Electric rust prevention?
 

Howdy. Through my years of poking around car message boards, I've heard of people mention some time of electro-anti-rust device. Something about putting an electrical charge through the body, I think, which will supposedly prevent rust from occuring.

My little brother (14) just got a Reatta for himself. Its been in a fender bender, but we've got some time to work on it before he can drive it (at least by himself). It's a one-owner from New Jersey, and he drove it in winter, but the body and underside has only a tiny bit of negligible rust. It's going to be driven in winter, though stored inside and washed often, but we've got salt which like to eat up nice cars. We'd like to do something.

I'm aware of other methods of preventing rust, and yes, I know it can't be stopped, but certainly it can be slowed down. Do these electro-things work? They don't seem very expensive, and I read somewhere that the same thing is used on ocean going ships.

Below is a JC Whitney link to such a device

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...Group?Ntt=rust

Thank you.

Holy shit!!

Before I explain why I had that outburst, I'll say that I never heard of those things until I bought my Sebring last year. The delaership had that device as an option, and they gave me the brochure on it. I was skeptical that it really worked. But I said "holy shit" because it was an $800 option!!!!!! JC Whitney sells it for $100.00. WTF!

Anyway, a guy at the dealership said it works from experience. And mine also had a lifetime warranty, so if I did ever get rust it would be fixed at no cost. I figured it wasn't too bad of a deal if that were the case.

I did however raise a stink about the price, and he ended up giving it to me for free (he really just lowered my interest rate so it would lower my total price by $800.)

I still don't know how common they are or if they do infact really work, but for $100, it may be a decent buy. :? I've heard that even if you have a little rust, even if you didn't see it, but you had it, this device would slow it down. Whether it's true, I don't know. It does explain how it works, and it sounds relatively legit. :?

I guess the best way to test that would be to place 2 pieces of steel outside. One with the device one without. if their is moisture in the air they should rust up fairly quick so test results wouldn't take too long.

i have heard that they dont work and are more of a scame then anything... something about the car having to be grounded the the earth for it to work and rubber tire are a BAD ground ;)

I have the brochure right here, and it does say that "many years ago engineers developed a complex corrosion protection to prolong the life of metals for ocean going vessels." It goes on, "this modern technology now has a wide variety of applications from bridges to atomic power plants." This tiny box isn't the exact same device that is used on ships. But it's the same technology, which they say is "relatively simple, yet effective." I'm sure it works better on ships and bridges than it does on cars...but what do I know? lol

I still can't believe they sold this for $800!

A friend of mine has a GA GT I think it is an 02. He has some kind of device similar to that. He claims that it does work. He can park his car for the entire winter and there wont even be any surface rust on his rotors. I let my car sit for a few days on the weekend and by Monday morning I can hear the rust on the rotors.

I have wanted to get one, but never got around to it.

Keep in mind that you'll need to replace the anodes periodically and I didn't see replacements for sale there. For marine use they are Zinc, not sure in this case.

Two words: Cathodic Protection. They used to install zincs on ships, especially in vicinity of propellers to inhibit corrosion. The zincs are a mechanical sysytem, and become the sacrificial component & rust away leaving the steel hull relatively corrosion free. Now, modern ships to include submersible ships (submarines) have integrated systems called Impressed Current Cathodic Protection. Anodes generate current flow & return path is through the propulsion shafts. The JC Whitney device employs basically the same technology on a much smaller scale & is not milspec naturally. I believe that device from JC Whitney is legit & will help reduce the effects of corrosion.

so that mean no more replacing anodes?

To be honest on this, I really haven't noticed a lot of Bonneville's with rust issues. Is it really worth it? Or will this actually help keep the rust off the under-carriage as well (for the 'salted' regions)..?