Change winter parking habits to avoid rusting?

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In a nutshell, we know that heat, moisture, and salt combine to rust metal on cars.

If you drive a car in a winter climate, it ends up coated in salt and slush. With the above in mind, if you park the car in a warm garage, it will rust faster than a car that is parked outdoors all the time, as the car parked outdoors will stay colder, and the rusting process will be slowed.

I'm wondering if this knowledge affects the parking decisions that people on here in northern climates make - if you have the option, do you leave your vehicle out of the garage in winter, or do you choose parking accomodations (for work, eg) that leave the vehicle out, as opposed to in, in the hope the rusting process will work slower on your car?
 
Thats a dilemma for me. I have a garage, not heated, but attached to the house, so it sometimes remains above freezing. However, if I leave my car out in the driveway, it's under a big oak tree that likes to drop branches at random times. I'm opting for the garage, but I can see the logic in keeping the car as cold as possible till you get the salt washed off. Of course, then you have the whole coldstart/warmstart wear issue. Life does have it's difficulties.
 
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I don't own a home, let alone a heated garage, so both my apartment and work parking are outdoors. However, if I had the choice, I'd choose comfort over rust-prevention. I'd do as I do now and try to spray the car down after a good winter storm on the first "warm" day. Around here at least, there always seems to be a >32F day within a week after snow.

I guess finding a way to spray down the undercarriage in the driveway might be better.
 
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Originally Posted By: gathermewool

I guess finding a way to spray down the undercarriage in the driveway might be better.


Always thought about using one of those back and forth lawn sprinklers and letting the car sit on top of that for a few minutes.
 
My garage is attached and unheated and my car goes in there without a doubt. It's not just "comfort", but my car gets garaged - period. I would not heat the garage and if I were choosing a place to park near the office I would not choose a heated underground garage for the reasons stated.

When the weather starts to get warm I make sure that I'm very through about cleaning off salt, including underbody wash with diluted Simple Green, unfastening wheel well liners and cleaning behind them etc...

I've generally found that if I have an edge starting a little bit of rust that it often doesn't progress much during the winter, even when in a continuous salt bath. It's when spring arrives that it really takes off.

Rust avoidance changed my snow blowing habits... It seems like everyone goes down their driveway top to bottom leaving the EOD for the end of the job. I clean a couple of swaths to and then do the EOD near the beginning of the job. The rest of the snow on the driveway cleans the machine out.

(EOD = end-of-driveway salty plow pile)
 
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Just for the record, given the choice, I would choose comfort and ease of operating a warm car over rust prevention anyday.

I live in a condo, and only have an outdoor spot, so that is not a choice at home, although I do plug my car in almsot every night.

At work, thought, I park in a warm underground garage, so the car is well-warmed when I go to drive it home.
 
Except for rustproofing, I've pretty much given up on treating my cars special in the winter. I have a nice summer convertible, and I make sure I have a beater to take the brunt of the salt damage in the winter.

Rust is horrible, but there's nothing you can do about it if you plan on driving a car for more than 10 years. The first rust is painful to see, triggering all intentions of "doing something about it". But after a couple years that thought goes away and you lose interest in keeping the car perfect.
 
I have a two car garge but keep my two nice cars in their during the winter, my other 4 unused cars are in the other driveway or in the protable garage under car covers

The two I am driving for the winter are in the driveway, so yes you could say I am slowing the rusting process LOL

At some point I will build another garage and store the others in it.

The only time it sucks is when it snows, have to clean em off
 
imo, regualr washing and hand waxing is the best defense for rust. as to the undercarriage, many automaic washes have an undercarriage blast, i always run thru after a snow and road has dried. my opinion might not be much but i have an 03 f150 fx4 that looks like it belongs on a showroom floor, usually when i go to the ford dealer to look around they jokingly offer to buy it! on a side note i think the worst place to watch out for and make sure you clean properly is around any moldings, salt gets in there and wants to stay, and when your vehicle vibrates, you may as well be sanding behind those things
 
I have a heated garage and wash my cars inside. It took me many years to get to this point in life and I enjoy your stories.
Smoky
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
If you drive a car in a winter climate, it ends up coated in salt and slush. With the above in mind, if you park the car in a warm garage, it will rust faster than a car that is parked outdoors all the time, as the car parked outdoors will stay colder, and the rusting process will be slowed.

I'm wondering if this knowledge affects the parking decisions that people on here in northern climates make

You're 100% correct - cars up here regularly parked in heated garages rust much faster than ones left 'out in the cold' all winter. In a heated garage ice, snow, slush melt, make a nice brine what seeps into all the cracks & crevices in the body & frame. Then you take the car outside to load up on fresh salt & ice. Repeat ad nauseum, and the car starts rusting from the inside out.

