Does anyone have any thoughts on the value of rustproofing? I just traded a 2011 for a 2014 GC and I am considering having it treated with the Krown spray which costs $129 CAD and must be re-applied annually to maintain its warranty. My last GC had four applications. I have a track record of only keeping a vehicle until it's warranty (100,000 km) runs out but being a senior I am starting to think about keeping vehicles longer. The dealer's rustproofing is much too expensive for a one-time application.
I live in a City which lays out tons of road salt as soon as frost appears.
If you're asking for opinions, here's mine. Rustproofing is a waste of money. Keep your vehicle clean, especially the undercarriage, and save your money. I'm sure others will disagree with me, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
If you do get rust proofing purchase it for its sound deadening qualities not its ability to stop rust. Truthfully, when was the last time you saw rust on a vehicle that anybody reasonably took care of?
I don't give much value to rust proofing........as someone else said, if you take care of the vehicle I doubt it's going to be an issue. I'd rather spend that annual fee on either a detailer if you aren't into doing it yourself or some quality sealants or detailers.
Appreciate everyone's opinion. Had my last Jeep sprayed four times and I feel that I threw money away as it was in near showroom condition when I traded.
Find a brushless touchless car wash with an undercarriage spray option. Had several cars in Illinois (another 'salty' state) and never had a problem with rust.
If I drove it in the snow or slush, I would run it through the car wash every couple of weeks. Cheap insurance and keeps the car looking nice as well!
Other than salt season, I always hand washed the car.
I used to undercoat all of my Jeeps up until the last couple I had. For the most part it's a waste of money.
Never had undercoating on my 02 and it went through 12 winters worth of road salt. Never made any effort to spray off the underside other than to run it through puddles. It remained remarkably clean and rust free.
The only place I could seriously recommend rustproofing would be inside the doors. A lot of crap drains down inside there. Even though there are drain holes in the bottom, a lot of road salt collects in there and eventually it starts rusting from the inside out along the bottom seams.
Modern vehicles such as JGC are fully dipped now days so aftermarket rust proofing are of limited value
Remember even id the vehicle has been dripped, rust may occur where you chit off that level of protection
So touch up rust application is good as on going maintainence.
From my family's experience living in the snow belt in Ohio and rust proofing cars, it actually tends to do the opposite. After 8+ years you end up with bad rust because the rust proofing ends up trapping moisture against the metal which eventually turns into rust and progress quickly to rotting out panels. My family used to get the rust proofing reapplied every year but it can never completely seal everything so it doesn't work. It tends to hide what is really going on underneath.
My family has not used rustproofing since our 99 GC and our vehicles have lasted a lot longer without rust. My family tries to keeps each vehicle for 15 to 20+ years so we have seen the difference.
With the way the manufacturers treat the bodies at the factory with anti-corrosion dips and such, you are better off relying on that and keeping the underside clean. As others have said, periodic car washes with chassis baths during salt season and then an extra good cleaning after salt season goes a long way.
From my family's experience living in the snow belt in Ohio and rust proofing cars, it actually tends to do the opposite. After 8+ years you end up with bad rust because the rust proofing ends up trapping moisture against the metal which eventually turns into rust and progress quickly to rotting out panels. My family used to get the rust proofing reapplied every year but it can never completely seal everything so it doesn't work. It tends to hide what is really going on underneath.
My family has not used rustproofing since our 99 GC and our vehicles have lasted a lot longer without rust. My family tries to keeps each vehicle for 15 to 20+ years so we have seen the difference.
With the way the manufacturers treat the bodies at the factory with anti-corrosion dips and such, you are better off relying on that and keeping the underside clean. As others have said, periodic car washes with chassis baths during salt season and then an extra good cleaning after salt season goes a long way.
I'm not familiar with the type of rustproofing that needs to be reapplied every year. To me, that sounds like a wax based product. I'd have to question how effective that type really is.
The stuff I had applied to my vehicles was a black, tar-like petroleum based product... kind of like what Ziebart used in the 80-90's. There were 2 kinds of this type of rustproofing... one that dried like paint and the other that stayed tar-like and tacky. I used the one that dried. The only way that stuff would trap moisture against metal was if someone was stupid enough to apply it when the vehicle was wet.
That stuff wasn't cheap to have professionally applied... it was in the range of $500 back then. It stood up perfectly to anything thrown up underneath the vehicle. Never had any problems with rust starting anywhere.
Rustproofing is only as good as the guy who's applying it. Anyone can run a spraygun. It takes attention to detail to ensure that all the seams, nooks and crannies are covered properly.
Like I said several posts back, I haven't had rustproofing applied to my last couple of vehicles and the only place I would recommend it on a new vehicle today would be inside the doors because that's not an area that you can easily get into to clean.
