Whats best to prevent rust/protect chassis

Im heading off to live in the alps for 6 months through the ski season and taking my disco with me. At the moment the chassis has a bit of surface rust, dont think anything major but could anyone recommend a product which i could use to treat the chassis/protect from the salt from the roads. I asked a garage for a chassis treatment job, but they wanted over £250, bit steep i thought as i could probably do most of it myself.

If anyone has a procedure or product, i would be greatful to know.

I guess its just wirebrush off, clean up etc then apply something?

robpenrose said:

Im heading off to live in the alps for 6 months through the ski season and taking my disco with me. At the moment the chassis has a bit of surface rust, dont think anything major but could anyone recommend a product which i could use to treat the chassis/protect from the salt from the roads. I asked a garage for a chassis treatment job, but they wanted over £250, bit steep i thought as i could probably do most of it myself.

If anyone has a procedure or product, i would be greatful to know.

I guess its just wirebrush off, clean up etc then apply something?

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Hi Rob, I would use a combo of 2 coats of Hammerite (after you've cleaned the surfaces) and then Waxoyl. Inject this into the chassis and body cavities (steady there!!!! ) and spray all over underneath and that'll protect it.

Cheers and good luck

Dave

Ps Where abouts in the Alps? Val D'Isère perhaps?

this topic was done to death not so long ago - hammerite is far to brittle for use on a chassis, it will start cracking and flaking off within a few months of normal use taking the waxoyl with it

Sean said:

this topic was done to death not so long ago - hammerite is far to brittle for use on a chassis, it will start cracking and flaking off within a few months of normal use taking the waxoyl with it

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It hasn't on my cars, as far as I can tell.

Dave

I've recently treated my 95 disco. I throughrally pressure washed underneath, got a tin of waxoyl for £20 and sprayed until the can ran out.
I used a mates compressor but you can buy a pressure sprayer from halfords. I'm not saying that is the best way but from the people that i've spoken to it is very effective and of course, cheap!

cant fault wax oil it is the easyest and less hastle than painting it

is there anything to paint on or is the only way to spray?

You may be able to brush waxoyl on, i'm not sure. But spraying is probably the easier and more effective option. The waxoyl spray adapter thing is about £12 i think

cool, thanks. Any idea how many bottles it would use??

one 5ltr can should be more that enough

90boy said:

one 5ltr can should be more that enough

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What, for inside & out? You can get thru' 10L easy.

ok thanks, i will investigate

I've just done an oil change on mine and sprayed the old oil on it...

messy as hell, but I got me money's worth out of the oil..!!!

Old engine oil is the business! Anyone who is old enough to have grown up on a string of crapulous BMC Minis will tell you that they never rotted at the front because the oil leaked out of the seals (and anywhere else on an A-series) onto the driveshafts and was flicked all over the front subframe and floopan. It was the rear one where the old didn't reach that rotted out.

Waxoyl does have the advantage of stopping existing rust, though. Make sure you've cleaned everything off really - and I mean really - thoroughly, under there and that it's properly dry before you start to apply it. I don't think you need any paint - just the Waxoyl. Use the black rather than the clear and you'll be able to see where you've gone more easily and also if it wears off you can see where and touch it up. You can use a brush but it's much better to spray it on so it gets into the crevices properly. If you drive a lot on gravel roads or in thick mud it will get abraded off the more exposed areas and need touching up from time to time - keep a small pot with you and use a brush for touch-ups. Front mudflaps are probably a good idea to help reduce this, if you haven't got them fitted already (they also help stop snow build-up under the car, which is useful if you're going to be in the Alps all winter). Hope you have a great time - I'm deeply envious!

brilliant mate, thanks for that. Great info

I've just done the underside of my TD5 with waste engine oil and white spirit mixed 50:50. I used a compressor and spray gun.

Bloody hell! What a seriously crap job!

The compressor is great though. Having the car up on a lift would make it a million times easier. I'm using ramps and crawling about underneath which definitely isn't ideal.

Once the white spirit evaporates I'll be waxoyling over the engine oil.

I've still to do the chassis insides and hard to reach areas with the extension probe attachment.

To prep, I used a small & large wire brush and a screw driver which got pretty much all of the loose rust off.

I'm looking forward to getting this finished before the salt is on the roads again.

Cheers

Andy

I'm taking a leaf outa Seans book and gonna spray me old oil on every change!

I got a compressor... What sort of spray gun head did you use Andy?

****ty job but worth it I reckon

battenberg said:

I'm taking a leaf outa Seans book and gonna spray me old oil on every change!

I got a compressor... What sort of spray gun head did you use Andy?

****ty job but worth it I reckon

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I got a gun out of my motor factors that has a screw top to take a 1 litre shutzh canister. Waxoyl comes in this size, but would really need thinned out to spray. The gun was about 15 quid and is a standard underseal gun. I think the fittings are standard.

The gun also has an extension hose for cavities. I have a Stanley hobby compressor that has a few fittings. and I was able to get this to fit my gun.

To dispense the oil, I got a 2 litre plastic milk carton with a screw lid. I mixed about 1 litre engine oil with 1 litre white spirit. I then put a hole in the lid and jammed the rod thingy of the gun down into the milk jug. This worked a treat.

You'd defo need goggles, a hat, and a mask if you are getting under the car. There is a hell of a lot of suspended mix in the air while spraying.

It's a complety ****e job but satisfying in a way. You can really see the oil/white spirit mix soaking into the rusty chassis.

When I was prepping mine I had loads of surface rust which was coming off in layers in places. I think I just caught mine in time. I did a decent job on the prep though and I feel that I will be doing a better job than if I had paid some throughother so and so, £300 to just do a clumsy coat of waxoyl.

I have read loads of posts on this and decided that engine oil/white spirit then waxoyl was the way to go for me.

Hopefully the stuff that I plastered the exhaust with will burn off ok tomorrow

Cheers

Andy

ahh... i got a shutz gun, but used a garden sprayer instead, warmed the oil and cut it about 20% with diesel.

Did mine over a tarp on the drive then moved it over to the grass to 'Drip Dry!'

... my grass'll grow back!!!

Hopefully???

Waxyol works, Although my disco was undersealed, I went out and got 10 aerosol cans of Waxyol from Halfords to do the chassis, floor, wheel arches and most of the other things underneath eleven years ago
All I do now I now is top up areas where the stuff has washed off with a single can every year.

Sill no rust anywhere underneath the disco other than the tin bits that the mud flaps fit to.

I did the same thing with my old RRC, I sold that with a clean chassis albeit with a covering of waxoyl.