Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!cornell!tesla!jeff From: jeff@tesla.UUCP (Jeff Frey) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: undercoating Message-ID: <138@tesla.UUCP> Date: Wed, 27-Jul-83 18:27:31 EDT Article-I.D.: tesla.138 Posted: Wed Jul 27 18:27:31 1983 Date-Received: Thu, 28-Jul-83 20:37:01 EDT References: <279@hou5h.UUCP> hound.249 Lines: 35 Cars don`t die by rusting in from outside; it`s the other way around. Salt doesn`t necessarily kill them either, it just makes them ugly. The rust that kills is the rust that eats out the structural members and is usually related to moisture entrapment or condensation inside hollow members. That`s why Ziebart or equivalent processes are good: not for what they do to the bottom of the car, but for what they do inside the hollow members. The Swedes, who keep their cars on the road a long time (and they`re not all Volvos) discovered this years ago, and the result was Ziebart and its imitators. The important points in rust prevention are to have a Ziebart or similar treatment done to the INSIDES of important parts (hollow frame members, doors, trunk lids, etc.); to keep drain holes clear (especially after the Z. treatment); and to keep your car OUT of a heated or attached garage in wintertime. Heated garages not only cause condensation (moist interior air hitting cold car) but also speed up the chemical process of rusting. A further point is to have the Z. redone every four years or so; if it`s good stuff, it`s made to NOT harden, so may run or otherwise uncover interior metal. About four years was the time when the originators of the interior-wax processes discovered a re-doing was necessary. For cosmetics, you should wash a car as often as possible in the winter. If you want to see the danger spots for your own model look at a rusted example of the same model, and hit the same points. I interior-waxed my Plymouth Horizon five years ago with kits sold by Sears (it took 3 kits and 3 nights and the money I saved really wasn`t worth the effort and goop in my hair) and after four upstate New York and one California winter I can`t detect any inside-to-outside rust. Of course, this is also a function of the car`s design and the materials of which it`s made; I haven`t seen any other rusted Horizons or Omnis either. Oh yes, it`s been kept outside (in a carport) all the time. JF