How To Effectively Protect Your Car Against Rust?

Sooner or later you will lose with corrosion anyway. However, there is a difference whether it will happen in a year or two or in 10-15 years. The damage caused by the oxidation of metals can be effectively stopped, but the mistakes will come out faster than some people think. We show you how to effectively protect your car against rust

How to effectively protect your car against rust?24SEE THE GALLERYHow to effectively protect your car against rust? Hot grease body protection Hot grease body protection Hot grease body protectionAuto World

The basis in the fight against corrosion: react as soon as possible. How to react Remove corrosion completely or at least as thoroughly as possible, if necessary, recreate the damaged element and then secure it. It remains to be decided: what to remove corrosion and how to protect the metal afterwards. Tinsmiths and many of their customers who did not sell the car within a few months after the repair know that it is not easy.

How do you remove rust from the body?

What is the best method (and sometimes a combination of different methods) is determined primarily by the availability of the site attacked by corrosion, as well as its size. Unfortunately, a tiny purchel of corrosion or swelling of nail-size nail polish can mean that there is a hole the size of a five-zloty underneath.

How to find out? In any case, we start with the mechanical removal of oxidized metal. You can scrape (if you try to fix the spot - even with a small screwdriver), with a wire brush (hand or applied to the drill), with a paint brush, you can also, if the fault concerns e.g. thresholds or stringers, knock the area with a hammer. Tinsmiths, seeing a larger corroded fragment, most often immediately reach for an angle grinder and cut off the damaged element.

With small purchelkach, which we hope to remove or protect on their own (it is possible if metal perforation has not occurred), it is important not to leave corrosion e.g. under the slat. If we do this to save time and hope that it will succeed, certainly rust will appear again soon - damaging even more of the element. If the rust crawls on the edge of the element or from under the decorative strip, it must be disassembled. Unfortunately, usually the bottom looks worse than the top.

Other available methods of mechanical corrosion removal are e.g. sandblasting. In this way, corrosion is removed from the rims, but you can also from the chassis (using a gun-shaped sandblaster) or parts removed from the car. Important: after sandblasting, secure the element (e.g. by painting) immediately!

Chemical rust removal

With the help of chemistry, metal oxides can be removed, which for various reasons we could not get rid of mechanically. By using a chemical rust converter, we can also make sure that we do not miss anything - the chance that the repair will be effective, increases. The disadvantage of this type of corrosion chemistry is the slowness of action and temperature requirements: preferably when the ambient temperature is at least 10-15 degrees Celsius, and the duration of action is a minimum of 24-48 hours.

This is one of the reasons that in a quick service workshop it is better not to count on permanent painting of corrosion; in fact, most tinners also don't have time for such games. Working alone, it is worth using such chemistry. Exemplary action: apply the preparation to rust, after 12 hours, apply it again, after another 12 hours, wash it with water; we apply the preparation again, after 24 hours we wash and dry with water - now it is safe to move on to further activities.

What to paint the repaired surface?

Neither putty nor the most commonly used acrylic primer protects against corrosion! How to find out? Form a ball from the putty knife, let it cure well. Now weigh it, immerse it in water for a few hours, dry it and weigh it again. It will be heavier! This is because the putty is a porous structure - it lets in and absorbs water, and slowly gives it back. Unfortunately, painters love to sand the putty wet.

The result is rust, which comes out a few weeks or months after repair. Reactive undercoat? It helps, but only to a limited extent. The only primer that really protects against rust by sealing the painted surface is an epoxy primer. Unfortunately, it must be applied in a thick layer, dries for a long time, grinds badly - painters hate it! Traders also do not like it - after repairing a thick layer of primer is detected by varnish gauges.

How to effectively protect the body against rust?

Not everywhere can be reached with a brush, there are also many places where for various reasons no brutal methods are out of the question. These are, for example, profiles and closed spaces - thresholds, internal parts of the doors, trunk lid, bonnet, pillars, stringers, as well as elements of the engine compartment. It is often wet in such places, corrosion develops there. Such places can and even should be regularly protected against corrosion - at least every 2 years.

Among the many corrosion protection preparations available on the market, we find wax-based agents as well as oils and other fats. Means based on wax have the advantage that they are also available in sprays for independent use, they are equipped with thin tubes enabling application in thresholds, flaps, doors. Their disadvantage is that when applied to a dirty or wet surface (and this in the case of closed profiles is very difficult to exclude) after a short time they crack, peel and stop working.

Anticorrosive oil and fat preparations do not crack or flake, but for their application you need a compressor and a special gun. Products like Mike Sanders (solid fat, which should be warmed up before application) have one more advantage: they do not drip (after a while they cool and harden) and do not stink.

An alternative is also any fat - e.g. towot, which can be mixed with gear oil. Such a mixture, which we introduce into the profiles with an oil mist gun, is one of the best protections. Disadvantage: it drips and stinks for some time.

Can you protect your car against rust yourself?

A car protected against corrosion in garage conditions should stand on a sheet of building foil that will protect the ground. The car should be thoroughly washed before, it may be necessary to remove some slats or grilles to reveal the technological holes. If we intend to use only sprays, let's buy at least two types - low viscosity and high penetration as the first layer and higher viscosity preparations - as the outer layer.

If we have a compressor, let's give up the sprays in favor of fat-oil preparations. If we can immobilize the car for 2-3 days, before using the fat, you can use a rust converter, which will also be injected into the profiles under pressure. Such a procedure will never hurt, and if corrosion develops somewhere that we do not know about, it will stop it for a long time. The compressor will be useful for one more purpose: with compressed air it is worth blowing all the nooks and crannies into which we introduce anti-corrosive agents - in this way we will remove sand and dirt, increasing the effectiveness of the treatment.

Wax preparations must have time to dry (from a few to several hours one layer), anticorrosive fat solidifies after 5 minutes, oil can drip on the foil for several hours. If we used anti-corrosive oil or oil, we should thoroughly wash the car after the procedure, paying special attention to tires and all rubber components - fat may harm them.

In our opinion

Anticorrosion protection of the car takes a lot of time ("preparatory" chemistry takes time) and it is a dirty job, protective preparations also cost a lot - no wonder that professionally performed car protection services are very expensive. On the other hand, unprofessional security is more harmful than good. You have a garage and time - you can try it yourself!