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Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - JohnX
Just ended up buying a 10 year old Mazda 3MPS car which is brilliant with 70,000 miles on the clock however the undersurface of the car has some significant rust patches.
Phoned a rustproofing outfit who advises that it would cost about £600 for the work!
Do people know of any other more cost effective alternatives?

Location no bar although I am located in the south east near London.

Or is it simply a matter of scraping the rust away then coating it with any rust proofing material.

Any idea which material works best for this??


Thanks
John
Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - Metropolis.
I recommend Southwest Rust Proofing, a bit of a trek from London but they did my Land Rover for just over £500 including vat and a ‘free’ courtesy car for the week. Dropped off on a Saturday morning and collected the following Saturday morning. They are also honest enough to tell you when it’s too late and if it needs welding they will do it as part of the process. Great husband/wife team. I think the price has increased marginally but should be reasonable for a small Mazda!

www.southwestrustproofing.co.uk/
Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - Andrew-T

My instinct is that rust which has developed on a 10-year-old car is unlikely to be cured completely enough to be worth 'rustproofing'. If it isn't serious enough to cause comment at an MoT the car would seem to be resisting it pretty well. By all means try to ameliorate it, but I wouldn't fork out £600 on it.

Proper rust protection is best done on fairly new vehicles. Also it may be better to keep the rust visible, rather than cover it up where it may be continuing.

Edited by Andrew-T on 17/06/2020 at 23:12

Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - edlithgow

I've had good results with sunflower oil and abrading with aluminium.

Of course no one believes this.

Can't help that.

Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - Falkirk Bairn

A TV car programme - maybe 2+ years ago.

A late 1980s Honda was rust proofed for £700 - it's not just the bits you see but the bits you don't.

Inside box sections, inside doors, double skinned - it was a thorough job.

The car looked immaculate when worked (mechanical sprucing up - brakes, suspension etc) but this was to ensure longevity. It was some £7K to buy and they got £11K re-selling it 3 weeks alter.

It was a ""Fast Honda" not 2 words that you see in the same sentence today (NSX excepted)

Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - gordonbennet

If you don't mind getting a bit mucky, invest in some ramps and axle stands so you can get the vehicle high enough to work under safely, with the emphasis on safe.

I suspect the rust isn't too bad in the main bodyshell, it's probably poorly or unpainted suspension parts and subframes that are worse for wear.

I'd buy a 4 litre bottle of ACF50 or a 5 litre can of chain lube, chain lube half the price of ACF50, then wire brush and sandpaper off whatever rust you can get too and spray your chosen product over the affected areas...put down a large polythene sheet under the whole car and let it sit for a day to drip after the job is done, you can spray inside the box sections door skins sills and from the inside of the boot and wheelarches the hidden water traps.

CastrolCL greas is waterproof that would make a reslilent covering painted onto subframes and easy to access suspensio parts.

Try and cover the brake discs as best you can and buy a can of brake cleaner to get any overspray off the discs, try also to avoid the exhaust, you can help the exhaust by painting with good quality zinc.

I suggest the above products because they will seep into the rust not just cover it which is what most of the wax finishes do, such wax finishes look better when done but they don't eat into the rust like a wet oil based product, in fcat they peel as the rust reforms trapping salty water inside after a couple of years, back to square one only worse.

You'll do the whole job better than the pros for about £100 tops plus the cost of 2 ramps and two axle stands and a hefty trolley jack to lift the car onto those stands, say £250 all in and you've got the jack, stands, ramps for ever.

I've had a pick up professionally proofed, only the one time because i learned i can and do a better job myself for about 1/4 the cost, every years i just pop under a do a quick top up spray to replenish whats washed off.

Good overalls, hat goggles mask, its a filthy job but worth doing.

PS, i could lend you two Spaniels and a Hungarian Vizsla, they'll help, er ish, tail wagging helps spread the muck about no end :-)

Edited by gordonbennet on 18/06/2020 at 20:53

Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - Metropolis.
All good advice GB, although the Dinitrol I recommended above is solvent based. Best practice is to use black bags and masking tape on key components.

I considered buying a Dinitrol kit but lack of driveway stopped me. Otherwise I might have tried to copy this process, copied and pasted from their website. Whether it’s worthwhile doing it yourself depends on premises, whether you have any tools at all, and the confidence to know what you are doing and in removing all the silly plastic trim (and get it back on again!). If starting from scratch it can get expensive buying tools, equipment and material costs for a one time job

After this the vehicle is left to dry. Compressed air is used to force air out of any cavities which may be harbouring hidden water. We have a special high volume fan which is used to speed up the drying process.

Next, loose surface rust is removed with a combination of abrasive wheels or hand tools and a strong degreaser.

Red – Very poor condition. 5+ hours preparation required. Heavy surface rust.

Amber – OK condition. 3 – 5 preparation required. Moderate surface rust.

Green – Good condition. 1 – 3 hours preparation required. Minor surface rust.

The vehicle is fully masked up for spraying to prevent any over spray reaching the paint work. This also includes the suspension, drive train, exhaust, heat shields and any other items underneath such as off-road protection parts like steering guards.

Dinitrol RC800 or Dinitrol RC900 is applied at this stage to any areas which are actively corroded. This goes some way to reverting the damaged metal back to good strong metal. This product takes 24 hours to fully cure.

