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Don't know if you've owned e.g. a 1980s Toyota Corolla in an environment that's always-wet, always-salted for six months a year like Western Norway. The differ
by marvin 4y ago
Don't know if you've owned e.g. a 1980s Toyota Corolla in an environment that's always-wet, always-salted for six months a year like Western Norway.
The difference to modern cars is night and day: The Corolla rusts to death in five years, as in you can stick your whole arm through the holes in the wheel well if the structural integrity of the chassis doesn't fail first. Whereas most cars produced after 1990 will last about two decades without owner rustproofing.
You obviously can't dictate that all redox reactions will halt, but the manufacturers have absolutely done something that makes their cars rust slower.
The "end-user rustproofing" we do here generally consists of spraying some super-heavy, super-sticky oil-based coating onto the metal so it doesn't get wet. But this obviously complicates other maintenance.
- sidewndr46 4y agoIf the manufacturer or the customer applies a thick heavy undercoating I think it can make a big difference. It's robust enough to resist the abrasive nature of the salt, at least for a while. The thing is I don't think manufacturer's like adding products like that as it messes with the fuel economy results. It's actually quite heavy, despite being just a "coating"
- carlmr 4y ago>If the manufacturer or the customer applies a thick heavy undercoating I think it can make a big difference. IIRC most manufacturers, at least in Europe, at some point started zinc galvanization, this prevents most rust from forming: https://www.fj.co/blog/land-cruiser-chassis-galvanized/ https://www.fj.co/blog/land-cruiser-chassis-galvanized/
- sidewndr46 4y agoThe link you provided seems to be a niche company that specializes in reconditioning existing vehicles. Not a manufacturer of new vehicles.
- carlmr 4y agoIt had some cool pictures of the process, that's why I linked it. In any case, most of what I find is in German. Like here it states that premium manufacturers started using zinc galvanization in the 80s: https://www.seat.de/service-zubehoer/technik-lexikon/k/karosserieverzinkung.html https://www.seat.de/service-zubehoer/technik-lexikon/k/karos.... It also says it protects from rust despite abrasion.