Rust protection - is it needed?

[EastFreo]

Hi all

Just wondering how necessary some additional rust proofing is in Australia?

Hopefully getting my new Defender in Sept and doing a bit of research while I wait.

Found a great article about corrosion protection on defendernet but wanted to know if we needed to go such lengths here.

Also does anyone recommend any good products they have used.

[Didge]

Does a bear **** in the woods? Is the Pope a Catholic?
Absolutely - do as much as you can as soon as you can - they all rust from what I've seen!!

[BilboBoggles]

How long do you plan on keeping it? Whilst I think the newer defenders are a little better than the older ones. The newer PUMA's do have a few areas that rust can form over a few years. And some areas where you can get significant rust very quickly. If you get wet foot wells and water appears to be coming through the bukhead, then that is the one water leak that can cause a signficanf amount of rust quickly. There are areas around the windscreen and upper bulk head that are not really painted, and you can get surface rust there with just a small leak. (Probably take a few years to penetrate though.) Best is to try to get the leak fixed - often the fake hinges or door seals.

The rear cross member is another area to keep an eye on. The Defender chassis paint does not like exposure to sunlight. It will first turn a little chalky, then the paint will start bleeding surface rust through. After 4 years the rear cross member will be covered in surface rust, unless you've had this fixed under warranty. (All three of my new defenders had this covered under warranty).

There are many threads here on aulro on rustproofing - worth doing a casual flick through. My favourite at the moment is a very penetrating liquid rust proofer called INOX -3. It seeps in like crazy and seems to work very well on internal and sealed components.

Perhaps the best rust treatment is a carport and avoid the beach.

[EastFreo]

Definitely appreciate we are going to get rust here.

Just seems surprising to see so many posts about rust especially when we have had a large number of land rovers over the years which have been treated pretty badly on my parents farm and they have never suffered too badly. Admittedly the newest one would be circa 1995 so perhaps better rust protected out of the factory.

I started to wonder if it was more due to the salt on the roads in the UK.

[EastFreo]

Plan to keep it forever (my six year old already is claiming it for his first car)!

Would be a nice bookend to my father in laws 1948 series 1.

[AndyG]

I too get my Defender in Sept, looked hard at using Tecktyl 506, but due to logistics will prob get it done professionally. Hope to spend a lot of time on the beach.

And of course apart from the protection, a good clean every time.

[Jojo]

If you'd be living in the red center of your continent, you might get away without. Just... But living in Fremantle close to the coast you better get your truck protected straight away.
Even if your truck is treated, it needs to be looked after nevertheless, but the process of corrosion is slowed down drastically.

[alittlebitconcerned]

I have an 08 Puma that has never had rust protection. I have what appears to be surface rust under the paint on the rear cross member and have rusty water dump into the front passenger footwell when it rains.

Is there nothing that can be done to stop it or is it already too late for my car?

[EastFreo]

Can anyone recommend who to use professionally in Perth?

[phibbzy]

Anywhere water and mud can enter and sit like the rear cross member, the bulkhead and in between sandwiched metal is prime spots for rust.

I coated damn near everything fitting that description with fish oil thinned with a bit of diesel and applied with a paint sprayer with a hose on the end but since I do a bit of beach driving (many of the great tracks in Tassie are on the sea/beaches) its a constant job to clean the underside and remove/repair any rust.

[Greatsouthernland]

Apparently not for cars...just boats from what all the googling tells me.

[BilboBoggles]

I have an 08 Puma that has never had rust protection. I have what appears to be surface rust under the paint on the rear cross member and have rusty water dump into the front passenger footwell when it rains.

Is there nothing that can be done to stop it or is it already too late for my car?

No not too late. ALL defenders parked outside will have a rusty crossmember after about 5 years. But this is easy to fix with a bit of sanding, a primer and a coat of satin black.

