General 500 rust prevention

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General 500 rust prevention

Baglady1990

One job always leads to another
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What is the best product I can use for rust prevention?
Also I have noticed the start of rust on my door hinges & what I think is engine mounts!? Please correct if wrong! Pics below
What do I use on those?
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Hi. Hope you are keeping well in these difficult times?

The first pic you show is of the door check strap and is almost insignificant. I really wouldn't worry about it. A wee spray of lubricant or a smear of grease will be fine. The second pic is the strut top mount retaining plate. It's only job in life is to stop the strut dropping out of the wing when you jack the car up so the wheels leave the ground. (or, I suppose, if you are in the habit of doing frequent "Dukes of Hazard" type jumps over your nearest sleeping policeman?). Your's do look quite rusty but they are made of very thick metal and will have to corrode a lot before it causes any problems. You could try a rust converter and then paint them or just smear some grease on them. You can buy replacements quite cheaply from the likes of Shop4parts. They are only held on by that one nut in the middle so you could change them yourself as long as you didn't jack the car up with the nut removed! Again though, I wouldn't be loosing any sleep over them. (by the way the nut can sometimes be very difficult to remove with just basic tools)

What would be much more serious would be rust in the metal of the bodywork itself, particularly if it was around the strut top mount and I see no signs of that from your pictures. Having owned several MK1 Pandas and the problems they had with rust in the bodywork, I am very impressed indeed with the lack of rust evident in my newer 2010 model. Fiat have obviously upped their game considerably in this regard.

On our wee Fiats the rear axle is well known for rusting it's spring pans and my Panda has a certain amount of that. On any car it's the bits you can't see easily where the rust usually becomes a problem - for instance the inner sills, "chassis" box sections and suspension mounting points. You can get a look at this by jacking the car up but not, please, just supported on the cheap wee jack that comes in the boot with the car and is only really, just, suitable for changing a wheel. Putting it up on a ramp is probably best for getting a really good look.

So, from the pictures you've posted, I don't see anything to be worrying unduly about.
Hope you keep well, take care
Jock
 
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Hi. Hope you are keeping well in these difficult times?

The first pic you show is of the door check strap and is almost insignificant. I really wouldn't worry about it. A wee spray of lubricant or a smear of grease will be fine. The second pic is the strut top mount retaining plate. It's only job in life is to stop the strut dropping out of the wing when you jack the car up so the wheels leave the ground. (or, I suppose, if you are in the habit of doing frequent "Dukes of Hazard" type jumps over your nearest sleeping policeman?). Your's do look quite rusty but they are made of very thick metal and will have to corrode a lot before it causes any problems. You could try a rust converter and then paint them or just smear some grease on them. You can buy replacements quite cheaply from the likes of Shop4parts. They are only held on by that one nut in the middle so you could change them yourself as long as you didn't jack the car up with the nut removed! Again though, I wouldn't be loosing any sleep over them. (by the way the nut can sometimes be very difficult to remove with just basic tools)

What would be much more serious would be rust in the metal of the bodywork itself, particularly if it was around the strut top mount and I see no signs of that from your pictures. Having owned several MK1 Pandas and the problems they had with rust in the bodywork, I am very impressed indeed with the lack of rust evident in my newer 2010 model. Fiat have obviously upped their game considerably in this regard.

On our wee Fiats the rear axle is well known for rusting it's spring pans and my Panda has a certain amount of that. On any car it's the bits you can't see easily where the rust usually becomes a problem - for instance the inner sills, "chassis" box sections and suspension mounting points. You can get a look at this by jacking the car up but not, please, just supported on the cheap wee jack that comes in the boot with the car and is only really, just, suitable for changing a wheel. Putting it up on a ramp is probably best for getting a really good look.

So, from the pictures you've posted, I don't see anything to be worrying unduly about.
Hope you keep well, take care
Jock



Thanks jock
Hope your keeping well also!

I have ramps and I was under the car myself a few months back surprisingly the only rust I saw was my exhaust! My outer skin was all but gone! And has since been replaced

I wondered if there is anything I can “paint on” under the car as a prevention?

