Adrift

Hey Everyone,
winter's around the corner, and after getting my tires rotated I noticed quite a bit of surface rust on my suspension while the car was on the lift (2002 TL 3.2 Type S, 70,000km, Southwestern Ontario Car Its whole life). My guess is the suspension is especially vulnerable as salt from the road is kicked up from the tires onto it.

Now here's the question: It's just surface rust, so it's not big deal - yet. I want to keep this car for another 3-5 years minimum though, and therefore want to do whatever preventitive maintaince I can.

Should I start getting oil spray/undercoating done on a yearly basis? The car has never had any rust coating done before, aside from the fact that the steel is all galvanized/coated from the factory I assume. I was thinking of ZIEBART or something similar.

Thanks

fsttyms1

i wouldnt worry about it. And i woudl stay away from undercoatings and places like ziebart. They will often times make things worse(down the road)

Adrift

Out of curiosity, how do they make things worse? I know some will drill holes in the door sills for their oil spray, but you can just tell them not to and they won't.

fsttyms1

under coating will clog factory drain holes (yea they clame to clean them out, but they cant get tehm all) which traps moisture inside causing it to rot from the inside out. It also if chips allows moistre to sit and eat at the metal. ITs already coated from the factory. thats all you need

acutee

one suggetion I could give is to use grease, spread and rub on the springs. I have seen the dirty springs that has oil on it, it looks very dirty because it attracted dirt, but those springs don't get rusted because it repels water.

Tom Blasing

My car is WDP and I've noticed the black rust coating coming off the rear wheel wells (white paint showing through). Thinking about respraying them next time I rotate the tires.

Adrift

for me its mostly where the metal pieces of the suspension which are visibily rusting, as well as the exhaust (of course!)