Around here we had "Tuff-Kote" and Zeibart. Both systems involve drilling holes through the protected metal, and spraying cavities blindly with a gooey tar-like substance.

The holes breach the paint/coatings, and the gooey substance plugs body drains, both helping rust.

Many people started to notice that the rustproofed cars don't last any longer than the non-rustproofed cars, in some cases they rust worse. About mid-'80s I started buying new cars instead of used (German of course), noticed that VWUS and Audi had a clause in their body rust-warranty that it is voided if aftermarket rustproofing is used.

The simple thing was that the manuals promoted washing your cars with lots of water, to thoroughly dillute and remove salts/corrosives.

Washing the underbody effectively to me means using a hose and sprayer occasionally. I only travel paved roads and driveways, still I find that the rolled fender lip and other substantially-horizontal surfaces under the car tend to collect dust, dirt, sand, and these hold moisture (and corrosives) much longer than they would if the surfaces were clean. Spraying the hose under the rockers and around the fenders, over the muffler and behind the bumpers, etc. will often yield muddy or sandy water (regardless of not traveling dirt roads). The car likes that.

My wife's "ride" is a '96 Ford E150 conversion. That beast came into the family (custom-built) in '96, has been on the salty and nasty roads every day since it was delivered, many short-hauls and some freeway use (family doctor is a 100-mile round-trip for example, and it's the family school bus). Still, not a spot of rust, original exhaust, takes well to the occasional dirt-purging bath, so it's not just for "real cars".

I should take a photo of a typical salted intersection here in the winter for you non rust belt folks. Or the freeways, where the pavement is white with dried salt when the snow is gone, there's a reason that many of us have winter cars and summer cars. Sand is often mixed with rock-salt for most days, when it's too windy for the rock-salt to stay on the ice, they spray liquid salt-brine (and it's usually the truck just ahead of you which you can't pass).

Also, I can't imagine why a northern Corvette would have rust. Nobody drives them in the winter, not even the crappy '80s cars. They're horrible to drive in anything approaching slippery, and I've never met anyone who has anything approaching a sports car (a real stretch to call a C4 that) and drives it in the winter, most folks here have nice cars for nice days.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I actually grew up in western PA and later lived in western NY. I went to school in Erie, PA for awhile. They don't really plow side streets there, its almost pointless with the lake effect snow sometimes - ultimatly, all the snow just gets packed down on the street after awhile. They do, however, still put out salt boxes at some intersection - just big boxes by the side of the road that they fill with salt so that you can throw some down if you need to.

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
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"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

The lake-effect, gets kind of monotonous here in the winter, sometimes go 3weeks without a glimpse of sunlight and snow every day.
Lousy place for car-guys to live, I'm moving south some day soon.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Who has the most rust and still drives
Who has the most rust and still drives

W210 DANGEROUS FLAW please read (crosslinked in post #1 to all on topic data)
W210 DANGEROUS FLAW please read (crosslinked in post #1 to all on topic data)

hey El theres your car. Grandpa just bought a new mb. My guess he took good care of it. http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cto/1352584435.html

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83 300D 227,xxx miles, sold
86 300 SDL 130,000 miles, sold

Did someone say salt



That aint dirt on my car

-Jason

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

That looks like a great car for $1K. I'd want to take a closer look though, and see what it needs. If it has been taken care of and no major repair items, and especally no rust, it's a great deal.

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85 300D 75K Anthracite Grey 0-60 in 13 seconds **For Sale**
84 300D 333K Black (The Velveteen Rabbit) 0-60 in 14 seconds
00 Toyota Sienna 208K (Sold)
15 Subaru Outback 43K
11 Subaru Outback 67K
98 Ford Taurus 100K (Gertie - Was Grandma's - drove it to church and shopping - really) Daughter's car now.
30 Model A Ford 2 Door Sedan (Sold) 0-60 in . . . Never reached 60

A few comments:

1. I think one limiting factor on zinc-dipping/galvanizing body sheetmetal was that no one figured out how to get paint to reliably stick to galvanized until the 80's.

2. Back in Chicago in the day, we had a very high opinion of Ziebart. They would buy a new car as soon as available, take it apart, figure out where it would rust (from experience), figure out where to drill the holes and spray the goop, and publish this top secret info for their franchisees. In the 60's-70's, generally, a Ziebarted car would be worth considerably more (probably covering the cost of the Ziebart) than a non-Zeibarted comparable car after 5 years. Ziebart would be mentioned in the used car ads.Inferior rustproofing (a.k.a. the bankrupted Rusty Jones) basically blew the reputation of the industry.

My dad's 1970 Tempest was Ziebarted, and when he traded it in 10 years later, it was a beater - but it was a beater free of non-surface rust.

3. Unibody cars aggrivated the rust problems - the first unibody cars just weren't designed for drainage. My dad's Rambler was unbeleivable. It was like someone took a sawblade down the fenders.

4. Improper drain maintenance and faulty/poorly installed body seals IMO is the #2 factor in rust. Think it doesn't happen anymore? I pointed out a taillight full of water on a co-workers year-old Chevy truck. And I've seen a New Beetle with the same condition. A guy I worked with had a sloshing sound in his (newish) car door. "If you don't clear the drainhole, a nice new one will automatically be made for you".

5. I recently arrested (early enough, I hope) some rust on my car with SEM POR-15 equivalent. Earlier, this stuff has stopped rust dead cold on a body seal channel (about a year so far). As someone who has had his heart broken several times seeing favorite cars eaten by rust in spite of heroic attempts to stop it, I'm impressed with this type of paint. Wish I would have had it 30 years ago!

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86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm

Some of the early rust coatings were very hard. When they cracked, that let in water, salt etc. Once underneathe the rust coating, the coating actually helps rust, by keeping the water from evaporating. Also, plugged drain holes have the same effect. MB did use some type of rust preventative, Waxol I think. I did spray my Bricklin with some 'advanced' rust protector from JC Whitney. I dried brown. It seemed still plyable after many years.
They did come out with a new type of salt solution or subsitute. I think it is worst than the old salt for rust. I also think it doesn't do a good job of melting the snow. My experience is it does melt snow or ice, but leaves a very this layer of ice underneathe.
Around me, Mike's Car wash has an underbody spray for corrosion. I think something like it is available in Marine or Boat shops.

Tom