Underbody rust proofing treatment

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

bostonmj

Active Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2010
Messages
189
Location
Gloucestershire
Car
SL350 but miss my SL500
Hi there,
Just got my (2003) R230 back from the MB maindealer after some substantial work. I recently bought the car and discovered that the front suspension struts, rear suspension arms and SBC pump all required changing. During the work the dealer discovered that nearly all of the bolts, nipples, joints etc were severely corroded and siezed the impact of which required some cutting and replacing of the SBC pipes and new bushes and finally, new callipers. Now MB were great and replaced the SBC Pump and callipers at their cost but when I picked the car up they told me that they think that car must have been sat on wet grass or been in a flood, Scary stuff!

Anyway, now I have her back I wondering about future rust proofing of the under body and all the new parts. In my younger days I played with the proper MGs and remember wax oiling - can anyone advise me of todays preventative measures and good practices for rust proofing.

Tks

Martyn
 
Martyn, BillyW124 has had is car Waxoyled and he has shown the process in the Members Gallery. Maybe worth dropping him a PM for details.
 
Waxoyl is great stuff for protection but if you have surface rust use a wire brush either manually or on a grinder (being careful with it of course), treat with Red lead or POR15 and coat liberally with WaxOyl.

I'll be doing the 210's wing edges come the spring after I dig all the crud out of the lip with a teaspoon or something.

I did the Range Rover tailgates (notorious rusters) and sills with Waxoyl when I bought the car and it lasted years.
 
Hi Martyn,

Waxoyl is a brilliant product. Before i did my coupe, i extensivley done some research on the topic. There are of course other products similar as members have mentioned

Visit the 'landy zone' forum and there will be a lot of material covering rust proofing. it gave me a basis on understanding the subject more.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4SNYK_en-GBGB406GB405&q=landy+zone+waxoyl&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

As my coupe is a keeper i thought it was the way forward to make sure the ingegral structure of the car was treated as i'm pouring a lot of money into the car to date and would be a waste if the basis of the car's structure of was a lemon!

For me luckily the underbody was in apperent good nick. There was of course the usual surface rust in places but nothing to worry about. i got this checked out via an independant first.

i would advise if your undercarriage has more than the usual surface rust i.e. signs of gaping holes or extensive corrosion you would have to get it treated first before you would waxoyl.

Not exactly sure how the R230 structure is built, but the 124's have subframe corrosion issues, again luckily mines was in good shape. It wasnt removed but there were two types of spray guns used. One for large areas and one for the places hard to get to which will spray it in a fine misty way.

The application guns are important as it will apply the product correctly. Forget about DIY with after market guns unless you want to get very messy. Do not apply with a brush either. You will defo miss places and you will end up applying it thicker in places.

When waxoyl is subject to heat, it will melt. (but not enough to drip providing its not too thick in those places) however If applied correctly the areas where exaust heat and general heat from the car is exposed will be ok. and you wont have a drive way of black sticky stuff. Once it cools it will harden again. But thats going to be normal. its wax after all.

I doubt your r230 will have extensive corrosion, however i could be wrong, and you mention what it could have been subject to in its past.:crazy:

What waxoyl does is it penetrates into the corrosion and stops it from spreading more basically kills it off, providing like mentioned its not really bad and Hasn't started to eat into the metal. Slight surface rust is ok. it has self healing properties too. So if stones etc get embedded into the product, if you flick it off its rubbery texture turns it back ito its former state.

Ive had mines done since october last year. I atually put the car on the ramp today funnily enough to see how it was looking and its perfect. looks very clean and tidy. its doing the job very well.

Considering the recent past weather with snow, heavey rain, salt and grit on motorway/urban journy's ive had since, having it protected gives me pece of mind everyime.

touch up is every 4-5 years, considering the £450 inc VAT i paid for a proffesional service its a good long term investment.

Treatment took around 5 hours and got the car back the same day. Make sure you choose a dry day. The last thing you want is a wet road on freshly applied waxoyl.

Although you can still drive after that, I didnt use my coupe for a 2 week period, as it wasnt completely dry. You can feel with your finger that it will be sticky. Waxoyl will always be slightly sticky because of the self healing properties, its never meant to go dry. why? because it will peel off in time if it ever did. You'l see what i mean once you apply yours. you'l know when its dry!:)

hope this helps you!

billyw124-albums-w124-waxoyl-d-picture3218-final-result-fully-protected.jpg
 
Olly or anyone else who has applied Dinitrol from the aerosol kits: How messy is the application, will I need to cover my driveway or will the excess wash off?
 
For the cost of all those aerosols you could buy a small compressor, a couple of gallons of fluid, an oiling gun and can.
You will need to cover the floor, but with a compressor the job is remarkably clean-ish.
What ever you do, don't be tempted to use a Waxoyl pump can system, it's next to useless...actually, make that useless, and makes loads of mess.
 
Too late Will. I've bought a Dinitrol aerosol kit. I'm now waiting for a dry w/e to get going. Or I may wait until Easter and do it at my parents who have a garage with inspection pit. But not sure my father will thank me if I leave the garage a sticky mess.
 
Wear a mask too otherwise you will be blowing out wax bogeys for a week.
 
The aerosols won't make much mess, just slit some bin liners open as sheets, then roll them up and bin them once done.

Give the under-body a good jetwash and clean a day or two before then jack up and support and remove the wheels and cover the brakes with poly bags.
 
Ian Walker did both my cars using Bilt-Hamber (Dynax S50, I think). I don't think he found it particularly pleasant to apply but I don't know what type of sprayer he used.
 
Thanks to all for your advice,

I dont have access to a hydraulic lift so the question is should I jack her up and struggle with it myself or pay about £3-400 and get someone to do it professionally for me? Probably go the pro option!

So, I'm look for someone who can do the work in the Gloucester/Cheltenham region?

Billy124 - your job looks great!
Rob77 - Should I know Ian Walker?
 
No way I'd spend any more than a few seconds under a car sitting on a jack. Get some ramps if you want to do it yourself or drive it up to Ian Walker's. I'm pretty sure he'd quote you a lot less than that.
 
Rob77 - Should I know Ian Walker?

Ian B Walker - he's a member on here and has an indy called 124Works in Kirkham near Preston.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom