Posted on: May 15, 2015 by Adam
We at Commercial Oil are proud to bring some of the best quality oil-based rust protection available anywhere in the world to our customers and distributors in our Dripless Amber and Dripless Black undercoating. That said, we love to explore the science of rust protection and have been of the opinion that hard OEM coatings should be used only with regular inspection and maintenance, and that electronic rust protection is mostly useless in automobiles.
Now we’ve seen quantitative and anecdotal evidence to support the science of how electronic rust protection works. Bridges, storage tanks and ships have seen major improvements in maintenance with this style of protection. The problem is that when we apply this to automobiles, we don’t have a ground connection that allows the electrons to flow. The scientific consensus seems to agree that there is no known mechanism for electronic rust protection in automobiles. Of course will continue to monitor the science, as there are dissenters who strongly advocate for the use of this technology.
Here is an excerpt from an article on Car Help Canada that takes a similar angle:
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Auto dealers have recently begun to heavily promote electronic rust inhibiting systems costing several hundreds of dollars. However, just because applying an electrical charge reduces corrosion under certain specific conditions, or in laboratory tests using simple pieces of sheet metal, does not mean it will provide any significant protection for a motor vehicle in everyday use. The difficulty with determining the effectiveness of an expensive cathodic rust inhibiting device, is that a consumer will only know if it doesn't work years after he or she has paid for it. If ever. Even if electronic rust inhibiting devices could protect all the sheet metal of a vehicle (which Car Help Canada doubts) it has not, to our knowledge, been shown to protect the more vulnerable lines, pipes, and connectors. Car Help Canada recommends that consumers avoid the thick coatings and electronic gadgets and go with the tried and true oil-based method if they want additional corrosion protection for their vehicle. |
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Now we don’t universally advocate the “tried and true oil-based method” as the best rust protection. This is simply because not all oil-based under coatings are created equal. Not even close, but that is another topic altogether.