Oil Under Chassis Treatment

That was me I guess. It's an oil spray that lasts one season. Here in Ontario there are several brands, the main chain being Krown, but there are many others. This fall I had my Focus done at Wal-Mart. Cheap and lots to do to pass the time (about an hour).

The proper undercoating by Tuff Kote Dinol, or Tectyl or what have you is quite an expensive story these days. In the north of Sweden, as an alternative, some people spray saw chain oil under the chassis and the internal steel parts of the doors. Saw chain oil contain a fair amount of rust inhibitators and some adhesive additives for the oil to stick and preserve. It also is not the worst type of oil for the skin to handle. Some warm the oil a little and some mix it with white spirit or diesel fuel before spraying. /per

"Dan" skrev i meddelandet news:dbJzb.35100$_h.30768@lakeread02...

Dan,

Over the years I've tried several underbody treatments. The normal underseal (the black tar like stuff) was the worst. After a few years it used to crack and let water in where is was trapped and hence rusted the body, generally unseen until too late. I also tried water proof grease mixed with petrol (to thin it down) and bushed that on. The petrol evaporated leaving the grease coating behind. Although very effective it didn't last too long. Then I tried a product called Waxoyl. This is a wax based treatment and I can say from experience that is by far the very best underbody treatment I've ever used. It can be brushed or sprayed on. It is quite common here in the UK but not sure in the US. I did a quick search and found this URL

so it is available. Hope this helps.

Graeme.

"Graeme" wrote

I know that in the northern U.S. snowbelt a variety of commercial products are sold. Not sure how many of those are offered in Virginia, but I think anything sold by a brand-name store or auto service chain should work fine.

If the body of the car is galvanized any rustproofing is redundant. Am I right?

Ron

Galvanizing is just a special coating put on the steel to prevent the Steel from Oxidizing (i.e., rusting) in order for Steel to rust it needs Oxygen, take away the Oxygen source and you prevent rust. That said...I have seen galvanized metal rust...it just takes longer. I live in VA, where they don't SALT the roads, they just put out Sand, but I do live by the Ocean, so salt corrosion is only a small issue. I am just looking for a rust preventitive in lieu of undercoating.

-- Dan

03 ZX5 21.3k "Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it" - George Santyana

Half right, I would say. I had a 87 Audi before the Focus, and the paint on that one did not stick very well to the zink coating. But after 14 years there were no parts rusted through, although it didn't look very nice then. If I look under my Focus, I can see a lot of parts and pieces that are not the body itself. And those brackets and screws and stuff does not seem at all so well protected on the Ford as on the Audi. A thin black paint layer without any primer or any anticorrosion vax as far as I can see. Some additional protection will certainly be useful if you want those parts to stay put, and also remain detachable if service needs to be done. /per

"Rockin Ronnie" wrote

Unfortunately no, although galvanizing helps. But zinc is not very strong and chips easily which lets rust start and then creep under the coating. Same with those "permanent" anti-rust coatings.

oil or wax sprays under the chassis are a great idea, and not only protect all the nongalvanized parts, cracks, etc., but actually helps sound proofing.

Just be careful to keep these sprays away from the rubber suspension, exhaust, and motor mounts. They can soften up the rubber.