Leaving my car outside

So unfortunatly last minute i can’t use my garage to store my nice vehicle. It’s completely rust free on the bottom, if i leave the car outside with a car cover on it, would that change anything under the vehicle since technically the bottom wouldn’t be protected. Or would the car need to go thru serve salt, driving and abuse for it to start getting rusty and normal snow wont do much?

If you are getting salt on the bottom of your car, neither a garage nor car cover will help.

Have you not noticed that many people have vehicles parked outside for years without car covers ?

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Most cars spend their lives outside with little issue.

If the car is not driven on salty roads, he salt can’t just wander over and attach itself to the car, so no issues there.

Your car will be fine.

I never park inside my garage in winter because it is heated and will promote rust. Also,most cars start to rust in the spring when warmer weather set in.

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So, most cars spend their lives outside.
So, this may not actually be an issue.
So… why does anyone begin his/her sentences with the conjunction, “so”?

:wink:

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My vehicles are only garaged at night…well until Covid. Most of the day they’d be parked in a parking lot at work. Unless you clean the vehicle every night before you garage it…then it’s the same as parking outside. Live with it.

I’ve mostly noticed this with younger folks on the West Coast.

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Wait till it’s -20f. That’s where garage is helpful.

If you live where I live salt can definitely wander over onto your car.I live about 300 ft off a 4 lane 40 mph road to my west and about 2000 feet North of an Interstate. Our prevailing winds is from the Southwest. We get a lot of wind. I put up a 6’ stockade fence down one side of my back yard about 90 degrees to the wind. It was on 4x4 lumber set in concrete 3’ deep. The wind kept snapping the 4x4s. I finally had to set the posts 4’ apart rather than 8’.

Iplanted some blue spruce when I moved here 50 years ago/ They died even though though I kept them well watered and they had good drainage. The nurseryman’s diagnosis.was too much salt spray. It dries on the outside of my house windows and on my car even when I am not driving it after being washed in the winter, I have heard people living near the ocean complain of the same thing,

Not everyone parks in a garage.

Yeah , should of metioned i was looking to park it in my parents backyard (salt free but will be under 3 feet of snow). Clearly salt eats away at cars, but i guess the question more revolved around does mositure and snow and all that do anything? or is it purely the salt dirt and all other road crap thats shoots around you car

My guess is salt, outdoor car salt and snow was some rust after 17 years as a daily driver through salt muck and snow, the less salt the better my guess.

Actually parking in a warm garage is worse than leaving it outside because anytime the temp rises above 32 F, the road salt starts eating bare metal. Parking it on grass or dirt is not as good as pavement, however.

So, again, no issues leaving it outside in the winter.

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Cool! appreciate your answer + beyond answer for future of car owning!!

thank you again for your competence in anything bumper to bumper and even aftermarkets as well! learned a lot from you in past 6 months. Couldn’t thank you enough dad always got dealership cars and sold them at warranty expiration so he doesn’t really know much about cars just where to bring it if something isnt right or if it needs oil lol

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I have known many people that put stepping stones under the wheels. My boat wheels seem to do fine, but it is a thought you might wish to consider.

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Parking on frozen ground shouldn’t be mush different than parking on pavement. During the spring thaw however the damp ground will keep the under side of your car damp, day and night. This won’t affect the painted surfaces but suspension, brake parts, nuts, bolts and rust spots will rust more than if you drove the vehicle through out the winter and parked on pavement.

I would much rather store a vehicle in a garage, as long as there is a roof it should be drier than storing the vehicle outside.

Like, it’s the new form of “like,” man. Dig? Groovy.

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Farm out, man…

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I had experience parking car in snow. In my opinion, park under the shade would be better. But 5-7 days won’t make much difference.