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>From: wagen@pangea.ca
> Just wondering. If you had no coice about driving on salted roads,
>what are the best precautions? Some I know of are: washing the car regularily,
>and getting the bottom rust proofed with spray on tar or rubber stuff. Any
>other suggestions?
There isn't a whole lot that you can do. Real rustproofing, inside and out,
is some help if it is VERY fluid so it can seep in all the cracks, but
everything I have tried eventually dries out, cracks, and allows moisture to
work its way under it. You'll notice that the truly destructive rust always
starts at a crack or seam where water is trapped for a period of time.
Trying to wash out ice and salt is probably counterproductive because it
just replaces the solid ice with warm salt water which works it way into
your bodywork. Likewise, storing the car in a heated garage after being
driven in the snow makes sure the ice melts and works its way into the
seams. Remember that most chemical reactions take place twice as fast for
every 10 deg C increase in temp; corrosion is just one of those reactions.
I doubt that my car rusts much on those really cold days when the fenders
are clogged full of packed snow. The real problem comes on those truly
awful days when the roads are covered with salt-laden slush. That's when
the salt and water gets worked into everything.
If you do try to spray/pump some kind of oil into all the nooks and crannys,
you should know that any kind of oil is a help just because it displaces
water and spreads over metal surfaces, protecting them from oxidation, but
for really good protection you need an oil that has a healthy dose of
oxidation inhibitors added to it. LPS-3 is one of these, and I assume that
some of the commercial rust protection products also qualify.
Jim
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Melissa Kepner Jim Adney
jadney@vwtype3.org jadney@vwtype3.org
Laura Kepner-Adney
Madison, Wisconsin
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