Corrosion Protection

With any vehicle, regardless of age or manufacturer, corrosion would have to be one of an owner's worst fears.  For us Land Rover owners, even though a large proportion of our vehicle's paneling is aluminum, structural rust in the chassis, firewall, rear doors, door tops etc, etc, still pose a major problem.  The merry men at the WOF testing station continue to clamp down harder and harder on vehicles with structural rust.  And rightly so because at the end of the day it is all about safety (I can hear the anarchist's screaming from here).

There is literally hundreds of corrosion inhibiting products available on the market.  The effectiveness of each product is largely dependent upon the vehicle preparation prior to application, the application itself, and the environment in which it has to work.

Some oldies but goodies on the New Zealand market would have to be Tectol and Fisholene.  Tectol has a very long history, and I can remember the days when most new vehicles were driven from the car dealer directly to the Tectol applicator.  However, in later years it was discovered that Tectol was as good at sealing moisture in as it was at keeping it out.  Car manufacturers started to issue disclaimers on the new car corrosion warrantees if you applied Tectol.

Fisholene is a brilliant product for areas on your vehicle where it can't get washed off.  For example, the insides of doors, rear hatches, pillars, etc.  The only disadvantages with Fisholene are its cost (around $20 per litre), the fact that it does washed off, and its smell.

Personally I was looking for a product that was cost-effective, I could apply myself, and that wouldn't cause further problems down the line.  After a lot of searching I came across a product manufactured by "Protective Paints".  The product is uniquely named "Corrosion Inhibiting Oil".

This oil has a viscosity a little higher than diesel, and has a linseed smell.  When applied it has a high "creep" factor, which means that it really gets into all those nooks and crannies.  The oil penetrates any rust it finds, and then seals it forming a waterproof barrier.  Two to three hours after application, the oil well hardened off and can actually be painted over if desired.  Also, being an oil, it displaces water really well.

Application is easy using either a brush or your garden sprayer, and all your equipment can be washed out with terp's.

To test the oil, I applied it to the under body of my 109 V8, since it spends most of its time driving up and down the beach.  I used the garden sprayer and gave everything a liberal coating to the point of run off (I recommend that you find somewhere other than your drive or lawn to complete this task).  As a guide, the 109 took just under 4 litres to treat at a cost of about $50.00.

109 Back Door - Just the sort of rust we are trying to avoid

This application was done nearly 18 months ago, and to date there has been no corrosion develop on any of the areas that were treated.  When water is sprayed on the treated body parts, the water immediately beads up and runs off, just like a good quality car wax.  However, if left unpainted, the oil will eventually wear off.  This is not a bad thing though, because I would rather be re-applying it on a regular basis to catch any new corrosion, rather than relying on a once in a life time treatment.

For me, one of the big advantages of this oil is that it produces a thin water proof barrier, unlike a lot of the high build sealers that later harden, crack and then allow water to get in behind. 

In summary, I am very pleased with the performance of the oil, and am now going to re-treat the 109, and treat the Range Rover as well (if I can ever get all the mud off)