General Waxoly - Rear axle

Currently reading:
General Waxoly - Rear axle

Cameron1590

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Messages
146
Points
68
Hi All,

Well I had a look under my panda yesterday and can see the rear axle is starting to rust on the suspension cups. I know this is a common area for them to fail with the cups eventually snapping off.

I was thinking of attacking it with a wire brush and some waxoly to protect it, would this work/be the best plan of attack? I have seen a product called krust, would it be worth painting some of this on first?

Thanks
 
Hi All,

Well I had a look under my panda yesterday and can see the rear axle is starting to rust on the suspension cups. I know this is a common area for them to fail with the cups eventually snapping off.

I was thinking of attacking it with a wire brush and some waxoly to protect it, would this work/be the best plan of attack? I have seen a product called krust, would it be worth painting some of this on first?

Thanks

I saw a photo this week of someone whose did snap off, perhaps you did too and that got you thinking?

There's always a risk that by going near it with a wire brush, you expose it to even more moisture and the rust process gets worse than it would have been had you left it alone. Especially as its a difficult shape, complete coverage with Waxoyl and Kurust might be hard to achieve.
 
My suggestion will be one of many, because we all have differing views on this weakness. The worst thing you can do is to do nothing.

I have cleaned off the surface rust and 'flaking', then sprayed the whole axle beam and associated surfaces with a 50/50 mix of Waxoyle and engine oil. The trick with this treatment is to do it once every year, preferably early Autumn just before the rain, slush, snow and salt-gritting.

About to get under today for an inspection, and maybe a spray session, but I am confident that all will be well.

Another advantage of my method is that I feel bound to do it every year. If I had painted the axle beam with Kurust, Hammerite or any other 'once-only' treatment, it would probably never get inspected again.

Peace of mind is a great confidence builder!
 
I wire-brushed mine, painted with Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 (which deals with the rust), and then top-coated with a Hammerite/Waxoyl mix. In the actual suspension cups themselves, I have also sprayed plenty of Bilt Hamber Dynax UC wax (making sure the drain holes remain clear).
 
Job now done!

I raised the car, and applied my 50/50 mix as stated. I'm fortunate to have a good workshop with compressor and the right gun, so the job itself took about ten minutes.

It is possible to Waxoyle the rear beam without even raising the car, as the axle is very close to the rear bodywork and the car is fairly high off the ground. If you choose to paint it instead, this requires a lot more work.

The rest of the underside, including the sump, got a good spray while I was at it.

Will do it again in a year's time!
 
When I get my next car (Panda Pop/Easy I hope), one of the first things I'll be doing it supplementing the undercoat with the type of procedures you talk of.

Is it expensive to get the spray gun?

And with a brand new / delivery miles car is it clean enough to simply add on top of the factory sealing without having to risk scratching it down first? :)
 
Is it expensive to get the spray gun?

You can buy Waxoyle in aerosol containers, so if you use Waxoyle by itself you won't need the equipment I use.

Or if you use old engine oil regularly, as I used to do, you can use a simple hand-held weed sprayer that you pump to get the pressure.
 
Must have been the photo of the broken one that made everyone check...I too am currently in the process of protecting it. There was some patches if surface rust. So similar to a previous post, washed it down, sanded the rusty bits, applied sonax rust treatment, two coats of hammerite and then bilthamber UB (it is a bit more robust than UC). It takes time though especially as I am using a jack and have to wait for the paints etc to go 'off' before the next coat. Gives me chance to clean he wheels and check the other stuff - like finding my faulty shock rubber.
 
Bumbles rear axle and inside rear wheel arches and sump got treated to 3 coats of hamerite through the spray gun. It was just some surface rust.
 
Guys, I would love to do the Waxoyl as I know my Panda's underneath is in good shape and mechanically clean right now but I'm being told by people that it'd be almost impossible to get the cars underside 'clean enough' to effectively apply the Waxoyl and rust treatments..

P.s. also have a relative with a 1990 Ford Orion, crumbling bodywork ... but he has coated its underside in used engine oil for YEARS, bit of a mess, but it's never needed structural welding and its 26 years old!!! I'm guessing he just coated this on top of whatever grime was hanging to the floorpan..

Don't want to make the car worse by trying all this and failing hence why I need your thoughts on this.. OP what did you do?
 
Check out bilthamber. Wash down as good as you can, get there surfex degreaser and a brush and work it in. Then wash it all off. Repeat if necessary. When dry I do a final wipe with surfex on a cloth. Then just spray on. They come in cans and if you put the nozzle in white spirit after it does not clog. I used the UB which is a dark brown and is a self healing coating which always feels slightly rubbery. Three light coats leaving each coat to dry. Job done.
 
I never got waxoyl as it said it was for internal use only, i.e inside doors and box section so I used plenty of hamerite. Red oxide is another option with hamerite as a top coat then a yearly dose of old engine oil as a precaution. In this day an age we shouldn't have to be doing this to cars imo.
 
The beauty of used engine oil is that it seeps through the surface layer of crud and gets to the metal underneath.

Do it once a year before the 'salting season' and you won't need to go through all the hassle of drying off, rubbing down, priming and painting with any other product. A good spray of old oil coats the brake lines and other underbody parts also.

Eco friendly too - re-use of a waste product!
 
The beauty of used engine oil is that it seeps through the surface layer of crud and gets to the metal underneath.

Do it once a year before the 'salting season' and you won't need to go through all the hassle of drying off, rubbing down, priming and painting with any other product. A good spray of old oil coats the brake lines and other underbody parts also.

Eco friendly too - re-use of a waste product!

That's what I'll be doing then, end of the month when I change my oil I'll be putting it into containers and painting under my car with it using an old paint brush! Seem like a good idea?
 
Had a look at mine tonight, doesn't look the best have attached a few photos.

Car is a 1.3 multi jet dynamic 2006 61K on the clock.

Would be interesting to see how other people's are bearing up and also if people think mine is looking somewhat poorly! IMG_1470681048.028013.jpgIMG_1470681058.828816.jpgIMG_1470681067.895493.jpg
 
Mines the same car with 89k and was in a similar condition. If you go down the engine oil route, put it in a weed sprayer or even water it down with a bit of diesel and put it in an empty kitchen cleaner bottle.
Check your sump aswell as they can rust.
 
But let´s imagine that is to late to save your rear axle... :eek:

Does anyone know if a standard 500 rear axle would be suitable to the 100 HP panda?
 
Im new to the forum, looking for a Panda and found this page.

I've had a great deal of good luck with plain ordinary chain saw oil. It goes sticky over time but eventually sets like soft varnish. The best bit is how it soaks into bare metal. It really does protect extremely well. It can even be cleaned off with something like Gunk or Jizer and the metal still hardly rusts.

Wire brush back to bare metal and spray the stuff on thinned with white spirit. Don't do it on your favourite block paved driveway. ;)

It sets over (a long) time and becomes a booger to remove so watch for overspray.

For ultimate protection get the axle hot dipped galvanised as they do with Land Rover chassis.

ACF-50 is another great anti rust coating. Its microns think but soaks into bare metal. Excess runs off so don't over load it.
 
I found myself a nice 07 Panda but totally forgot to check the rear axle. Its at least as rusty as the OP's with the shock absorber brackets especially gnarly.

I should have looked more closely but its not a disaster.

It likely needs new brackets for the shock absorber brackets but apart from time to clean it up could be very low costs job. To do the job in comfort remove the axle and work on the garage floor. It's held by 6 bolts and the brake hose.

The worst option is leaving it to rot.
 
Back
Top