Especially before next winter!

I’ll [emoji817] get some grease on the previous mentioned parts and covers for those rusty mounts ... since a lot of us have more time on our hands at the mo I’ve been cleaning all the muck away from all the hidden areas under windscreen .. engine ... wheel arches!!

Keep well
Chrissie
 
I wondered if there is anything I can “paint on” under the car as a prevention?

Especially before next winter

There are quite a number of products - give it a google - The only one I've ever tried myself is Waxoyl which seemed to work quite well but oh my dear it's a messy process to try doing in your own driveway. If you do get a cheap ground sheet/tarpaulin and park the car on top because the mess is difficult to clean up later. The success of any treatment lies in large measure with the preparation, applying the product is actually the easy (relatively) bit. You need to get rid of all the dirt/mud/flaky rust/etc so it sticks properly. I don't like bituminous products -traditional "underseal" - as they tend to crack after a few years which then lets water get in between it and the metal and makes the rusting worse. Wax based products are better at this but tend to need a yearly check and touching up as they are softer.

I suppose it depends on your budget but Car Mechanics Magazine did a feature on these folk a while ago and if you have a good browse though their advert it will give you some idea of what it's all about:

https://www.rust.co.uk/product/cat/our-complete-rust-proofing-service-24.

At the end of the day my personal experience is that you can slow down rust but you'll never stop it completely so it's always a trade off against how much you want to spend and/or how precious the car is to you set against how much effort/money you want to sink into the project.

Perhaps worth considering also that when the time comes to weld in new metal my goodness it's much easier if there's no inflamable/meltable wax/underseal getting in the way (or dripping, red hot, down your chest/up your arms! I've got the scars to show for it!)
 
I am a fan of Mike Sanders grease, but it is a pain to apply. And it leaves drip marks every summer. But it's tested as one of the best rust preventions, even on existing rust. For areas where you can apply freely with a brush, e.g. Rear spring pans, very good. For cavities where you need to spray with a long tube, not so easy.
 
Mike Sanders needs to be heated in order to spray it. A pretty messy process and needs the right equipment. Not available in spray cans. That's why I said it is easy only where you can brush it on. It is pure grease as far as I understand, not wax based. The proposition is that it gets soft in summer and thus creeps into all crevices and re-seals them. That includes sealing all existing rust and stopping it from growing. Tests say it works very well. There's only one product that beats it regularly, that's timemax in Hamburg, but until recently their stuff was only available as a full service.

And I'm sure it starts dripping when welding around it. On the other hand, I had some welding done recently and did not receive any complaints.
 
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Have a look at ACF 50. Easy to apply although messy. No heating or fiddling about. Worth the effort. I've still to do my Coupe, getting under the car is challenging for me at the moment, ideally a four poster ramp or pit is the answer.
 
With the weather being perfect for getting under the car I’ve finally tackled my wheel arches!
It’s amazing how much muck gets trapped behind the wheel arch liners I dug out 2 dustpans worth on one arch alone
Grit salt & soil!!! All cleaned down dried and protected
Also gave me the chance to clean out the struts and check my springs & brake lines ect!
A very satisfying job!
 

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Have a look at Bilt Hambers Dynax range, all spray applied and very controllable application. I like their UC product for its clear nature so good for suspension components and visible painted areas. Their other products offer a lot more protection but are brown/black in colour, great for floor pans, sills, rear beam etc
 
Whilst not "really" necessary you're missing the tiny spring clip that goes on the strut where the brake pipe goes to 'prevent' it coming off/out, I used a cable tie when I lost one
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Good one John! You have just reminded me to pop a cable tie on that!! That’s the garage that lost that clip when they installed my previous strut!
No wonder I now do it myself it’s not the only thing they have “lost”
 
I like the red dampers. Not sure about the mint calipers, though, but that's probably Gucci related :chin:
Yes that was my first attempt at painting callipers on the car! I have now rebuilt another set a darker more “Gucci” green! As apparently this was an option originally from factory
 

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