Rust proofing

68L71

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May 13, 2008
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I got this camaro last January, it is rust free and I want to keep it that way. I was going to drive it this winter so I was looking at getting a fresh under coating done on it, but now I am getting a car to drive in the winter so it won't see the salt any more.

My question is should I still get it "rust proofed"? The place I was going to use has been doing rust proofing for a long time. The have the car for 3 days. Fist they steam clean the underside and then let it dry out in a drying room inside for 24 hours then they coat all underside metal parts and behind the metal body panels. I think they even said inside the doors. For this they charge $399. If I do not drive it in the winter is it worth it? In the non salty months I will drive it daily. It has 58k miles on it now and me using it as my daily since January have only put 3k miles on it.

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Oh one of those places that splatters the underside in sticky goop?? Wouldn't do it. If you ever want to work on that car you'll hate it. For me it's a direct turn down, won't lay a finger on it if it's been done.
 
Oh one of those places that splatters the underside in sticky goop?? Wouldn't do it. If you ever want to work on that car you'll hate it. For me it's a direct turn down, won't lay a finger on it if it's been done.

Yeah that's what I was sort of worried about, but they claim to mask things etc and they are a very reputable shop. I am leaning away from doing it, but thought I would ask to see if someone would make a good case for doing it.
 
If you are to do it, I would do it myself, that way you can put as much prep time in it as you want. The body sheetmetal is easily accessible on these cars if you remove the interior trim panels, there are huge holes where you can easily spray some wax in there.
 
Driving a Camaro in the snow is always an adventure. I would be more worried about crashing than rust.
 
I sprayed my 4x4 with CRC Softseal when i bought it new and used it for a few years on the beach fishing. it is now 13 years old and only has some rust up near rad where i missed spraying it. absolutely awesome stuff. we used it at a place i worked for 10 years and it lasted that long outside on transmission parts etc flawlessly!! 1 liter did the underside of my sportage(KIA) and is not messy at all,in fact you have to look hard to know its there
 
Rust proofing is a joke. No such animal, except hot dip galvanizing. The salt water will still wick beneath the coating, and rust away. I good cleaning with fresh water is the only cure.
Undercoating only dampens noise, not rust.
There is no way to get it in the places that count without dissassembling the entire car and dipping the parts.
 
Alright I will save my money. Since the car will not see the snow anymore I think it will be fine regardless.
 
after two or three years the black sticky stuff turns hard and separates from the panel, now it is a excellent water trap that keeps moisture and salt between the panel and the coating.... excellent for rust.....
 
There used to be a company "ZIEBART" that drilled holes and sprayed their goop inside everything. Seems to work pretty good since it was like a paint. BUT I never really kept anything long enough to find out how it held up over the long term.

In big airplane world, there's a chemical called DINOL that is sprayed onto aluminum- (already has that green zinc chromate on it). That stuff never dries and stays sticky for what seems like ever and ever. Nasty comes to mind.

For your Camaro, I'd think about having that outfit steam the underside and dry it, then drive away. Maybe spray some LPS-3 into the places you can see and call it good. LPS-3 is a thick oil type lube.
 
I am a fan of chainsaw bar oil. Spray it with an undercoating gun inside panels and wipe up anything that drips out over then next couple weeks. That stuff is super sticky and will leave a film. If you google "bar oil undercoating" you will find it is very popular.
 
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