Unless you can afford to buy a new car more often than you have to, you do everything you can to protect it from damage and corrosion. One of the best ways to do that is to park your car in the garage, right?
In the summer, the garage protects your car’s paint and finish from overexposure to the sun’s damaging rays and rust-inducing rain. During winter storms, your car is cozy inside the garage not getting covered with snow and ice.
That’s all true. But it’s not the entire story. It’s well known that the salt we pour on our roads in winter is the enemy of your car’s body panels and under carriage. Without getting into too much high-school chemistry, salt causes metal to rust.
So just about any winter driving can be bad for your car’s metal parts, which is just about the whole thing.
What most of people don’t realize is that parking their car in the garage in winter can make the rusting effects of road salt even worse, and here’s how.
- The salt-filled snow and slush that clings to your car is bad, but it’s not that bad if it remains frozen.
- When you park your car in the garage, even if it isn’t heated, the slush can melt from the heat of the engine. The water that results from the melted slush increases the rust-causing properties of the salt. That can lead to more rust damage than if the car remained outside.
- The dampness in your garage does not quickly evaporate because of winter’s cooler temperatures and the lack of ventilation. That means your car can be wet for longer periods than it is dry. That prolonged wetness gives salt more time to do its dirty work.
- Every time you take your car out and bring it back in again, the whole corrosion-causing process repeats itself.
If you park your car in the garage in winter, try to wash it as often as you can to reduce your chances of premature corrosion and body repairs.
In the event that you do need auto body repair for your vehicle, contact us here at Leon’s Auto Body where we pride ourselves on our excellent service and speedy repairs.