Kia and GM research scientist Harry Mitchell spent the next two years tinkering with the known properties of all the materials that go into SMC to come up with a formulation that would be more heat-resistant. "We kind of knew which keys to turn and which changes to make," Mitchell said. "But it's not straightforward."
	Posted on: 2010/1/5 15:13

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CorvetteBob	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#4
Elite Guru 1409 Posts Member since: 2008/10/19 18:34	From what I've been led to believe, to say the c3 and C4 are both fibreglass is true. Just as your favorite local stripper and Phyllis Diller are both women. They both fit the description, but are actually quite different. I've never seen stress or cold related cracks on a C4, but my '68 Vette was loaded with them.
	Posted on: 2010/1/5 15:19
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BillH	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#5
The Stig Moderator Reno 22702 Posts Member since: 2007/12/25 0:00	I've stripped 4 C2s to bare glass including 2 that I drove year around in very cold weather. I found very few stress cracks that were not from some knd of damage like a small hit on the front fender causing a stress crack somewhere around the hood opening. I suspect thet Andy's closer to the truth (the way they're constructed). If I can pick the C2 body off the frame with my engine hoist using the door attaching bolts (doors off) and not cause a stress crack, I don't think temperature will do it. SMC - no differece. If there was my 92 should certainly be showing some but it's not.
	Posted on: 2010/1/5 15:41
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CentralCoaster	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#6
Senior Guru San Diego, CA 9454 Posts Member since: 2007/10/28 0:00	Maybe if you threw boiling water on a frozen vette. Otherwise I call b.s.
	Posted on: 2010/1/5 16:09
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flyboy	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#7
Elite Guru Westmont, Il. 2632 Posts Member since: 2008/9/28 12:47	Thanks for the reassurance, I figured as much. Related aside, driving in 12* weather on Mon., I bottomed my front aftermarket air dam and the two side pieces snapped off. They are sold as O.E. replacements but must be made of a different, inferior material.
	Posted on: 2010/1/5 17:48
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BillH	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#8
The Stig Moderator Reno 22702 Posts Member since: 2007/12/25 0:00	I keep thinking about replacing my rubber OEM one, then I run up on another concrete parking curb. So, why bother?
	Posted on: 2010/1/5 18:01
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Aboatguy	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#9
Senior Guru My Avatar was redistributed! 498 Posts Member since: 2007/12/3 0:00	Quote: flyboy wrote: Thanks for the reassurance, I figured as much. Related aside, driving in 12* weather on Mon., I bottomed my front aftermarket air dam and the two side pieces snapped off. They are sold as O.E. replacements but must be made of a different, inferior material. Back when I was stationed in Colorado I was driving and noticed it was -1 degree F so I took a pic...[IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/aboatguy/-1.jpg[/IMG]...later I figured out it gets much colder in Colorado here's a -18 Farenheit......and no cracks... [IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/aboatguy/-18.jpg[/IMG](Colorado is Spanish for shrinkage)
	Posted on: 2010/1/7 2:28

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BrianCunningham	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#10
Senior Guru Boston, MA for the most part :) 7763 Posts Member since: 2007/12/30 0:00	been driving mine several winters no problem and accident would be different. a friend of the family wrecked his C3, not a C4, at it was hit just right and the whole front end just shattered.
	Posted on: 2010/1/7 2:57
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Durango_Boy	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#11
Elite Guru Columbia, MO 2583 Posts Member since: 2009/1/30 21:54	Quote: CorvetteBob wrote: From what I've been led to believe, to say the c3 and C4 are both fibreglass is true. Just as your favorite local stripper and Phyllis Diller are both women. They both fit the description, but are actually quite different. I've never seen stress or cold related cracks on a C4, but my '68 Vette was loaded with them. Stress cracks are fairly common on C3s but it has nothing to do with temperature.
	Posted on: 2010/1/7 11:40

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BillH	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#12
The Stig Moderator Reno 22702 Posts Member since: 2007/12/25 0:00	Quote: Aboatguy wrote: later I figured out it gets much colder in Colorado I had one of my C2s on top of Pikes Peak, didn't crack. It was cold and that was in June. :toothy5:
	Posted on: 2010/1/7 14:20
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Aboatguy	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#13
Senior Guru My Avatar was redistributed! 498 Posts Member since: 2007/12/3 0:00	Quote: BillH wrote: Quote: Aboatguy wrote: later I figured out it gets much colder in Colorado I had one of my C2s on top of Pikes Peak, didn't crack. It was cold and that was in June. :toothy5: When I was there it would still snow in June...global warming my azzz. In the late 90s I was lucky enough to spend two weeks on the top of Pikes Peak for some high altitude training....the view was great night life not so much.... Shoot I'm on the gulf coast and the forcast is blustery wtf is blustery.....its going to hit the low 20s....its been raining all day...tommorrow's commute in the Corvette will be exhilarating. If I hit one of the many bridge abutments between here and Mississippi on my drive tomorrow there probably will be some cold weather fiberglass (SMC) cracking
	Posted on: 2010/1/8 1:08

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BillH	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#14
The Stig Moderator Reno 22702 Posts Member since: 2007/12/25 0:00	Quote: Aboatguy wrote: Quote: BillH wrote: Quote: Aboatguy wrote: later I figured out it gets much colder in Colorado I had one of my C2s on top of Pikes Peak, didn't crack. It was cold and that was in June. :toothy5: When I was there it would still snow in June...global warming my azzz. In the late 90s I was lucky enough to spend two weeks on the top of Pikes Peak for some high altitude training....the view was great night life not so much.... Yep, snow anytime. I also raced the hillclimb on 2 wheels. But, I've been a snowstorm in August above Lake Tahoe.
	Posted on: 2010/1/8 1:30
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Aboatguy	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#15
Senior Guru My Avatar was redistributed! 498 Posts Member since: 2007/12/3 0:00	Quote: BillH wrote: Quote: Aboatguy wrote: Quote: BillH wrote: Quote: Aboatguy wrote: later I figured out it gets much colder in Colorado I had one of my C2s on top of Pikes Peak, didn't crack. It was cold and that was in June. :toothy5: When I was there it would still snow in June...global warming my azzz. In the late 90s I was lucky enough to spend two weeks on the top of Pikes Peak for some high altitude training....the view was great night life not so much.... Yep, snow anytime. I also raced the hillclimb on 2 wheels. But, I've been a snowstorm in August above Lake Tahoe. I believe you can get snow anytime of the year in Colorado Spring (not talking just about Pikes Peak) and even warm weather is not safe there. The impala was in the body shop for about a month I covered the corvette with excercise mats and moving blankets (no damage except welts and deep purple bruising on the boatguy/ Got to love the springs. [IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/aboatguy/DSC00524.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/aboatguy/DSC00521.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/aboatguy/DSC00520.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/aboatguy/DSC00517.jpg[/IMG]
	Posted on: 2010/1/8 12:15

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flyboy	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#16
Elite Guru Westmont, Il. 2632 Posts Member since: 2008/9/28 12:47	Ouch!
	Posted on: 2010/1/8 16:39
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pr0zac	Re: cold weather driving=body cracks?	#17
Elite Guru Pittsburgh 1045 Posts Member since: 2008/10/20 23:28	there is no way thats true. if the roads were clear i would take my car out in the winter to keep the battery charged up and burn as much of the moisture out of it. i have gone from relatively warm to freezing cold and back in very short periods of time driving over mountains and i have ever seen nor heard of this ever happening. i have had my vette since 2004.
	Posted on: 2010/1/12 20:41
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