Electronic rustproofing for your car!
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DrPizza
Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
I'll check out the site now... However, there is such a thing as a sacrificial anode. Simple wiki article: here
I skimmed through that site... got to the bottom: patent for both device and process, and figured that in all likelihood, it will have minimal impact. Corrosive processes are quite well understood in chemistry; I have my doubts about some new unique method to prevent it.
I skimmed through that site... got to the bottom: patent for both device and process, and figured that in all likelihood, it will have minimal impact. Corrosive processes are quite well understood in chemistry; I have my doubts about some new unique method to prevent it.
Didn't even bother to read it. If you are really interested google it and see if there are any reponses. Most likely garbage.
I used to install these things doing new car prep at a chevy dealer. That was 7 years ago... It was generally agreeed that it was BS.
I have seen 2 cars that had an older version of this type setup.
It seemed to work on both of them.
JCWhitney sold it 30 years ago. Still does.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Prod...1/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=corrosion
MovingTarget
Diamond Member
- Jun 22, 2003
- 9,002
- 115
- 106
Honestly, if I knew where to get one I'd just do it the old fasion way. I have a (semi)new coat of paint on my car, but if I really wanted to rustproof it I would just install a few sacrificial anodes at certain points along the frame/body of the car. I'm just not sure how to go about that or where to get them. I believe that blocs of Zinc are commonly installed along oil pipelines in a similar way. My 87 caprice is pretty free from rust at the moment, but I fear that if I do end up moving to a more northern climate (i.e. away from Alabama), then I may have some trouble with them salting the roads. Corrosion/rust can dramatically shorten the life of a vehicle...
I think it's supposed to be some form of active cathodic protection system.
Cathodic protection is part of the reason that galvanising is so effective, but the concept of CP can be extended to using a power source to provide energy (instead of sacrificing a different metal). Active protection is commonly used on industrial pipelines and tanks.
The problem is that active CP requires an electrode that can connect to the metal being protected via the water that triggers the corrosion. So, a pipe in the ground that can be corroded by moisture in the ground, is easily protected by putting some electrodes nearby so that they complete the circuit through the ground.
However, quite how you could arrange for such a circuit in a car is beyond me.
Cathodic protection is part of the reason that galvanising is so effective, but the concept of CP can be extended to using a power source to provide energy (instead of sacrificing a different metal). Active protection is commonly used on industrial pipelines and tanks.
The problem is that active CP requires an electrode that can connect to the metal being protected via the water that triggers the corrosion. So, a pipe in the ground that can be corroded by moisture in the ground, is easily protected by putting some electrodes nearby so that they complete the circuit through the ground.
However, quite how you could arrange for such a circuit in a car is beyond me.
While I can't tell you whether this specific system will work, cathodic protection does work on vehicles, actually much better than BS undercoating systems like Rusty Jones, etc. All those are is a thick coating of crap on the metal, which eventually deteriorates, and becomes just that much more useless dead weight on your car, giving you worse gas mileage!
When I lived on Guam (a Pacific island........talk about a salty environment, imagine having salt on the road 365 days out of the year!!), I met a guy that had a 6 year old Camaro. Over on Guam, vehicles routinely rot out from corrosion much as they do up north, where you're dealing with salt on the roads in the winter. This guy's Camaro was cherry, and looked like it had just come off the showroom floor. I asked him how old it was, and was shocked when he told me it was 6 years old, and that the paint on it was factory!
I asked him how he kept it from rusting out, and he popped the hood, and showed me the active cathodic protection he had on it. He told me that he had that installed when he bought the car, and credited it with his lack of body rust. It does run off the battery, and works by putting two electrodes on the vehicle (one on the body, one on the frame). Basically what it does is put a charge on the vehicle (can't remember if it's positive or negative, too many decades since I took chemistry!) that's the same as the charge on a free oxygen ion. By doing so, it keeps the oxygen from combining with the iron in the vehicle's steel, much the same as two similar poles on a magnet will repel each other. If the oxygen can't combine with the iron, you can't produce iron oxide.......or, red rust, which is what happens when your vehicle corrodes.
While this method is effective, it's only so to a degree. Even with active cathodic protection, you're still going to see some corrosion, just at a much lower rate than without that protection. It does take a trickle discharge off the battery, so make certain you've got a good quality battery. And it wouldn't be a bad idea, if you live up north, to combine this with a good underbody cleaning at least once a month during the winter, if you have the ability to do so. No reason to keep that salt, which increases the rusting rate, on the vehicle any longer than you need to, right?
Hopefully this answers your question, OP.
When I lived on Guam (a Pacific island........talk about a salty environment, imagine having salt on the road 365 days out of the year!!), I met a guy that had a 6 year old Camaro. Over on Guam, vehicles routinely rot out from corrosion much as they do up north, where you're dealing with salt on the roads in the winter. This guy's Camaro was cherry, and looked like it had just come off the showroom floor. I asked him how old it was, and was shocked when he told me it was 6 years old, and that the paint on it was factory!
I asked him how he kept it from rusting out, and he popped the hood, and showed me the active cathodic protection he had on it. He told me that he had that installed when he bought the car, and credited it with his lack of body rust. It does run off the battery, and works by putting two electrodes on the vehicle (one on the body, one on the frame). Basically what it does is put a charge on the vehicle (can't remember if it's positive or negative, too many decades since I took chemistry!) that's the same as the charge on a free oxygen ion. By doing so, it keeps the oxygen from combining with the iron in the vehicle's steel, much the same as two similar poles on a magnet will repel each other. If the oxygen can't combine with the iron, you can't produce iron oxide.......or, red rust, which is what happens when your vehicle corrodes.
While this method is effective, it's only so to a degree. Even with active cathodic protection, you're still going to see some corrosion, just at a much lower rate than without that protection. It does take a trickle discharge off the battery, so make certain you've got a good quality battery. And it wouldn't be a bad idea, if you live up north, to combine this with a good underbody cleaning at least once a month during the winter, if you have the ability to do so. No reason to keep that salt, which increases the rusting rate, on the vehicle any longer than you need to, right?
Hopefully this answers your question, OP.
sygyzy
Lifer
- Oct 21, 2000
- 14,001
- 4
- 76
I love how you write with such authority on any scientific topic. I don't mean that sarcastically, I think it's cool. And you do it without being requested either. The way you start off is best, "I'll check out the site now .." like you're the resident science guru. Like Batman saying "Holdup at First National? I'm on my way!" Even though I have seen it in dozen of other threads, I totally forget about it and then your post shows up and I start chuckling. Thanks Dr. Pizza!
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