Rust prevention

[DerekTheGreat]

Fluid Film or Wool Wax, the stuff just works. Krown T40 if you can't get those. I use a combination of T40 & Fluid Film on everything of mine which sees salt. I do not wash my salt seeing cars until well after spring, certainly no undercarriage flush.

Trust me, I live in Michigan and make a living researching & developing metal pretreatment.

 

[Cadillac Bob]

Like I mentioned if you already have rust going on then yes washing isn’t end all be all. But if your 400 was bought with/has just surface rust then yes washing it is going to be biggest help on prevention but there’s no reason why not to do more prevention but that alone it’s going to keep rust bugs away. I’m sure every container of rust prevention also mentions washing regularly!? I couldn’t see why not your just adding a layer of
“rust prevention paint” essentially and just like all contaminates without washing will brake anything down. Is my point and some people never wash they rides but don’t understand why vehicles look like hell. I’m not saying that your wrong I’m saying you still need to wash it more than random couple times a winter to best keep you on the road with a 400 or any vehicle.

 

[DerekTheGreat]

No, no it's not. Any paint system has a finite lifespan, and the durability of said paint is linked directly to it's adhesion to the substrate and exposure to moisture, period. Throw in salt and it accelerates the corrosion process because chemistry. Wax/oil sprays like Fluid Film repel moisture & oxygen, that's why they work so well. That and they stay put once applied. When we don't want something or an area of said something to corrode in our accelerated testing chambers, we coat it with wax.

There is no such thing as "rust prevention paint", only marketing. You're free to believe what you want and do whatever makes you feel good, but the fact is the factory paint system applied to your vehicle was designed to protect the pretreatment layer that was put on just before it, not protect against rust. The biggest job those paint layers have is to repel UV rays. This is because the ecoat layer is epoxy based, and UV wreaks all kinds of hell on epoxy based stuff.

As a result, vehicles "look like hell" due to several key contributing factors; Long term UV exposure (no garage or very limited), exposure to moisture & moisture+salt, a bad day on the production line (Pretreatment chemistry out of spec, Ecoat not applied (Chrysler Brampton plant, looking right at you), thin paint layers, poor design (poor drainage or plugged drains), ect. ect..

 

[F4U-1A]

No, no it's not. Any paint system has a finite lifespan, and the durability of said paint is linked directly to it's adhesion to the substrate and exposure to moisture, period. Throw in salt and it accelerates the corrosion process because chemistry. Wax/oil sprays like Fluid Film repel moisture & oxygen, that's why they work so well. That and they stay put once applied. When we don't want something or an area of said something to corrode in our accelerated testing chambers, we coat it with wax.

There is no such thing as "rust prevention paint", only marketing. You're free to believe what you want and do whatever makes you feel good, but the fact is the factory paint system applied to your vehicle was designed to protect the pretreatment layer that was put on just before it, not protect against rust. The biggest job those paint layers have is to repel UV rays. This is because the ecoat layer is epoxy based, and UV wreaks all kinds of hell on epoxy based stuff.

As a result, vehicles "look like hell" due to several key contributing factors; Long term UV exposure (no garage or very limited), exposure to moisture & moisture+salt, a bad day on the production line (Pretreatment chemistry out of spec, Ecoat not applied (Chrysler Brampton plant, looking right at you), thin paint layers, poor design (poor drainage or plugged drains), ect. ect..

There is no argument here, I could press a Spanish Armada on the topic. But why are we writing about rust protection? Two more months my furnace is on (GORE), Waiting for that big moon, it is about due south.

 

[DerekTheGreat]

It's never too early to think about cancer.

 

[SpitShine_PL]

Three cents from me:
NHOU, Krown Canada, Fluid Film (Germany) and the good old redneck lithium grease thinned out with Diesel slathered over the rocker panels that live beneath those usual plastic covers are the tricks up my sleeve that I've tried, if you mean bare metal or superficial rust without any primer coating. Because Poland uses salt for winter maintenance. ("Stop blowing holes in my ship!") (Luckily, with the ban on cheap road salt from Belarus and Russia, there won't be any White Death on the roads this year, LOL!)

I used to own a '00 Grandma Keith which had the typical Panther platform rust issues (thanks, Ford, you're retarded). Superficial rust on the frame, one seam below the driver's seat was getting ripe, the trunk floor drains were goners. I had it oil filmed at my local Krown shop (they actually ran the underside ELEVEN times until superficial rust said it wasn't thirsty any more, LMAO!), I broke out Fluid Film Black (the gooey, tar-like version of their mineral oil undercoat), warmed it up to make it flow and went wild with a big ass painter's brush around all seams, round the chomped out trunk drains, and whatever looked suspicious or worth enough the effort. Didn't bother with the frame section internals (Krown did that for me); removed all water from the door panels with a ton of WD-40, left it to drain for several days, used some off-the-shelf 'cavity wax' spray that came with a handy wand.
In short, this treatment stopped the Red Cancer (tee hee) and I didn't see it progressing until spring (TBH, I work from home, but the car saw some operation on salted roads...).
Removing rust is essential. Superficial rust doesn't necessary need removal, save for the loose debris, dust, all that stuff which peels off. I know people who represerved that with marine-grade 'brick red' paint and reported success, but only with some sort of topcoating or oil coating. Conversion coatings work well, too, but they can't reasonably be left alone without something over them.
I second washing the car regularly to remove all the chemistry which triggers or accelerates rust, followed by represervation - at least with some anti-rust oil.

 

[dave s]

I discovered the Surface Shield last year and bought a couple cases of the spray cans at Home Depot. I regularly spray an old square body I use for plowing, hauling mulch, junk, etc. and always used a concoction of clean motor oil, chainsaw bar oil and odds and ends I had left over through the years.
Last fall I used the surface shield and I can truthfully say it fared better than all my motor oil concoctions. I usually spray some on the surface of the tailgate (step side) because there are lots of seams and areas prone to rust, and by spring it's pretty much washed away. With surface shield, it's still there now. Hung on much better. Stayed on under carriage areas better too.
Just wanted to share my results.

 

[Moparmat2000]

When I lived in N.J. , car people would winterize their prized rides before the first snowfall then leave them to slumber in the garage all winter. Then bring them out after the spring rains have washed all the salt away.

My 94 went through one mild winter there as a new truck before I moved to texas. I would still spray the undercarriage and wheel wells at the do it yourself car wash places. You can get in the wheel openings much better that way by pointing and shooting the water where you want it and be able to rinse out a lot of dirt as well.

I bend the water wand to rinse the wheel wells out right up to the pinch welds, until I get clear water with no more dirt or discoloration. The salt sucks, but clumps of dirt left in place soak up that salt like a sponge and stay wet a long time.

Thank God I dont live in the rust belt anymore. I have zero desire whatsoever to go back there.