We live in the U.P. of Mi and keep our garage heated to around 35 degrees during the winter. I recently had a metal brake line rust out and the garage said I had an unusually large amount of rust under the vehicle after only five years and I was wondering if the heated garage could have caused this.
There is another post on this, and, yes, your heated garage DEFINITELY contributed to the quicker rusting. In snow areas where salt is used on the road, it’s best to keep the garage as cold as possible. If you want easy starting, you can always install an engine block heater of about 600 watts on a timer to come on 1.5 hours before you need the car.
A heated garage is OK if you reduce humidity as well – most automobile museums do this. If you heat your garage with high humidity you are actually making it worse. Either do both or neither.
Twotone
To reduce salt damage try to wash the undercarriage during the “salt” season.
Yes, Keeping your car cold can reduce the rust. Below about 20?F no rust will form. You are warming it up enough to allow rust formation, but not to melt off the snow salt and ice.
To reduce rust, keep it cold or warm it and rinse it.
Is having clear, ice-free roads worth the overall cost?? Do we REALLY need to salt the roads as heavily as we do?? When you dissolve a $35,000 SUV in 5 years, destroy your bridges, pollute the landscape with salt, is it really worth it so you can maintain 10 over the speed limit??
From past experience, I can tell you that there’s nothing like sliding down an icy hill sideways, knowing that nothing you do with the steering wheel or brake pedal will make any difference to the outcome. Yes, we really need salt. If you intend to keep the vehicle, spend the $5 at the car wash a few times a month to clean off the muck under the truck and in the wheel wells.
Canadians have the right idea and keep cars under carports more than we do, which I consider the ideal car parking situation in most conditions. Save garages for what they were intended…junk storage.