Nah.  You're missing the whole point here.  It is not rain, it's snow
and ice.  And the car is not just wet...  It's frozen and covered with
salt spray.  The difference in conditions between winter in Cali and
Canada are like night and day, apples and oranges, hedgehogs and...
well, you get the picture.  ;-)

I think the common advice is "Don't heat a garage in Canada" because doing
so accelerates the chemical reactions involved in corrosion. (rate
proportional to kelvin temperature, if I recall) If you have to drive it,
clean it regularly (weekly) and keep it indoors in an _unheated space_. I
sold my E36 after eight years of ownership and it looked like new. It was
garaged 12 months of the year, washed during the winter as often as weather
would allow (frozen doors and locks are no fun at all), and minor body
damage repaired each spring. I had one minor rust issue on the lower edge of
the trunklid, which I fixed just before sale for $300, and pointed out to
the purchaser.
Cheers
Greg

Thanks guys, good info.

I think I will garage it when the conditions are dry, and leave it out when
wet and sloppy. If it gets crazy cold, I will garage it for sure!
I have a hose in the garage, so I can also give it a good rinse after sloppy
salt and slush exposure.
For Jeff in Cali... come see the winter I am talking about (snow, salt,
slush, freezing rain, ice) ... it is a long cry from what you have in your
head!!! ;)

   You'll like my solution to the issue of dew and ice.  I place a small
space heater in my car the evening before.  The cord is run into the garage
but not plugged in.  I get up, go plug in the heater cord, then get ready
for work.  When I get into my toasty warm car, the glass is clear (might
have to scrape the mirrors, though) and I'm off right away with no shivering
waiting for the defroster to warm up.  Since I go to work first really
early, I put the heater in our truck so that when wife comes out to bring
the kids to school, its all ready, and then she moves it into her VW bug.
By the time she gets back and ready to go to work, her VW is all warmed up,
which for her is a luxury since that heater takes forever to do any good in
her car anyway.  It really makes a difference when the weather gets really
crappy.
   Also, since my car is a convertible and gets a bit wet from the water,
the heater also dries out the interior in the process.  Can't beat that!

Formerly, I lived just north of Toronto and we get wet slushy frozen
salty sandy snow and goo spread across 5 to 6 months of the year (it's
not really all THAT bad) throughout southern Ontario. Sometimes the
pavement is bone dry for weeks at a time and sometimes its not.

A while ago for 5 years I was doing a commute to downtown Toronto and
parking in the indoor parking facility at city hall, so my first
concern was that after travelling 100 kms to work through snow slush
etc. I then had to put my car in a heated garage for the day to sit
and drip. At home the car was always outside. The cold will not hurt
anything but the leather. Keep it well oiled. The plastic you just
have to be careful with because it will be somewhat more brittle and
yes, vinyl cracks.

Snow and ice will not do one thing to the vehicle assuming the car is
properly sealed as it came from the factory. I would say more damage
is done by banging the snow broom against the car than by the snow or
ice just sitting on it.

I found the only answer was to wash the car everyday. Fortunately
there is a car wash built into the lower levels of the city hall
parking facility and they had a service called the bottom blaster. I
used this feature everytime I washed the car ('86 560SEC) even if it
was the middle of summer. You drive into the parking facility head
down to the car wash, go through the wash after which it is hand dryed
and then go and park for the day.

I decided that having washed off the offensive material before it was
able to thaw was a key ingredient. Once the material is reduced to a
liquid form a chemical reaction takes place between the salty solution
and the steel. All that white stuff you see dried to everytime is
harmless if left in a dry form. However the melting of the snow
provides the liquid catalyst the slt needs to start working.

If you can, wash it away before it melts.

Michael

Thanks

Michael