Snow, Salt, a heated garage, and stored cars?

[911boost]

I have a heated garage (50,00 BTU Moline gas heater mounted to the ceiling) that I keep at about 60 degrees all winter. The master bedroom is above the massive garage, and gets chilly if the garge isn't somewhat warm.

I have always wondered if it could be bad for the cars or the one I store in the garage, to drive our snow and various winter road grimed cars into the garage at night. Then have all the snow melt due to the heater. Could this be speeding the process of rust up? Not that I care about the newer cars, its the Mustang, or for previous years, the 911 I am worried about. Or is the difference this makes, so minimal, I shouldn't even worry about it?

I do wash the 2 cars that are driven everyday atleast once a week no matter what, to get all the chemicals, and winter road grime off them.

I thought this would be a good question for you folks in the snow belt. I love not having to scrape the windshields in the morning, and am just curious.

Thanks,

Bill

[widebody911]

The melting snow will raise the level of humidity in the garage, and that's never a good thing. As an example, I bought one of those little diverters for my dryer, which heats the garage while you dry your clothes. Sounds like a good idea, right? It did warm the garage nicely, and it was "free" heat which would have otherwise been dumped outside. All was good until I noticed that any exposed metal (welding scraps, parts of the project bus) in the garage was quickly building up a nice layer of rust.

[gaijinda]

Funny, I just heard about this.. The way it was explained to me was that the salt and crud reaction with metal is speeded up by the warm temps. Also, the expansion and contraction of the chassis and undercoating during the warm/cold/warm cycle works this stuff in.

[911boost]

yeah shoot, thats kind of what I thought. Fortunatly it is dry as heck here. I have not noticed any build up of rust on exposed metal that I have, but I appreciate the reposnes guys.

[oldE]

Oh Yes! If you put a car with a load of salt/shush into a heated garage, you warm the mixture of water and salt. Rust (oxydation) is a chemical reaction in which the steel loses electrons through a medium. Salt water is an excellent medium for this. Any increase in temperature speeds the chemical reaction. Granted, modern cars have superior rust protection compared to 30 years ago, but I witnessed the destruction of a brand-new Pontiac in this fashion. Advice: leave a salt encrusted/exposed vehicle outside in the cold until you can remove the material.
Les

[Moneyguy1]

You won't see the rust until it has dome its work. Generally it is in the hidden seams and that is why some manufacturers "guarantee" so many years against "rust through". (the paint it the last to go in that case)