Rust Check VS Dealer offered applications

Where do you live? In most areas, neither is necessary and the dealer stuff can actually plug drain holes and damage the car.

"NBnet" wrote in news:jFF1e.5781$ snipped-for-privacy@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca:

A loaded question! The answer? BOTH. But not if the dealer is selling the white gummy stuff as opposed to the solid black stuff.

I live in Southern Ontario. Rust is something I have had to battle for every one of the 24 years I have owned my own vehicles.

The very best rust treatment--bar none--that I have EVER come across is the "drippy stuff", Krown or Rust Check. However...

Either is basically the same stuff, and either MUST be reapplied at least once per year, at a cost of about $110Cdn per year.

Personally, I use Krown. I used to use Rust Check but was not happy with the guys that run the franchise near me. The Krown guys seem better.

Several caveats:

1) It's drippy and messy. Get it done before Nov 1, or whenever your municipality bans overnight street parking for the winter. Leave it on the street for at least two days. 2) It will swell your door seals and any other rubber weatherstripping on the vehicle. This will take several years to show up, but it will swell them. Swelled seals are OK for a while, but eventually they will start to fall off the car. The only cure is replacement, at between $30 and $100 per seal. 3) It cannot protect where it cannot be applied. Don't count on it to save you from those zillions of stone chips you will get every winter if you drive any significant amount. Don't count on it to protect you from rust around the windshield frame, door tops, undercarriage, or any other place it cannot be applied or gets washed away. Don't count on it to save you from rust in those areas where sand and grit blast away paint: that's where the black stuff is needed. 4) To help combat #3, go to Canadian Tire. For $8 you get a can of aerosol Rust Check. Do your own touch up in those areas that the franchise cannot do.

It's the best. The very best there is. Because it stops rust from occurring in the worst places it can happen, the places nobody ever sees, the places that kill your car.

If you want more detail, post back here and I'll oblige.

Isn't 'rust protection' something that has become known as something useless that the dealer makes bucks on?

I mean, what do they do? I remember years ago, 2 decades, it was a 'wax' sprayed into the hollows of the doors and frames. Is that necessary today with fewer metal parts, and better paint/paint techniques?

later,

tom @

It never worked.

Richard.

Ok.

thx

I have a '93 Pathfinder with 220,000 miles on it in Canada. Never had it rust proofed. It's lasted better than any other vehicle I've owned. Still has the original exhaust system.

Arrooke,where in Canada, I'll bet it's not Ottawa!

I have a '91 Celica with 191,000 miles on it. I never show it any respect, and it has no rust on it (nor any add-on anti-rust treatments). I live in central Ohio where road salt is applied almost daily for months.

Nope, not Ottawa. I bought it in Vancouver and have lived in the Hamilton area for 8 years. Here, they salt/sand the roads 2 days after the snow has disappeared - and then complain of going over budget. When I bought it, I looked into undercoating. I had my previous vehicles done and had doubted it's worth. I found that:

- New vehicles are coated in the factory.

- Undercoating will void the factory (Nissan) rust warranty. Which I think was 5 years at the time. So if you plan to upgrade within that period it makes no sense to spend the extra.

- although the warranty from 3rd party undercoating is 'lifetime'; collecting on it can be quite another matter.

- I spoke with a CAA tech. They do not recommend 3rd party undercoating (or didn't at the time). In fairness, they said it can be useful if done properly. Like anything these days though - there are problems getting it done properly. Not done properly, undercoating has been shown to create more problems than it corrects.

- I had the ultimate satisfaction of working a super deal on my vehicle when it was new. Naturally they figured they would scam a bundle out of me for "extras", such as undercoating. They didn't :-) . . .that alone would have been worth replacing the whole chassis at a later date.

- 12 years later I haven't had significant rust damage other than having to replace the chrome bumpers, and I understand this is normal. Tip: Never buy aftermarket parts. I thought a bumper would be hard for after-market to screw up - I was wrong. Plus I found out after the fact that my savings were very little. Actually I lost, because the new bumpers are total garbage.

- Undercoating is good for noise reduction (if you don't mind the smell).

- If a car salesman says it's good - it probably isn't.

This is only my personal experience.