Paint and Body Best way to rustproof my mustang during spring/summer?

dqureshi06 · Apr 3, 2024

I recently got a 1989 mustang that is a survivor and does not have any rust on the chassis or anywhere else. I live in Virginia and it isn't snowing anymore so the roads are clean of salt, but I'm still afraid of the car getting rusty. I don't have a garage for it; I will store it in a public garage once winter is approaching but its gonna be in the open while I'm driving it during spring/summer. Should I get it coated at a bodyshop? What are the best measures I can take to rustproof it?

limp · Apr 4, 2024

I would simply hose the underside of the car and the wheel wells down occasionally, especially if you drive in an area that had been recently salted or they used the saltine liquid...
We should BAN salting roads.... If you can't drive in the snow STAY HOME....

Bullitt347 · Apr 4, 2024

limp said:
We should BAN salting roads.... If you can't drive in the snow STAY HOME....

I agree wholeheartedly.
Salt is the worst thing for cars/trucks that you can do.
I would rather spend $1k+ every 3 years for studded snow tires rather than have to spend $20K+ minimum every 10 years to replace your rusted out vehicle.
Use sand, sure. but ditch the salt.
The worst part of my commute is when they salt the roads and the packed snow turns to slush and the vehicle hydroplanes on the slush at any speed over 30-35mph. I get a lot better traction on snow than you could possibly get on slush.

Bullitt347 · Apr 4, 2024

As far as "hosing off the vehicle occasionally" try doing that when it is below freezing all the time. Unless you have a heated shop or garage to do this, you end up freezing the doors/windows shut.
All of the hoses are brought in and the outside faucets are covered over to prevent freezing the pipes.

AeroCoupe · Apr 4, 2024

Another thing about salting the roads is they spend your tax dollars doing it and then want bonds to rebuild the roads that the salt tears up by leaching down into the asphalt and causing premature failure. Or they spend time and money to apply patches that fail on freeze thaw cycles.

I see this in Oklahoma and can only imagine the money spent up north.

Mustang5L5 · Apr 4, 2024

They threw down salt this AM. In the middle of a nor'easter as we speak. Nasty outside.

Now i gotta wait for this BS to get washed off the road.

I don't really have any sort of rustproofing plan for my cars other than don't drive in the salt. I don't drive my fox in the rain either. In 20+ years, no discernible increase in rust on the car.

Noobz347 · Apr 4, 2024

[No] Mustang question can be asked that hasn't been answered on Stangnet before!

LOL, Now THIS is rustproofing

Forget spraying rubber, it just falls off THIS is rustproofing, baby! (see attachment) I am one of those unfortunates with only one car so it gets driven on roads absolutely white with salt. There were salt _crystals_ on the bottom so I said ef this! I need to rustproof! I remembered how clean...

stangnet.com

Mustang5L5 · Apr 4, 2024

I was thinking about that thread!

limp · Apr 4, 2024

Bullitt347 said:
As far as "hosing off the vehicle occasionally" try doing that when it is below freezing all the time. Unless you have a heated shop or garage to do this, you end up freezing the doors/windows shut.
All of the hoses are brought in and the outside faucets are covered over to prevent freezing the pipes.

OK, I get it, but I took your comment as you don't drive your car in these conditions? Spring, summer type of driving only? I meant when you get your car out when the weather gets better, I would hose down the undercarriage a few times, concerned with the residual salt..
I live in Florida for he last 13+ years... I forgot about freezing water....

limp · Apr 4, 2024

AeroCoupe said:
Another thing about salting the roads is they spend your tax dollars doing it and then want bonds to rebuild the roads that the salt tears up by leaching down into the asphalt and causing premature failure. Or they spend time and money to apply patches that fail on freeze thaw cycles.

I see this in Oklahoma and can only imagine the money spent up north.

The last few years I lived in Oregon the ODOT had just hired some nim wit from the northeast to take over... He was talking about Salting the roads...
Why it pisses me off when States cannot hire LOCAL people and have to go out of state to hire.... Oregon did not want this nimrods experience from half a world away.....

limp · Apr 4, 2024

Had a friend take a pretty cool car to the Bonneville Salt flats races years ago.... AFter driving his car on the salt his car started to rust out in multiple places over the next few years... After cutting into the rear qtrs and doors there was probably two pounds of salt inside.... VERY bad news...

Bullitt347 · Apr 4, 2024

limp said:
OK, I get it, but I took your comment as you don't drive your car in these conditions? Spring, summer type of driving only? I meant when you get your car out when the weather gets better, I would hose down the undercarriage a few times, concerned with the residual salt..
I live in Florida for he last 13+ years... I forgot about freezing water....