My 02 went through 12 winters worth of road salt. The underside stayed remarkably rust free but I started having trouble with rust breaking out along the bottom seams of both rear doors... from the inside out.
Here for $32.00 a month you can get unlimited car washes so in winter I try to go every day to keep the salt off. First nice day of spring where I can hand wash I spray the underside down.
I live right next to the ocean I just buy electronic rust proofing for my car , the initial cost to buying and fitting it is about $400 but I can take it off and put it on the next car I buy it comes with a 10 yr warranty and I already put it on my new car which is the SRT . I like it and the tech sounds solid to me
Electronic rustproofing??? What's that. How do you/they apply it? How do you take it off one vehicle and re-apply it to another? I notice your in Australia but here in the states electronic rustproofing is unheard of. At least I've never heard of it and I purchased four cars in the last four years for myself and family members. No one ever tried to sell me electronic rustproofing.
It's where they attach an electronic box to your car and it's power source comes from the battery and they connect random wires to the body of your car inside your engine bay and it shoots electronic current around your whole car including every joint on your car . I can't explain the tech side of it very well but I have been using on my cars for about 10yrs and no rust ?
Here some links you can read there's plenty on google and I'm sure you can get anywhere in the world ..
Wow looks like I should have done me homework after reading the bottom 2 links , hmm will have to investigate now lol , but I've been using this on my cars for 10 yrs and no probs that I have seen ,interesting . Well there's plenty of info on google but I see it's been banned in the USA ..
I see you're located in Ottawa (I'm in Toronto) and I know Ottawa gets hit with some nasty winter storms and if Ottawa is just like Toronto, they throw down salt and dirt everywhere!
I use krown but I don't go every year (it's just a waste of money to do it every year). I do it every other year. The salt will just eat and corrode away at the vehicle if you don't keep it clean. I like the krown to ease my mind and help prevent the corroding. If you're like me and drive in the salt filled streets in the winter then park it in a warmer spot like your home garage and work underground garage, this makes it the perfect combo (from cold to warm environments) for the salt to eat away.
Like everyone else says, keep the Jeep clean (I go to drive-thru "no touch" car washes with the under body blast) every 3-4 days to keep the salt off. But as you know that can get pricey doing it all the time considering the car washes cost $10-$15 unless you get Petro Canada's Car wash season pass. This is why I get the added security of getting my Jeep Krown'd every other year.
In the spring make sure you give it a good clean. What I like to do in the spring is stick my sprinkler under my vehicles and leave it there for a good 5-10 minutes to give it a good rinse.
I used Krown on my last GC which was applied every year for the four years that I kept it before trading for my current one. I think the only reason I had it applied every year was to maintain their price guarantee and warranty. I checked and their current cost of application for a full size SUV is $129.95. It was $124.94 when I had the first application on my 2011 in October 2010. I don't know how long I will keep my 2014 as I am a senior and am cautious of buying green bananas and long playing records but an application every two years makes a lot of sense because the cost increase is negligible and I have never heard of anyone collecting on a Krown warranty.
No wonder I've never heard of electronic rustproofing. We'll it was interesting reading.
I understand the theory behind the process but if it really worked North America would have rustproofing shops everywhere.
I was once told by Toyota that by doing an aftermarket rustproofing it voids Toyota's rustproof manufacture's warranty and now covered by the aftermarket company.
That's what I've done the last few vehicles I've had & it's worked out quite well.
Corrosion Free is similar to Krown & RustCheck, but doesn't drip all over the place.
I've used both Krown & RustCheck in the past & both worked well but left me with a big mess in my driveway.
I agree with those posting that vehicles nowadays are much more rust resistant. My DIY of the Corrosion Free is just a bit extra protection.
I spray the door hinges, door lips where it's bent under the door frame, & same lip type areas where body panels bend & meet others like under the hood & truck. I also spray the trailer hitch as it'll rust in a month if not treated.
Interesting. I would be more concerned with the rocker panels, quarter panels over the wheel wells and the lift-gate corroding. I don't think an aerosol product from Crappy Tire would go the trick, but I am open to trying anything - thanks.
Interesting. I would be more concerned with the rocker panels, quarter panels over the wheel wells and the lift-gate corroding. I don't think an aerosol product from Crappy Tire would go the trick, but I am open to trying anything - thanks.
I did the liftgate & wheel well areas as well. Best with the wheel wells to take the wheels off so you can better see what you're doing.
I took the short cut of that & just stuck the can into the wheel well area & sprayed, then spread it around afterwards with a sponge.
The rockers I didn't do.....no way to get them without drilling a hole like RustCheck, Krown & Corrosion Free dealers do.
If you don't want to do the DIY route, Corrosion Free has dealers all over the country. There are 4 in Ottawa including two Canadian Tire locations ( I wouldn't recommend Crappy Tire though).