Moving to Florida-How to protect my cars from the elements?
 

We will be arriving in Panama City from Seattle area in a few weeks. We have more cars than we can possibly expect to find garage spaces for. Already have two rental houses, I don't want to buy a house in Florida. We have been offered up a house literally 50 yards from the ocean on Tyndall AFB. The view is amazing. Problem is, no garage. One car port spot only. After reading on some forums i am growing pretty concerned about how to protect my cars. My S is a 2001 with 39k miles, and mint. I don't want to leave Florida in four years with a rusting piece of junk. Also got two BMWs that i'm kinda concerned about. Anyone have some useful advice on how to approach this? I can give up the house on the beach and find one with at least a two car garage...but i'd rather not.

I assume that even a high quality car cover is not going to give me the protection I need?

Thanks in advance.

Talk with the guys stationed there now, they'll have direct experience. Plenty of guys with disposable income and nice cars on base.

50 meters from the Gulf is a highly corrosive atmosphere! The bay is salt water too.

Leaving the car outdoors there is just begging for rust. The brake discs will turn brown within a week I'll bet. No fun garaging the S2000 farther inland though. I was at Hurlburt Field years ago (OK, decades!) and wasn't happy about how quickly rust appeared. The BMWs are just cars. ;)

-- Chuck

Just keep it clean and waxed and it'll be fine. The salt from the sea is far less than the crap put on the roads for snow. Gulf i less salty than the Atlantic too if I remember right. My car is an 04 FL car with 125k miles on it. Lived outside less than 2 miles from the beach for the 1st 4 years I've owned it. Only spot of rust is in the trunk tub from a water leak getting in there years ago. The UV damnage is more of the issue, so make sure you use a good wax if it stays outside. Opticoat or CQuartz would be better.

My car has sat in the driveway of my parents' house(on the water) for the past 2 years, always under a custom-fit car cover. It has always been a FL car and did have some noticeable corrosion when I bought it, but it has definitely worsened since. It's not extreme, no severe rust spots on the chassis, but a lot of small uncoated bolts and such are pretty rusty. The corrosion is also pretty noticeable on the intake manifold, and I found minor(just slightly worse than surface) rust spots on the front crash beam when I took the front bumper off. It's just more depressing than anything

~2 years ago vs a few weeks ago:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...271f1df8a0.png
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...98e19de3cf.png

Even stainless steel boat fittings corrode in this atmosphere. They're admittedly just feet from the water, of course. Walk the docks and look at the rails, cleats, etc. Happens even in brackish areas.

-- Chuck

I just got rid of my S because I didn't have time to keep up with it. My only advice is keep out of the sun and use it as much as possible. The heat and humidity will affect it. I moved from NY and while certain parts fair well with this weather other parts don't. I would say garage it if you can. Mine slept out doors for about 3 years here and paint and top took a hit. Find a detailer if you don't already do it yourself. You will need it.

Other parts started to go as well but I did do a few trips to the dragon and drove it harder than some so I won't blame the weather for suspension and brakes lol