Rust Proofing

[BenC4S996-04]

I am new to the forum and have recently purchased my 2004 C4S Cab. I live in Canada and am considering driving the car in the winter. The many comments on driving a 911 in the winter were very helpful. My question relates to rust proofing - has anyone considered or found it necessary to rust proof the car?

[minny]

I live in Belfast, U.K where my '99 C2 is a daily driver. Although the winters here are not as severe as in Canada, the roads are gritted for about 3 months of the year. I applied Dinitrol to all the visible brake pipes, suspension bolts, nuts, suspension springs, mounts, jacking points and anything else that looked remotely rusty however slight e.g. after removing the front undertray the cross beams were slightly rusty. It takes about 2 hours to do the whole lot in the summer. Prior to applying the Dinitrol, I hose the under side and brush all the areas with a soft paint brush just to loosen any salt laden deposits. After all that I also remove the front bumper and clean all the detritus from the condensors and radiators.

Some may argue its overkill but I enjoy working on the car and with getting under the car you get to know it better and spot potential problems in the process e.g. weeping hoses, leaks. After all it is 2 hours outside in the good weather which can be rare here.

Edited April 12, 2010 by minny

[Gator]

Back in the seventies I lived about three years just north of Detroit where we sprayed all kinds of rubberized paint under our cars in a frutile effort to stop rust. Since then I have dreamed of having cars that don't rust.

This February, on my C2's 10th birthday which was also it's 100k milestone I decided to replace all fourteen or so coolant hoses. These hoses are all over the car! I also did some other maintenance such as install new tie rods, shocks, link rods, wheel bearings, flush the transmission, replace the differential seal, full brake job and brake fluid flush, full tune up, and replace a few leaking oil seals here and there.

In short, I had the entire bottom of my car apart from front, through the middle, and to the back. In addition to the above, I examined and cleaned everything, taking off the spoilers (bumpers), underside plastic, wheel-well liners. I don't think I encountered ANY rust where I thought I might. None. I did encounter lots of dirt but that cleaned right off.

I believe the only evidence of rust I found were on the muffler nuts and header bolts. And I think the (stock) headers have some surface rust on the connection plates, but only surface rust. Man, I was in heaven. (I was also enjoying my new car lift.)

While northern VA is not Detroit (though this winter brought back less-than-fond memories) I assure you our roads are tough on cars but I couldn't be happier than how my baby is holding up without any (additional) rust protection.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I don't think you need to coat your car with anything.

btw, I have it on my to-do list to find hardened stainless steel nuts and bolts for the header and muffler.

[scottiemac]

If I were you I'd stay away from any kind of rust proofing. The only ones I've found that works really well is the oil spray from Krown. I've used it on my truck and several (lesser) cars but would never put it on my Porsche. It does a great job but it makes such a mess. In Toronto you have lots of days that you can take the car to a coin car wash and clean out the wheel wells, etc. where the stuff collects. If you look under these cars they are pretty well protected with plastic panels and are easy to keep clean. FWIW.

Have fun.

[wvicary]

I wouldn't worry about rust proofing. We have a handle full of drivers that use their cars all year round here with no problems to date. They use massive amounts of salt on our roads in winter.

[BenC4S996-04]

These tips and comments are very helpful and are much appreciated!