Metro death

[Will]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

If they structurally fail, they are weak.

I see your point, but I really do not think the Metro was engineered to survive 10-20 years on the road. I think they were meant to be like the Road Runner was to the muscle cars, or the way the F-Bodies have always been... Disposable.

I love my Metro and would not trade it for a new Prius, except to sell it and buy MORE Metros, but I think the fact is that Metros were not engineered to be the most durable cars in the world.

I think the rust problems are less a flaw and more a result of building the cheapest, most FE car on the road (at the time).

[SuperTrooper]

Reminds me of that classic WWII cartoon.

[some_other_dave]

Originally Posted by orange4boy

Anyone know if those electronic rust inhibitors actually work?

Found this site which claims it does not.

If your car were submerged in an electrolyte (e.g., salt water) they might work. Maybe. But chunks of sacrificial zinc would work better.

Your car shouldn't be submerged. If it isn't, there's no way those electronic gizmos can work.

IMHO.

-soD

[chuckm]

One product that would probably do very well is found here: Plasti Dip – Protective Rubber Coating Products – Plasti Dip International. I've used this stuff to coat tool handles and it is pretty tough, handling abuse quite well.

[Ford Man]

Under coating is an inexpensive solution to rust problems. The last two vehicles I bought new were under coated before they came home with me and the '88 Escort was undercoated when I bought it.

[bikin' Ed]

The only problems with any coating mentioned are:

The coating is only as good as the installer.
--Some minimum wage guy won't be too worried about the quality on your vehicle.
--If the coating is compromised, it begins to form an additional place for water and crud to collect.

[Frank Lee]

My experiences with undercoating are that most of it is complete crap. I paid extra to have my '94 undercoated when new... washed it religiously... and it is now a rotted out POS. Back in the '80's my dad had his new VW undercoated... same thing, it rotted out too.

However, not all undercoating is useless. My '59 Chev has lots of heavy black tar on it, from the factory I believe, and that seems to have done the trick.

[roflwaffle]

The problem with the rubberized stuff is that in wet enough climates the water just gets underneath it. One of the best (cheapest) ways to keep rust at bay I've heard of, if it works, is to spray used motoroil/ATF mixed w/ really fine sawdust onto the at risk areas.