The rusry water in the footwell is also a special PUMA feature. There are two parts to the fix.

a) The first thing is to stop or reduce the water leaking in. The bulkhead has lip at the top and is sealed to the windscreeen with a foam seal. IT's pretty much difficult for the water to leak in along the center as there is a locating flange behind the seal on the bulkhead, so most water leaks come in along the left and right side. Most likely is the Windscreen fake hinges, there is a really crappy gasket used to stop water getting in, and after a bit of flexing this leaks. It's difficult to remove without taking some paint off. But sealing this fake hinge is a good start, also seal under the bolt heads. The next likely place is foam seal itself , a bead of black silicon will seal this up pretty well. Finally you can also get water leaking in through the kink in the door seal. That will end up on the floor and in the lip under the dashboard causing the rusty water. A new genuine seal will help.

b) Once you have reduced the water getting in then you can look at rust proofing. I used a can of INOX-3 or Lanolin spray, and liberally coated the floor surfaces under the mats, and up under the dashboard. You can get some reasonable access by removing the fuse panels etc. The Inox will soak into every seam and is really quite good at stopping rust. I also sprayed into the bulk head through the various holes - such as the rubber covers for the LHD windscreen wipers, and by removing one hinge bolt at a time you can get most of the bulkhead.

After all of the above my MY09 no longer leaked bright red rusty water onto it's mats.

[Samblers]

A related aside...

My Puma doesn't leak water during rain into the footwells (LR fixed this under warranty) but i did do a muddy water crossing a few weeks ago (maybe 600-700mm deep) and got a good sudden gush of water into the passenger footwell.

Any idea where this would have breached and got in?

Like I said, it does NOT leak during rain. But where there's water, theres potentially rust...

[LR D4]

Can anyone recommend who to use professionally in Perth?I've used these guys..
http://www.google.com.au/url'sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.beamcarcare.com.au%2F&ei=bderU7TrEc-QuATehYCQBA&usg=AFQjCNGZiqnn2nWqD2rSzesN2XstZsQ_eQ&sig2=pCwW11tPSKtUirheWCo9Rg&bvm=bv.69837884,d.c2E


And can recommend them highly!

[BilboBoggles]

A related aside...

My Puma doesn't leak water during rain into the footwells (LR fixed this under warranty) but i did do a muddy water crossing a few weeks ago (maybe 600-700mm deep) and got a good sudden gush of water into the passenger footwell.

Any idea where this would have breached and got in?

Like I said, it does NOT leak during rain. But where there's water, theres potentially rust...

Most likely is the heater box, it's a plastic thing that does not seal particularly well against the bulkhead. Under warranty they can replace and by chance you might get a better one.

[isuzurover]

I spray my landies with lanotec or fish oil regularly.

Invest in an air compressor, a degreasing gun and a 4L tin of fish oil or lanotec.

[Samblers]

Most likely is the heater box, it's a plastic thing that does not seal particularly well against the bulkhead. Under warranty they can replace and by chance you might get a better one.

Is this an easily accessible thingo and can it be sealed up with sikaflex or something? I'm out of warranty

[banksdizzle]

I found tectyl 506 to be the best, it's about $16 a spray can from supercheap and 2 cans should easily do a landrover. It leaves a thick wax layer which dries hard and resists dirt and sand and hoses off clean. I tried fish oil and some other wax sprays bot most attracted dirt which wouldn't hose off easily. Sand the lighty rusted areas, paint with rust converter to neutralise, paint with chassis black paint;POR or black enamel paint then spray Tectyl 506 on top. We did this to my dad's chassis on his 98 defender 130 a year ago and it's still looks like a new. It was beginning to get surface rust all over the chassis and was looking pretty average . Just be sure to wear goggles, gloves and a filtered mask as the vapour from spraying was pretty strong and it irritates the eyes, aswell as leaving your hands waxy.

[AndyG]

Tecktyl 506 also comes in a 4l drum, Blackwood is one distributor

[rar110]

I stripped all the steel parts out of the tub when I rebuilt the 110. I brushed 506 on all the steel body parts like the capping & in between the steel body brackets and alloy skin. I also dipped the rivets in 506. I recently started using stuff called Corrosion Block in the doors and the firewall. It penetrates in between the door frames and alloy skin.

