The body of any car sooner or later begins to rust, regardless of the year of manufacture, make, model and price category. The main reason for the beginning of any rust is the destruction and/or degradation of the paint coating. That is why every motorist must pay at least minimal attention to his “swallow” if he does not want to spend money on the expensive elimination of corrosion.
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Why and where does the car rust? How dangerous corrosion is.
Of course, the risks of corrosion occurrence and development is actually influenced by many reasons. Here you have the quality of body materials, galvanizing technology, paint quality, regularity of washing, road reagents, mechanical damages of paintwork and many other things. However, all the possible causes, in the end, one way or another, come down to the regularity of car and body care quality.
Alas, rust is dangerous not only because it spoils the car appearance. Sooner or later different power elements in the car will inevitably start to rust, for example sills or bases of roof props. Due to heavy rust, the handling of the vehicle may deteriorate, and yawing, knocking, vibration and other unpleasant phenomena may appear. Finally, all corrosion increases the risk of accidents, and exacerbates the severity of the consequences of the latter. In any car, such elements as hood, fenders, sills, lower parts of doors suffer most of all. Less evident, but not less widespread sources of problems are traditionally: joints of glass and body, places of welding, body struts, trunk lid, door hinges, places of bumper mounting and of course the whole lower part of a car suffers. This includes the underbody, intake system components, and suspension parts.
What is the best way to fight rust?
The best rust is the one that never started. First and foremost, the car should be properly taken care of. And not just once a week or a month, but all the time. Clean the car from any contaminants, including fluff, sand, leaves. Pay special attention to the debris getting into the drain holes. By the way, study the design of your car according to the diagram. Many drain holes are not obvious to the driver. Be sure to wash your car from time to time.
Vulnerable areas of the lower body – sills, hood, fenders – are recommended to be protected with a suitable antigravium, a special rubber-polymer composition, sprayed on the outer surface. Regularly do anti-corrosion treatment of the underbody. If there is a chip on the paintwork, be sure to seal the damaged area with car plasticine or at least with engine oil, after pre-cleaning and drying. Don’t forget that such measures are a short-term solution to the problem.
If the rust has already taken root and its layer exceeds 0.1 mm, then one converter is not enough. You have to use the “classic” scheme of cleaning with grinding the problem area, followed by priming and re-painting. Sanding is done with a suitable metal brush and sandpaper, in the most extreme cases will have to use a grinder. Before applying primer and filler the cleaned area should be washed, dried and degreased with a solvent. After re-painting, it is not superfluous to also apply a colorless varnish.