Electronic Rust Protection

[mccalebr]

I checked the archives and found little/nothing on this subject, so I thought I'd ask.

As I look down the road to completion of the "Spridget Project" I'm already thinking in terms of maintenance and enjoyment...I think those two terms go hand-in-glove. Rust repair was a major factor in both effort and budget on this project and I'd like to do what I can to insure that it will not be a huge problem for a future owner. I'm being thorough in removal, prep, and paint as well as implementing some controls such as weep holes, drain plugs, etc.

One consideration is the use of an electronic rust/corrosion inhibitor. I've visited the web sites for Counteract, RusTerminator, and RustStop as well as some of the commentary type sites with evaluations and opinions.

I thought I'd ask the list if any of you have used one of these, or similar, products; what your personal experience has been; what your recommendation would be. I'd also welcome comments from those that have investigated the technology and either discounted it as "snake oil", labelled it as a potential help, or think it's the best thing to come along since sliced bread but for whatever reason have not implemented it.

Your thoughts?

Ray

 

[spritenut]

I just read something about this being a snake oil type product. Yes it works on bridges and boats as long as there is water to complete the electronic circuit and some sort of sacrificial metal like zinc.
On a car, unless it is under water, it does not work.
I just saw this about a week ago. The write up made perfect sense.

 

[racingenglishcars]

See, I doubt that active corrosion protection, "counteract" stuff would work in Georgia, but in the northeast or where I live it might partially be a good thing. At least in the winter while all cars are wet all the time. I don't expect to drive the sprite in the winter.
Really, the best protection is a really good coat of paint

 

[dwert]

I read somewhere that positive ground cars are more prone to corrosion....any truth to this??

Don

 

[JPSmit]

I read somewhere that positive ground cars are more prone to corrosion....any truth to this??

or is it because British cars were positive ground and British cars a more prone to corrosion /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif slightly more seriously, I've been thinking of having Ms. Triss rustproofed when completed just as insurance - has anyone else done this? Seems like $100 well spent.

 

[racingenglishcars]

I've been assembling the body with a good coating of waxoyl inside every cavity. Afterwards I will spray it again in the cavaties. But outside I will probably just use epoxy primer and top colour paint. I also will not drive in winter. If I were, it would get petrolium based rustproofing treatment on all underside susceptible places. Dinitrol. In Denmark, like in Massachusetts, if it isn't rustproofed, it's gone in 3 years.

 

[Sarastro]

I read somewhere that positive ground cars are more prone to corrosion....any truth to this??

Don

I really doubt that this is true. It sounds like it might be based on one of these ideas that is true superficially, but not when you look into it in detail.

In galvanic corrosion, the positive-charged pole is what corrodes. So, if you could make the case that the body is always ground and therefore always positive, this might be true--you get salt between the body and some other metal it contacts, and the body would corrode. In fact, though, the current through the body and other metal, like the drive-train components, is unpredictable, as it depends on the relative magnitude of small resistances. So, I doubt this is a big issue. Interesting idea, though.

By the way, these electric rust prevention schemes usually work by creating a sacrificial anode--a piece of metal that is biased positive relative to the metal protected. This is easy to do if the protected metal is a buried pipe, but I have a hard time seeing how you could do this with an auto body. So, my first reaction is that I'd need to see some specifics of how the system supposedly works before believing it.