It’s no secret that the older a car gets, the more rust it will have. But a new study shows that the severity of corrosion can be controlled by applying regular rust protection to a vehicle, especially if applied early in a car’s life.
The University of Windsor engineering faculty compared vehicles protected with Krown rust protection to unprotected vehicles.
They found a statistically significant increase in the amount of rust on unprotected vehicles that were between seven and 15 years old. The study concluded that unprotected vehicles had 6.8 times more visible corrosion on body panels than protected vehicles.
On underbody parts subjected to greater exposure of dirt, gravel, water and chemicals, unprotected cars had 3.6 times more corrosion than those that benefited from rust protection.
“Considering that the average age of a car in North America is 11 years old, our rust protection treatments have the potential to improve and extend the experience and utility you derive from your vehicle,” says Craig Shuttleworth, marketing director at Krown. “What’s even more important is to start the rust protection program early because you don’t want to give rust a head start. It can be years before corrosion becomes visible, but by then it could be too late.”
While the study didn’t find any difference in visible rust between newer treated and untreated cars, other research shows that rust first appears on the inside of body panels and at spot welds where moisture can collect and not drain, often taking years before it appears on the surface as paint blisters or perforations, which in turn can peel off – NC