Rust prevention for the oceanside car

Sep 14, 2004 1 Replies

I live right on the beach in Florida, have seen the rapid deterioration of many cars in this environment. A garage is a must, but the salt air is always prevalent for the daily driver. I have heard of everything from smearing 10w40 to just a good coat of Mother's weekly as rust preventatives. Any tips for protecting my 62 Falcon would be most welcome.



And thank you to all who helped tremendously solving my fuel system promlem.... sticky float in carb.



JT Florida



We have the same problem on the Texas Gulf Coast. The salt spray eats everything, including cheap stainless steel. A car rusts because of galvanic reaction between the iron crystals. Water moisture is the conductor and oxygen is the oxidizer. In order to keep it from rusting, you will need to keep either the oxygen or the moisture off of the iron. Frequent spraying of all metal surfaces with heavy oil should work. A drawback is that sticky oil tends to collect dirt. The new vinyl phosphate sprays work on rust but I don't know how they would hold up in your environment. They are not very thick.

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