Anyone has rust prevention, what kind

[DriveGreen]

Our "i" is only three weeks in our garage and I already installed "sun shades" (tinting) for the summer - hoping we will have one. However, even though we do not plan to drive this car between Xmas and the end of March, I wonder if some sort of rust proofing would be a good idea. After the past winter salt was used on our roads from November on.

 

[siai47]

Search the forum for posts about "corrosion". I think you will find a few recommendations. Basically, IMO, rustproofing would not help the I-MiEV very much as there are so many areas that couldn't be protected that really need it. I feel strongly that the I-MiEV needs to be flushed underneath from time to time during the winter with soap and water to help get trapped dirt and salt from all the nooks and crannies under the car. At the end of the winter season, the underbody shields need to be removed and all the components need to be cleaned and should be sprayed with some type of salt removal product like Saltaway (which is a marine engine flushing solution). I think this is critical if you want your car to last for many years. BTW--if you do go for rustproofing, at a minimum, make sure you remove all the plastic shields ie. battery, front suspension, and all four wheel wells. I would go one step further and remove the rear bumper cover (possibly the front also) so the supports could be coated. Another hard to reach area is the rocker panels that are covered with a plastic trim part that runs the length of the car. Try to get some rustproofing behind the trim but don't try to remove it as the fasteners and double back tape aren't what you would consider "re-usable". Of course, I'm a nut job that actually waxed the suspension components on his car (they look good shiny )

 

[DriveGreen]

Good points. Thanks.

 

[psyflyjohn]

Ah yes, I recall living in the midwest were our cars were good for about 4 years before they turned to rust. If I still lived there, with the Miev, I would call Mr. Zbart for a corrosion spray job. Wonder if they still use that stuff there....

 

[Llecentaur]

Aiming to keep the car for a long time I used Waxoyl below and in for panels. Usually cars treated with Waxoyl simply never rust. I say that because once I treated a fiat uno then saw it like 15 years later with not even one trace of rust !