Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 20:36:58 -0400
Reply-To: Derek Drew <derekdrew@DEREKMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <derekdrew@DEREKMAIL.COM>
Subject: Derek's Rust Experience, Tricks, Chemicals
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
I am not finished with my quest, so in 10 years I might say something
different, but I am a salt driver, and here are some of the
strategies I have developed that work pretty well and that, for the
most part, I would do again today.
-- Nevercease that I have tried generally does not keep low hanging
nuts and bolts from becoming frozen in place by rust because most
Never Seize seems to either wash away with water or become hard over
time and not prevent the rust.
-- I have found that Bel Ray brand Marine waterproof grease
(http://www.belray.com/bel-ray-waterproof-grease) will NOT wash off
of nuts and bolts. They say, "Due to its aluminum complex formula, it
won't melt or run out" and they seem to be on to something because
this grease seems to resist melting or running out in a way that
other greases I have tried will not. As a result, after I assemble
nuts and bolts, or ANYPLACE on the transmission or any component that
I feel won't be damaged by the grease, I tend to use this grease as a
form of anti-rust coating and it works extremely well for that
purpose, and stays there. Sometimes I wonder if I could just spray it
all on the underside of the van. The one place that maybe it does not
work as well is on very hot surfaces like engines but I am still
looking into that. It is the only thing that has a kind of Federal
Express promise to it, like.... "absolutely positively will not rust"
after you put this on the outside of a nut and bolt assembly already
tightened. The next mechanic to work there needs to use disposable
gloves and they will make some comments indicating a degree of
feeling yucked.... not angry, but not all that happy either. I do
not use this grease to assemble the nuts and bolts.... I usually use
blue loctite for that, and the loctite is there for rust prevention mostly.
-- I have tried Waxoyl (Waxall? Waxoil?) from UK, but found that
this material is only good for a final glop layer, and not all that
great for the underside in any case because it washes off the vehicle
after a time. I am not sure if it is summer heat or winter salt water
wash that is taking it off, but I started to think it was better
thought of as an inner panel formula after awhile than something too
put underneath the vehicle. It is from the UK, and to be fair, it was
always promoted as an inner panel formula and not an exterior coating.
-- After some experiments with Waxoyl, I moved on to the Wurth
products. Wurth has two spray cans that I believe in a lot, and both
are waxy based. One nice thing about waxy stuff is that you don't
have to so worried about putting it on a little thick because the
heat melts it into cracks it may form because of being excessively
thick. The best prices I got from Wurth were from just ordering from
www.wurthusa.com as though I was a professional shop with an account.
The spray gun method of using the Wurth chemicals produced the most
astoundingly effective rustproofing I have ever seen. You need to
have the entire underside of the vehicle ready when you put this
stuff on because it is VERY comprehensive and convincing to use it
and the wands will go wherever you want them to, so you need to plan
your wand routes ahead of time. The spray gun itself is at the
bottom of the page at
http://www.wurthusa.com/project/media/new_online_catalog_2010/04_Chemical.pdf
on page "04.0350" (just search the document for that page number).
The chemicals are on the next 2 or 3 pages after that. Of these
chemicals I was most interested in:
SPRAY CAN: "Cavity Protection Spray '# 0893 081'" for inner panel use.
SPRAY CAN: "Protective Wax '# 0893 082'" for engine compartments,
transmissions, engines, and the entire underside
The "Protective Wax" spray just listed is identical (and usually same
price) as the spray wax the VW factory offers at dealers for vws and
encourages us to use on Vanagon annually. It is some strange stuff
being that you are encouraged to use it on both hot and non-hot
surfaces, so it is very versatile. Wurth discontinued the separate
engine formula from transmission formula and combined them now. I
believe in spraying it on stuff every time I work on the car.... just
spraying around the any area I see that may see salt. Having extra
cans around helps ensure I am willing to use it. While you can use it
in the engine compartment, needless to say it is not for spraying on
the exhaust.
SPRAY GUN WAX: "Body Wax" '#0892 081 or ....0'" for inner panel use.
Amazing stuff.
SPRAY GUN WAX UNDERBODY: "Wax Underbody Protection (Black) '#0892
0791'" More durable for the underbody
-- I avoid using red loctite in such a way that heat is needed to
undo a bolt or nut because I am not yet very skilled at applying heat
to disassemble hardware; maybe later I'll change
- When working with seam rust that seemed well established but not
bad, I have sometimes knocked a very wide ended chisel (1" to 2"
head) into the seam, up and down the seam, to separate it a bit
before working on it. This has provided much better access to the
rust areas than just leaving the old seam sealer picked out with pics
and dental devices alone or dremel alone. I found in the lower rear
that I was able to knock the seam flat again later.
-- I have tended to use copper conductive grease over exposed copper
or gold electrical connections, including where bare copper wiring is
showing. The brand I use is this: Kopr-Shield such as CP8-TB "Do not
apply on live wire." http://www.google.com/products?q=Kopr-Shield I
do not know whether this is a bad idea or a good idea, and I suspect
that a marine formulation of this stuff might last longer than the
one I use. Maybe we shouldn't be using conductive copper grease at
all and instead just be using Dielectric grease. I don't even really
know what Dielectric relevantly means exactly as I could never google
it out in a way that made sense to me. I also have the VW urged
Stablant 22A electrically conductive coating, but I generally
suspected that that stuff was snake oil.
-- Marine products and marine way of thinking are good for salt
people like me.
_______________________________________________
Derek Drew
Founder, ConsumerSearch.com
Washington DC / New York
derekdrew@derekmail.com
202-966-7907 (Call the number at left normally)
(alt/cell for diligent calling only): 703-408-1532
