• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
  • A Winner has been selected for the 2025 Radioddity Cyber Monday giveaway! Click Here to see who won!

Rust Prevention

brandon7861

Loose Wire
I Support WorldwideDX.com!
Nov 28, 2018
2,045
2,255
293
Off topic, I know.

I finally got tired of my vehicles rusting (Minnesota road salt), so I've been trying different mixtures looking for what will prevent rust on a test piece of A36 sheet metal. My latest failure was a thin layer of paraffin melted with marine grease and heavy oil. It did not stop rusting even though I thought it was well covered. Apparently, melting the mixture and rubbing it on with a soaked rag makes it too thin because the sheet metal was rusty in 3 day (I did put salt on the coated metal). I even used a heat gun to make sure the wax spread out.

The internet then led me to lanolin-based products, so i initially ordered a 1lb tub of lanolin butter planning to DIY something, and then later I ordered a bucket of Woolwax. I am still waiting for the woolwax to arrive, but the lanolin butter showed up today and the smell stopped me dead in my tracks. Thats the smell I remember from my grandpas old tractor shed (that and diesel exhaust and oil). I just recoated the sheet metal test strip with straight lanolin butter to see how it holds up outside, but again, I started thin with it. I expect/hope it will work better than my last mixture.

The only non-lanolin material I have found to work is hemp resin. The neat thing there is that it dries non-sticky after a month, but it still stops rust. Unfortunately, its not really practical as an undercoating without a huge hemp field, which I do not have lol.

Does anyone have any secret knowledge on the subject? I have confidence that the woolwax will work, but I am always interested in alternatives, especially less messy ones. Anything short of sandblasting and painting interests me.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Shadetree Mechanic

There's a reason galvanizing is so popular. It works and zinc is cheap. But applying that to a vehicle that's already built just ain't practical. The answer lies in either providing sacrificial ions to protect the iron atoms like galvanizing or just sealing the surface to keep the water, oxygen etc from touching the metal surface. Best of luck with that approach. Dare I say it, but paint is how steel gets preserved in a lot of applications. Getting it to stick to a surface that rusted already is a whole different can of worms.

No single easy solution.

73
 
Cadillac, IIRC, had some high voltage system. I remember my grandpa's work car had it, and I don't think it worked.

I have wondered about pounding some sacrificial anodes along my driveway and attach them with a jumper cable when parked (since that accounts for most of the vehicles life), but I am unsure if that will work since the car is not under water. I think railroad tracks use something similar, but they are in contact with the soil. I wonder if that is worth trying.
 
I use lanolin for everything from rust prevention on yard tools, to making my own case lube for reloading brass cartridges. It's a household staple here.
Lanolin is great for undercoating because it doesn't attack rubber like oil based products will. I have also heard of people blocking off the rocker panel and door drains and pouring several inches of oil inside.
 
I believe PB Blaster can be bought by the gallon for about $30.
Here is a rust control product I bought years ago at my local Do It Center by the gallon with Phosphoric acid and there is no mixing. Just used some a couple days ago on my bead rolling kit. Can't know what the price is these days but I'm sure It can be had cheaper than MFG suggested price. But like all chemical Use Caution.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Shadetree Mechanic
Here is a rust control product I bought years ago at my local Do It Center by the gallon with Phosphoric acid and there is no mixing. Just used some a couple days ago on my bead rolling kit. Can't know what the price is these days but I'm sure It can be had cheaper than MFG suggested price. But like all chemical Use Caution.

That's interesting. Isn't hot phosphoric acid what is used to blue/black metal by forming some sort of crystal structure on the surface?
 
  • Like
Reactions: FlyBoy50
This has fish oil in it that seeps into the rust and will stop the rust from growing.


7769730_1108_SRT_8oz_RustyMetalPrimer_480x480.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: FlyBoy50
This has fish oil in it that seeps into the rust and will stop the rust from growing.


View attachment 73677
I've bought and used that also. My next project is sand blast and replace rocker panels on my Cobalt. Pennsylvania is known for Salt and Rust. Only problem is at almost 75 yo just don't crawl around like you use to. LOL Thank god for fabricate & welding skills or I'd be dead in the water by now. 90+ temps and humidity holding me back right now. LOL
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Shadetree Mechanic
Late to the discussion but I have been using lanolin based products on my vehicles for years now. First starting using fluid film about 15 years ago. I switched over to woolwax about 4 or 5 years ago. I use woolwax on the underside of vehicles and fluid film in the body panels. Fluid film creeps better so its good for pinch seams in doors and things like that. Woolwax hold up better to the road spray than fluid film does.
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.