I personally don't have the option to park in a heated garage, nor would I decide to do so on all but the coldest days... unless I could wash the car well. If anything, all I want is an outlet to plug in my coolant heater! The garage at home is uninsulated & unheated but the Golf fires right up as if it's 30ºC outside with the Zerostart on a timer.
 
I've had enough rusty heaps to draw a conclusion but my data is all over the place. I almost think the calcium and other more-aggressive-than-salt compounds are more to blame. Find that stuff on the turnpike more, as they're eager to "serve" their customers.

I like a good spring rain, especially driving in it to rinse the salt off. After that though I think garages really help, AS LONG AS the floor remains dry. (This is hard to get with an ice cold slab and foggy 40 degree air, for example.) Fresh dry air blowing under the car helps IMMENSELY. The worst thing you can do to a car here is park it on the lawn then mow around it with a few inches of hay up against the rocker panels. This happens with a lot of project cars/ "I just don't know what to do with it" cases.

So yes I do think about where I'm going to park. Wife wants a car without frost on the windscreen, so she parks inside regardless.
 
When it warms up, or rains and big puddles are all over the place - I hit it hard to get a good rinse of the undercarriage.

I gave up on hosing down the undercarriage.
 
We park in our unheated garage. I dont want to be trying to clean cars in the a.m. all the time. It usually stays just a bit warmer in there than outside and it is great just getting in and going after a snow or icy storm.
I try to wash them as soon as the roads are dry.
 
I'm happy to finally have an attached garage, so we're parking cars in there. I try to wash them regularly after the snow events.

I even bring my outside car inside after it's covered in snow to thaw the thing out.

Besides, I'm helping the environment (different thread reference here) by parking in the garage because the garaged cars start and go because there's no ice scraping to be done.
smirk.gif
 
I park my car in the garage, it usually is about 45 degrees in there (unheated). The benefits are threefold- one, it is warmer so it doesn't take as long for the heat to start working, two it is warmer so cold starting not so bad, and three, I don't have to clean snow/ice off it in the morning.
 
Actually isn't it "better" to leave the first cake layer of salt on a car as it prevents the additional salting through the winter from harming the car? The salt eventually loses its ability to harm the car(first layer) and if you keep washing it your just continually exposing the car to the fresh salt over and over no?
 
All our cars are outside for the winter. The garage is full of tools and workshop items. It stays at around 30-40 degrees most of the time. I couldn't imagine trying to keep it clean with all the ice and salt melting off a car. Ewww!

Speaking of snowblowing habits, I sure changed mine after I blew some salty goo over the side of the garage. It's made of concrete blocks, and the salt got into the mortar and did a number on it. I was tuckpointing that side anyway, but that just sped up the job. I hope I got the mortar out deep enough to where it no longer is a problem. I also hope it doesn't do anything to the blocks themselves, but it probably will eventually. Now I blow everything to the end of the driveway and across the road, into the center circle of our cul-de-sac. Neighbors all do it too, but I'm the one that digs out the fire hydrant.
 
Here is a sanario for the gang:

My wife and her sister both own '01 Lexus RX-300's
We all live in the same city/town.

Although both girls have different driving habbits/styles and driving distances in which they travel, with my SIL's RX having ~ 40K more miles on her RX than my wife's RX.

My SIL parks her RX in her attached garage and parks in the parking garage where she works downtown. She is a Dept. VP at a major health care insurance company(most of us have this insurance), as is my BIL. And they can afford any vehicle they want. This RX never sees anything more than the local carwash machine if ever, and the interior is a pigsty. No Rust to speak of with the exception of a couple of nicks in the paint that could have used a brush touch. Paint is glossy but very dry to the touch. Many scratches in the paint. No headlight lense fade what so ever! They don't do much as far as maintenance. But by comparison to ours, her RX looks like do-do

My wife parks her RX outside (as our attached garage is for the old American Iron) and also parks outside at the "Y" where she works part time. No rust to speak of and mostly washed by hand sometime even in the winter but often sees the local car wash(winter only). Paint is glossy and feels smooth to the touch. Minimual paint blemishes for a 10 year old car(I'd have to point them out). Interior is clean and uncluttered. Some headlight lense fade which I often attend to with lense restore.

I can't tell anyone which of these RX's is going to rust first/worst. I think that it is a testimate to the paint and metal process that was used in the factory.

My 04 Altima is also holding up well(always outside) although one rear wheel well is showing some rust.

But I'm a little dissapointed on our daughter's 06 Mazda3 in the rear wheel well area for a car that we purchaced in Aug, 09(3 yrs old). It was starting to show rusty spots then but we opted to buy anyway. Small, but it's there! Even the other day when I looked at it, it didn't seem any worst than in 09. I'll keep on top of it! Car has been great thus far and worth the money.

I think alot has to do with the factory corrossion protection and metal treatment. What quality of metal, how was it protected in the factory and how many step paint process.
More expensive cars should be better than lesser expensive cars.
 
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