The next stage is internal chassis protection or sill protection if your vehicle is of unibody design. Dinitrol ML is an oil based produced and is applied to the inside of the chassis using a 360 degree lance. This is left to dry before the next stage is started. It is also applied to the inside of the doors, bonnet, body frame and the bulkhead of Land Rovers.

The main component of the Dinitrol family of products is then applied. The Dinitrol 4941 is then applied over all surfaces to be protected.
On some high impact areas, a high strength Dinitrol 445 or 447 application is applied to protect against for example stone impact in wheel arches.

The bulk of the protection is now complete. This is left to dry before a final check of the application and the vehicle is reassembled.





Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - Metropolis.
Meant to also say in my ridiculously long previous post, rust proofing is all about prep prep prep! And do it after a prolonged dry spell is best.
Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - JohnX
That’s detailed stuff Metropolis.
Worth trying to do it myself instead of spending 500 quid on someone else doing it!
Thanks

Edited by JohnX on 20/06/2020 at 23:40

Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - JohnX
Hmm that’s a thought and I looked at the prices of all the equipment that you mentioned and altogether not more than £200 from Halforgards
Never used a car ramp so have a mild thought that the vehicle might come crashing down onto me! But that’s probably because as an office worker I have never worked on my own car!

Any precautions one would take with car ramps?
Think I should give it a go.

Thanks for the details gordonbennet

Edited by JohnX on 20/06/2020 at 23:39

Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - catsdad

I have used car ramps in the past and the first thing you need to check is that any ramp you buy or rent will suit your car. My old angle iron set will not fit under the front skirt//bumper of most modern cars. You need to get ones that will fit. I guess you could remove the front skirt but you would need to check that it still gives you enough clearance on the remaining bodywork.

The other issue is safety. Don’t use them on a slope. Get someone to watch both wheels from outside as you mount them to ensure they don’t slide out of alignment and that you stop the car when fully on the top of the ramps and without going too far.

The main issue I used to have was the ramps sliding away as you try to mount them. My ramps are open framed and I loop a long strip of old carpet around the lowest strut and drive along that to approach the ramps which then could not move. You will need to work out what works for your particular ramps to avoid slippage. If in any doubt, don’t take any risks.

Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - bathtub tom

My old angle iron set will not fit under the front skirt//bumper

I use a couple of planks to reduce the initial slope.

Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - Big John

I myself have some wooden railway sleepers that I put under each wheel, after jacking each corner up. I don't trust working under a car just sitting on axle stands - If there are any forward/backwards/sideways pressures they can topple over. Many moons ago I helped save someone who was changing the clutch on a Chevette where it had done just that at the point he was writhing the gearbox off the engine - It's amazing how much you can lift in heat of such and emergency! Ramps can be Ok but it can be difficult to get the car on, they can slip forward whilst trying to drive on an it's a steep slope so if your clutch is not in its first flush of youth you may finish it off!

I used to like ACF50 but I've found it does wash off after a while. I'm a fan of Dinitrol products (chassis, sills, door/boot/boot bottoms etc)but use Owatrol oil on seams, axles, suspension parts, rusting sumps . It looks like engine oil when going on but sort of sets to a clear satin/varnish type finish. It's fantastic stuff on other things - eg a garden ornament that my wife got as a present which looked awful with rust after it's first night in the elements, a quick wipe down with Owatrol sorted it and it's been fine for years since. It's also worked a treat with my garden gate!

Edited by Big John on 21/06/2020 at 10:01

Mazda 3 MPS - Car Rustproofing?worth it for £600? - gordonbennet

As Catsdad mentions you need care choosing and using ramps, but its not rocket science.

The issues will be approach angle and the ramps slipping away from you on the hard concrete ground.

You want reasonably high ramps, and with as long an approach ramp as you can find, there might be issues with the approach angle where you find your front skirt (rears seldom a problem) hits the ramp before the wheels start to ride up, you can alleviate this somewhat by making up a secondary ramp which then lays on the middle of the ramp so you are driving up the second stage a couple of feet before the steel ramp itself.

Re BT's plankss :-) If you have a welder friend he could make a permanent hinged section out of steel that folds away when not in use, but scaffold board thickness planks would do fine too, you could screw a couple of peices of angle steel onto one end of the board so they slot safely into the ramp and won't slip, i probably haven't explained that very well but hopefuly you get the gist..

As said laying an old rug or rubber pad under the ramps should stop them sliding out as you drive up, generally they only slip as you first touch them, again the gentler the ramp slope the better, i never have this issue by the way but my cars are high off the ground and the ramps very large and long, circa 5ft long.

Once safely on the tyre cut out on the top of the ramp, and the ramps are acceptable quality, then no issues going underneath, depending on what your situation at home is you could lay scaffold boards on the ground so the set of wheels not on the ramps are that board (or two) thickness off the ground as well, and all still solid and safe to work under, you'll work out whats best for you after a bit of expereimentation.

First time using ramps can be a bit scary, set the ramps in front of the front wheels and butted up to them, roll down the window and look at the wheel and ramp in question (note this will not work with Audi TT's, you can't get your head out enough to see the wheel) it won't take much torque initially but will increase as you get higher, then be ready to cut the power just as you go over onto the flat....this is exactly how car transporter drivers do their job...reversing the back wheels up is just the same method but make sure the front skirt won't foul the ground as the rear rises..

If i was 30 years younger i'd buy a scissor frame lifter, but we're talking serious money here.

edit, Big John, never heard of owatrol oil before, thanks for that tip.

Edited by gordonbennet on 21/06/2020 at 11:01