Dear scotty
I Live in the upper peninsula Michigan. You probably know one of our worse problems is all the rust we get from salty roads. I have a 1974 vw beetle I bought in California and drove back to Michigan, I use it for spring and summer and it goes in the garage for winter. I usually have a beater with a heater for winter, When my rust bucket ford truck transmission went out, i found a mint condition 96 Lincoln town car for $2,300 dollars. It was from Arkansas and totally rust free. This car is so nice , I took it to canada and had it krown rust preventive done. But that was 3 years ago and the border has been closed for the covid. My question is: Can I spray used oil on the underneath as a way to keep the rust down? or is there something better? I really love this car and would like to keep it for a long time thanks in advance
steve
No, used oil doesn't work. It's better to use product designed for it. I'm sure there is a shop near you who can apply Krown or Fluid Film or whatever you like.
I use Fluid Film on my winter-driven vehicles and it does a good job of retarding rust. (Nothing stops rust but this stuff does slow it down considerably.) I spray it on underneath using a paint sprayer each fall.
Used oil will work decently well. A heavy oil like gear oil that doesn't flow well will tend to stay in place, in crevices and such,, keeping it there. The oil keeps water, oxygen and salt off the steel of the car, which prevents rusting.
If you can before it gets cold, paint any bare steel and use an angle grinder with a wire brush to remove any surface rust, prime and paint it. Putting the oil mist on top of the paint will make it much more difficult for rust to start, since the chemicals need to penetrate the oil and then the paint to get to metal.
