Technically a wet/salty vehicle will rust faster in a warmer environment...yes. However, dry and inside out of the snow/rain without the sun eating at the rubber and paint and such, without birds crapping on them, without kids scratching them or hitting them with balls...and without people stealing the entire vehicle or the catalytic convertors or something while outside. Yeah I'll stick with putting them indoors at the risk of minor rust.
I did tire changes yesterday, after 6 years of garage life, the underside of our Lexus is pretty darn clean:
Good rust proofing (fluid film) makes it such a moot point overall.
So ya, vehicles are staying inside.
I hear you. Mostly I was trying to give you ammo to convince your better half that the garage is a work shop not a parking lot.
But if YOU prefer your vehicles inside then that's a different story altogether.
Don't be so sure about the corrosion in your cars though. I ran the corrosion lab at a major vehicle manufacturer for about 10 years. We routinely tore down vehicles from all across North America & less often from elsewhere in the world. I'm not talking rusted calipers and visual rust here. I'm talking corrosion in the sheet metal seams and dissimilar metal connections that you won't even see till the connections fall apart or there is hole there. Corrosion from winter salt usually keeps growing in those places all summer long. So parking outside won't make it go away but it will slow it down in the winter. For the summer, it's better to let the rain dilute it and wash it out than to let it get wet and dry and wet and dry by parking inside. It's a much more complicated process than the interweb might suggest. Your own driving patterns, your local road maintenance, and your local climate can all make a huge difference to your situation and your experience.
But you are certainly right about sun damage. The sun has its own evil ways to destroy your car. I don't personally think they are as bad as rust though because it's pretty easy to protect your vehicle from UV and heat problems.
You are also right about crooks. It's a sad world out there when they have more access to your car than you do! Even a rusting car is better than one that gets stolen or chopped up. A few short months ago I was shocked by the number of forum members who reported that their exhaust catalysts were stolen. Very sad, and very distressing.
My own shop is in the barn not the garage. So I don't need any excuses. Nonetheless, there are no cars in my garage in the winter. On the other hand, my house is at the end of a very long farm lane. I like to believe that thieves and vandals are basically too lazy to walk down that lane and any that did would trip my security system anyway.
All this is to say that it makes sense to me that we don't have the same priorities. I feel your pain.
Your shop/garage/play pen looks pretty awesome to me. I think a lot of our members would love to trade you!
I especially love your vehicle lift! That looks awesome! I'm jealous!
