I was wondering whats the best way to keep a vehicle rust free from road salt. Ive done a search and saw were you can use rust inhibiter and spray it in the all the fender wells, etc. Where do you purchase this rust inhibiter at i looked every where for it on the internet. Anyways i was wonderig is there anyway to keep a vehicle rust free and still be able to drive it in the winter. I have a beeter vehicle but want to drive my good truck in the winter every once in a while and keep it nice. thanks
preventing rust from road salt?
- Thread starter bobby5
- Start date
Ron Ketcham
Active member
bobby5 said:
ValuGard.net-read the opening page, it's not that salt doesn't create rust, but that now there is an even worse chemical in use.
Also on the site are video's, technical service bulletins, advisories, etc from ValuGard and vehicle manufacturers.
This is the company that provides after market and collision repair rust preventatives and undercoating products for Ford MotorCraft and Chrylser MoPar brands.
Dan
Well-known member
Really the best thing is to avoid driving in the snow if you can. I know that's a big duh, but a lot of us, me included just get cabin fever when it snows. Best thing to do is just do stuff around the house you've been putting off and let all the fools drive in the bad stuff. The next day there is much less salt and crap all over the roads. Barring that, keeping your undercarriage clean is the next best thing, and avoid using recycled water at car washes for rinsing it.
Ron Ketcham
Active member
Bobby5, it is very obivious that you did not visit and read the information on the website I provided or you would not being asking such a question.
grumpy
grumpy
Accumulator
Well-known member
Noting that I'm no stranger to rustproofing measures (thanks again, Ron!) and that I'm utterly meticulous about cleaning my undercarriages and other out-of-the-way areas, my good vehicles simply don't go out in the salt.
If you take the proper precautions (and it's quite an ordeal to do it right...even if you pay a pro to do most of the work) you can keep most any well-built vehicle from rusting out. Get it rustproofed by somebody good (I'd go with a shop that ValuGard endorses), touch up as needed, and then treat all the areas they didn't do with something good (and do it right). Then clean it *meticulously* when you wash (the first and last hours of my washes are always spent on the undercarriage). It oughta be OK in the functional sense.
BUT...it won't be showroom (or better-than-showroom, in case you're an undercarriage nut like I am
) any more. IME, no matter *what* you do, something somewhere is gonna show some sort of (hopefully negligible) cosmetic compromise from the exposure.
Got any areas where they didn't paint the frame just right (I bet you do!)? You'll see some corrosion. Got any chips or scratches on anything down there? Any areas where a nut/bolt's edges have been dinged by a wrench? Sure you do, and anything like that is gonna rust.
It probably won't matter to anybody but nuts like me, but it just won't be *quite* the same if you drive it in the winter, no matter what you do.
If you take the proper precautions (and it's quite an ordeal to do it right...even if you pay a pro to do most of the work) you can keep most any well-built vehicle from rusting out. Get it rustproofed by somebody good (I'd go with a shop that ValuGard endorses), touch up as needed, and then treat all the areas they didn't do with something good (and do it right). Then clean it *meticulously* when you wash (the first and last hours of my washes are always spent on the undercarriage). It oughta be OK in the functional sense.
BUT...it won't be showroom (or better-than-showroom, in case you're an undercarriage nut like I am
) any more. IME, no matter *what* you do, something somewhere is gonna show some sort of (hopefully negligible) cosmetic compromise from the exposure. Got any areas where they didn't paint the frame just right (I bet you do!)? You'll see some corrosion. Got any chips or scratches on anything down there? Any areas where a nut/bolt's edges have been dinged by a wrench? Sure you do, and anything like that is gonna rust.
It probably won't matter to anybody but nuts like me, but it just won't be *quite* the same if you drive it in the winter, no matter what you do.
Ron Ketcham
Active member
For those who took the time to read about Magnesium Cloride and it's use by highway depts, you will notice that the compound "stays" on the roads.
A spring rain will reactivate the mag cloride, so even without snow or ice being present, just rain water, corossion will take place.
Some providences in Canada have been applying this liquid compound year around on their gravel roads to keep dust down, so everytime it rains, any time of year, corossion of a vehicle will take place.
This has created serious concerns for vehicle owners, which have seen serious rusting of their vehicle happening year around.
All over North America, the use of this compound has created a whole new set of corossion problems, which is why, as you can see on the ValuGard.net website a new testing standard has been created for anti-corossion products for vehicles.
Grumpy
A spring rain will reactivate the mag cloride, so even without snow or ice being present, just rain water, corossion will take place.
Some providences in Canada have been applying this liquid compound year around on their gravel roads to keep dust down, so everytime it rains, any time of year, corossion of a vehicle will take place.
This has created serious concerns for vehicle owners, which have seen serious rusting of their vehicle happening year around.
All over North America, the use of this compound has created a whole new set of corossion problems, which is why, as you can see on the ValuGard.net website a new testing standard has been created for anti-corossion products for vehicles.
Grumpy