Heat and Rust

[Velosprout]

I have read the speculation that a heated garage increases the pace of rust on daily drivers subjected to salt. I understand the theory, that the warmer garage will allow the salty melt water to penetrate and accelerate oxidation daily and expansion/contraction cycles will damage paint, glass, increase paint cracks, etc. I would imagine heating the garage on a couple of weekends a month would be a different exposure than constantly heated and garage temperature would be a variable.

All I can find online or forum searches is speculation, personal anecdotes, and school projects on nails rusting faster at higher temperatures. Anyone have any thoughts or research?

 

[koditten]

My shop is heated. I park my Tundra in the shop. I notice nothing that supports this. I believe just the apposite.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

If youre worried about it rinse your vehicles off after pulling them into the garage.

 

[ctfjr]

I live here in Connecticut where the roads are heavily salted in the winter. My garage is kept between 45-50 degrees. I never had an issue with rusting on our cars.

 

[Showkey]

Think some of this heated garage vs rust go way back to when cars were not made with double galvanized steel, ecoat dip primers and a dozen other improvement in car and trucks to fight rust.

Part of that rust theory was also based on solid ice vs salt water and its ability to creep by capillary action into every seam and crevice. Again protecting the steel, seams and coating have all changed. Many of those changes started in the mid 90's and were improved over time. Some manufactures adopted quicker and others lagged behind.

More info on the steel and history:

http://m.machinedesign.com/metals/steel-automotive-challenge

 

[turbowoodworker]

I'm too lazy to look it up and way too old to remember it all but there is a redox chemical reaction that is called rust. The physical chemistry involves temperature in the equation and the chemical redox potentials of the elements involved (pKa I think??).

Sorry, big words but no real memory to explain them. That's what a college degree gets you!

 

[6768rogues]

I park in my heated garage and I think it speeds up rust. However, I like a snow free warm car that is blowing heat quickly after leaving the driveway. Even if my car/truck rusts faster, it is worth it when I see other people trying to chisel their vehicles from encapsulation in ice and snow.

 

[BadgerBoilerMN]

A warm garage can promote rust, especially of the unprotected exhaust system, but ventilation mitigates this problem and everything else is better for the car and driver. I wouldn't be without a heated garage here in Minneapolis.

 

[finn]

Warmer temperatures and higher relative humidity will promote corrosion, especially when there is road salt involved.

It's chemistry.