[BonzoHansen]

I have had zero hot tire issues.

i've only done a little bit of welding but it did not hurt anything. if you had a lot to do you could temporarily protect the floor I suppose. Or live with a few chips as a badge of honor lol. and how much of that is the OP going to do anyway?

my floor cut down on dust considerably, makes spill clean up easy, and made the whole garage brighter. i did not make my floor pretty. i did not fill any chips or cracks in advance. no dumb colored speckles. I'm still really happy I did it.

if i had to fix a chip i think I'd just touch it up with gray por15. that doesn't come up easy either lol