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Quality of application matters. Posted by Snowmobile [Email] (#686) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Snowmobile) on Sat, 10 Jun 2017 04:56:09 In Reply to: Re: Ziebart of old maybe your experience tho real is not typical, neil dale [Profile/Gallery] , Fri, 9 Jun 2017 13:02:59 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
The level of attention to detail by the person who applies the product probably matters more than the specific brand of product used in terms of the end result of avoiding rust.
For all products, they must be applied *everywhere* which includes inside all body cavities with drilling, plugging etc (so the car is no longer exactly as it came from the factory if that matters to you), and the application must be done with care. It also needs to be done immediately from new, and reapplied following the company schedule, and reapplied whenever there is a stone chip, collision, etc.
Due to the rigorous nature of this, and our extremely harsh salt/snow/slush climate 6 months of the year, daily driven cars rarely are actually 100% rust free up here even when treated with quality products. However it does make a difference and is worth doing. More people in the North East USA should rustproof their vehicles in some way, as it does lengthen the useful service life.
Ziebart is an American company based out of Michigan, so it is not surprising that it is popular in those areas. They also have a significant presence throughout Canada but are not as dominant in the market as other brands.
Rust Check and Krown are Canadian companies that have a limited amount of market penetration in the northern US, but are probably not well known south of the border compared to up here.
You will notice all have lifetime warranties if applied per schedule from brand new. Don't rustproof for the warranty - it is irrelevant, and pretty much worthless... but the results are worth it.
That said, we now live in an economic climate dominated by leasing and short term ownership, and those buyers are not interested in paying extra money to make their cars last longer (especially if it might leave mess anywhere), so many cars up here are not rust proofed at all in the first 4 years. That is enough time for rust to start at a micro level (or macro level in Mazda 3). That is probably why you are seeing rust on cars from Canada.
Un-rustproofed, some cars hold up better than others. Eg Mazda 3 Veloster, and Rio seem to be horrible up here (visible external rust forming within a year in cases I've seen). Others use much more galvinization (eg Audi) so the paint usually peels before the bodywork rusts. Others use excellent paints (eg c900) with highly tenacious primers which protect very well while intact. But how long does paint stay perfectly intact? Not long if you drive on any gravel roads!
Basically, there is no panacea. Rust proofing of whatever sort helps. Quality paint helps. Vehicle maintenance (detailing, washing, etc) helps. Not driving in winter helps. But really, the only way to keep a car rust free in Canada is to only drive it on sunny dry summer days and keep it locked up in a climate controlled environment the rest of the time. There are rust free Ferraris here. You won't see a lot of SAABs treated like that though! There are a few summer only cars from new, usually verts. That is why a mint SPG is more valuable than a mint vert! Most of the SPGs got exposed to winter and got used up, whereas numerous verts were bought new as garage queens.
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