You buy new car and want it to last. You don’t want faded paint, a sun bleached dash board, and rusting out floor pans. So you clean out the clutter and keep her inside. After all, if you’re cold they’re cold right!? While some of the benefits of keeping her in the garage are undeniable I have some bad news about rust.
Let’s start out with how rust works. First you need steel exposed to moisture and oxygen. When your car is brand spankin’ new you’re not exposed. Without undercoating and rustproofing it doesn’t take long for the grit that comes from deteriorating roads to find its way between panels, in your frames, and into the bottoms of your doors. This grit will rub and cut through factory hard coats and expose the steel. In winter months consider how abrasive packed snow is when its gets jammed in your wheel wells and floor pan!
So, now you’re exposed. One thing to remember about chemical reactions is that everything happens faster with a little heat. When you leave a car outside overnight through the winter it’s as though it is locked in the deep freezer. Not a lot of corrosion is spreading. If you bring it in every single night, the very thing you’re doing to protect it is worsening the problem!!
Fresh undercoating on a used vehicle goes a long way and rustproofing/undercoating a new cars adds layers of protection to an unscathed undercarriage. Give it to your car, it’s worth it!
Ps. Aluminum corrodes just at much!!