Yes, I don't, at least not the Mustang. Once spring has sprung and a few rain showers have taken place, there is no "residual salt". I have been in Maine right at 6 years now, and the underside of the Mustang still looks like new. It even has the original paint.
Now the 2016 Focus on the other hand, it is starting to have the paint lift off the rear wheel wells. I give it a very thorough pressure washing come spring time, but it can not off set 5+ months of salted roads.
It is a shame really.
When I showed up in this State with my 2001 SuperDuty, and the frame still looked like new, everyone was blown away. There just are not vehicles that old and still rust free, outside of some hotrods/streetrods/musclecars that never get driven in the late fall/winter/early spring.
I got premium $ for my 08' Bullitt Edition Mustang because it was so clean and rust free. I easily got $4K more for it here than what I was offered in the Seattle area. I was asking $10K for it and the best offer was $8K. Sold it here for $12K within a week of listing it. Some guy from New Hampshire drove up and bought it. Kinda still wish I had it.

fun331 · Apr 6, 2024

@dqureshi06 I drove my '87 LX this past winter and I had it sprayed by a company called Krown.

Krown Rust Control

This is Krown Rust Control

www.krown.com

I think there is a Rust Check company as well but they don't have a shop near me. The biggest thing is to find a company that drills holes (they're about 1/4 inch diameter) into critical spots, like the door bottoms and the doglegs inside the doors. That way they get the wand into hard to reach spots. Most places can spray the bottom of your car but the drilled holes make a big difference. My '87 just got done this year since it's new to me, my '89 gets a spray every 5-6 years as it sees no snow. My '07 Civic gets a spray every year since I bought it new in '07 and it's my daily driver since Oct of '07. Except for a few rock chips it's rust free; original fuel and brake lines. I live in Nova Scotia so I see some snow; although it's not as much as when I grew up. The Civics that are the same age as mine and haven't been sprayed are rusting out just ahead of the rear tire where I live now, but not mine.

Now @limp and @Bullitt347 I'm in favor of salting roads; and here's why. I you don't salt and just sand the plows just don't get all the snow off the road and it turns to ice from being driven over. They sand over that and it's relatively grippy, but you're still driving on ice underneath and if you have to stop fast it's nowhere as good as a salted bare road. Also the ice buildup gets beat up and washboarded by the plows so it's like a gravel road in bad spots. I live near a mountain with a big steel bridge on the other side of it; you'd never get up either one of them without road salt.

Bullitt347 · Apr 6, 2024

I would much rather drive on Ice with studded snow tires than put up with salt.
If you drive for the conditions the road is in, I see little problem with not using salt.
Unfortunately, most people can not be bothered to drive properly, if at all.
You would think natives of Maine, who have lived here their entire life would know how to drive in this stuff.
Same with Seattle and rain. The way people drive in the rain would make you think they had never seen it before.

limp · Apr 6, 2024

Bullitt347 said:
I would much rather drive on Ice with studded snow tires than put up with salt.
If you drive for the conditions the road is in, I see little problem with not using salt.
Unfortunately, most people can not be bothered to drive properly, it at all.
You would think natives of Maine, who have lived here their entire life would know how to drive in this stuff.
Same with Seattle and rain. The way people drive in the rain would make you think they had never seen it before.

I think you need to make sure they are Natives.. I watched the Takeover of Bend OR starting in the late 80's... Town went from 12,000 to over 200,000 by mostly Californians.... The first snow every year was hilarious watching people who shouldn't drive in the dry, drive in the snow......

Mustang5L5 · Apr 6, 2024

Problem here in MA is that it’s warm enough that the snowbanks on the side of the road melt in the daytime, wash sand off, and then freeze at night. So it’s not uncommon to have nightly frozen roads. Any snow on the road gets plowed and then quickly melts. All you are left with is the snowbanks that melt and create puddles/rivers.

Really the only way to keep it from freezing is salt. Unfortunately they just throw so much of it down.

It would be better off if it stayed snow and just sand was tossed down, but the reality for us is we deal more with ice. I’ve had a few early AM pucker moments this year when driving down a neighborhood road, coming to a turn and seeing a sheet of ice at the apex.

We’ve had to deal with more freezing rain that anything this year. Just had a storm this week and roads have salt on them, so the mustangs stay in the garage until the next heavy rain washes that junk off.

Even today, it’s been drizzling since AM washing salt off, and now it’s 34 degrees out and dropping. Just a little bit more and it’s slip and slide time and they send the salt trucks out.

Next week 60s, so hopefully the end of this for a while

Paint and Body Best way to rustproof my mustang during spring/summer?

dqureshi06

Member

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

Bullitt347

I have been doing it wrong this whole time

Bullitt347

I have been doing it wrong this whole time

AeroCoupe

lube between the nut and the face. I know my lubes

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

Noobz347

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

LOL, Now THIS is rustproofing

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

Bullitt347

I have been doing it wrong this whole time

fun331

Krown Rust Control

Bullitt347

I have been doing it wrong this whole time

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

Similar threads

Paint and Body Best way to rustproof my mustang during spring/summer?

Member

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

I have been doing it wrong this whole time

I have been doing it wrong this whole time

lube between the nut and the face. I know my lubes

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

I have been doing it wrong this whole time

I have been doing it wrong this whole time

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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