[micksta1973]

To protect inside the chassis rails, get a few cans of fish oil or lanolin, and a length of stiff small diameter sprinkler tubing. block one end of tubing and poke lots of small holes in the blocked end of tubing (length ways) for 5cm or so, poke down chassis rail, attach open end to can and squirt as you slowly pull the hose back out. I used 2 cans per rail. bit stinky for a while though.

[AndyG]

Fish oil, cats start chasing you car,
Lanolin, kiwis start chasing,.........:wasntme:

[ericvv]

Dn't you guys have Dinitrol down there?
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/06/76.jpg

[AndyG]

There is no right answer in this game
I was going to go down the Tecktyl 506 road, but given my skills, tools and time I will get a professional treatment all over, but$$'
Keeping it clean underneath is key
An annual touch up and repair for those knocks & scratches along the way.

Anything will be better than nothing!
And be paranoid about galvanic action

My armchair wisdom after reading many posts

[rar110]

Dn't you guys have Dinitrol down there?

It looks like a wax oil so similar to 506.

[isuzurover]

To protect inside the chassis rails, get a few cans of fish oil or lanolin, and a length of stiff small diameter sprinkler tubing. block one end of tubing and ***** lots of small holes in the blocked end of tubing (length ways) for 5cm or so, poke down chassis rail, attach open end to can and squirt as you slowly pull the hose back out. I used 2 cans per rail. bit stinky for a while though.

Most posts in this thread seem to be concentrating on treating the outside of the chassis.

IME chassis and door frames rust from the inside out.

The mount of sand and dirt that can get inside the chassis is surprising.

Treating the outside of the chassis is purely cosmetic in most of AU since we don't put salt on the roads.

[JDNSW]

Simplest solution is to move inland!

John

[ericvv]

It looks like a wax oil so similar to 506.



It really isn't. Waxoil is what it says, a mineral oil based product with the accompanying smell, Dinitrol is quite different from that, and in my opinion very superior. Here in Europe both waxoil and Dinitrol have their fans, but if you make an effort to do a little search on defender2.net, you will notice that Dinitrol generally comes up tops. And of course, a proper Dinitrol treatment includes application to each and every last corner of the inside of the chassis rails, not just the outside visible parts...
It can be done with cans or a compressor at home, but frankly, ideally you find a real good professional who has all the necessary equipment and who follows the Dinitrol guidelines by the book, and does not take any shortcuts. They are sometimes like a needle in a haystack, but thread 2 and 3 below will show you that they do still exist.
Here are a few defender2.net threads links which explain it all:
DEFENDER2.NET - View topic - Corrosion Prevention Guide! (http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic10467.html)
DEFENDER2.NET - View topic - Defender Hunter Edition (http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic19961.html?highlight=defender+hunter+dinitrol&start=30)
DEFENDER2.NET - View topic - DINITROL for BELGIANS recommendation (http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic13479.html?highlight=dinitrol+belgians)

[isuzurover]

... Waxoil is what it says, a mineral oil based product ...

So is dinitrol!

I recommend you try lanotec. Unlike Waxoyl and Dinitrol which are petrochemical/crude oil based, Lanotec products use lanolin (sheep/wool oil) as a base.

[rar110]

Most posts in this thread seem to be concentrating on treating the outside of the chassis. IME chassis and door frames rust from the inside out. The mount of sand and dirt that can get inside the chassis is surprising. Treating the outside of the chassis is purely cosmetic in most of AU since we don't put salt on the roads.

I previously thought so too and you might be right. My one detailed experience of a rusted Landy was that beach going v8 county I bought off you years ago for parts. The chassis was fairly rusted on the outside particularly in the rear cross member. I cut the rear cross member off to fit a replacement. Inside the coating was in tack. I was pleasantly surprised.

Every now and then a bit of paint comes off to reveal bits from the green machine. So it lives on in part. I originally painted the firewall green to match the colour too.