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Rust protection spray services question
Hey Tildes car folks, so Rust Protection like this one in Canada -- is it beneficial and or necessary for cars during in Canadian winter? I know we have a lot of salt on the roads, and just in the sea air as well. Talked to a tow truck driver and he always does his work and personal cars every year.
So I took mine in too. But i wish I'd known that they don't wash the car beforehand. Like an idiot I just drove to the appointment and I got my car back and it's still covered in a layer of regular road dirt. Did I just waste $180?
Bonus question: the other older car has a 5 x 10 mm rust spot on the side - would this kind of coating do anything about it or what do I do to fix it or not let it get worse?
I'm not a mechanic or anything but I'm surprised the shop doesn't offer some sort of cleaning service prior to the application. Wouldn't a coating of that type trap any dirt or salt against your paint and possibly result in rust? The same would go for the undercarriage too I imagine...I would probably consult a professional to see if you can get your car cleaned and re-coated but I think it'd be worth asking nicely that the shop do it again properly without charging you again.
As for your other car - coatings are preventative and not...curative? If you'd like to protect your other car from a pre-existing spot then you should get that spot treated and covered before giving it an anti-rust coating. It might slow down the spread but it won't prevent it entirely.
Yeah I was surprised -- they wash the car after application so why not before? :/
Is there a product for fixing rust spots?
theruststore.com.
They have a product which uses tannic acid and a poly-coating of some sort which converts rust to something that halts the redox reaction and then coats it to protect against reoccurence. I've used it on my tractor's mower deck and it seems to do well.
Some people think the coating helps extend the lifetime of your vehicle, though I'm not convinced it's a significant enough difference to be worth it. In Canada, your car will rust regardless of coating, but maybe you'll get an extra 1-5 years after applying it for a decade. Or maybe not. There's a lot of factors at play here.
You mention sea air, so I'm assuming you live near one of the coasts. Living in southern Ontario, I don't have experience with that, but my intuition tells me that it would make cars fall apart faster than just road salt, and I'm not sure that a spray would get to all of the areas that the salty air can. Hopefully you get a better response from someone on the coast.
Generally, people don't clean their cars before application. A little bit of dirt and grime should be fine, but if you had a lot of caked on mud it could be problematic. It's an oil-based spray that "penetrates" into the exposed metal components and repels moisture, which supposedly helps prevent rust.
Anecdotally, I've only owned two vehicles, and I've never done a spray since it feels like a waste of money, and despite the claims, I don't think spraying a vehicle with a oil-based product is particularly environmentally friendly. My first vehicle lived to the ripe old age of 14, and had a little rust around the wheel wells, but also had significant and unrelated engine issues, which was the reason I replaced it. My current vehicle is about 6 years old and has no rust.
I'm not a car guy, but I'm guessing it's primarily an under body application? I would think they would wash your undercarriage first, and then do the application.
Hopefully it was an oil based product? I've heard horror stories of thicker coatings actually trapping moisture and accelerating rust.