The plan is to spray the underside of the car with an anti- corrosion solution. I decided I would look to the aviation and marine sector for my chosen solution because the F-Type is mostly aluminium. Aluminium doesn't corrode in the same way as the likes of, say, mild steel. I'm not an expert in these things but I have had a few recommendations from various people about the product called ACF50 by Leer Chemicals in Canada. It was developed for the aviation industrty as an anti-corrosion solution aimed at preventing corrosion around the joints and rivets of aircraft fuselages. I recently discovered that they produce a slightly heavier grade of their ACF50 product, called 'Corrosion Blocker' which is more suited to the automotive and industrial vehicle sectors.
This is the stuff:
This is the first time I have made the effort to do this kind of thing on a new-ish vehicle, but I think it will be worth the effort as I plan to keep the car long term.
My car was clean and completely dry before I started the work. It would have been even better if the car had come straight off the production line, but it is now nearly 18 months old, so I was interested to see what I would find as I stripped back the wheel arch covers.
Apart from some sandy/gritty deposits in a few nooks and crannies, I was pleasantly surprised by how good a job those plastic inner wheel arch protectors do.
With the covers off, I bushed off any residual dirt from around the suspension components etc.. and wiped all the reachable surfaces down with a cloth that had a small amount of ACF50 on it. Once all was looking nice and clean, I started to spray the 'Corrosion Blocker' into all the crevices of the inner wheel arches, all the suspension, all the brake pipes, sensor linkages, fixings, brackets, electrical connectors (of which there are many! ).
This took me a full day to go around all four corners of the car.
I attempted to protect the brake discs from getting any over spray of the solution, but just for good measure, I wiped the discs over with some brake cleaner, before re-fitting the wheels.
So far so good.
The next job was to get an hour or so on a car lift, so I could do more of the underside of the car. This I did this morning. The roads were dry! Excellent!!
I removed the engine under tray in order to get better access to the engine bay area.
I decided to paint any mild steel under body brackets and braces (of which there are a few) with Waxoil (belt and braces! ) and then set about spraying the whole underside with 'Corrosion Blocker' followed with a careful wipe down of the excess runs and drips.
It's a messy old business, but i'm pleased I went to the trouble of doing it before the bad weather starts.
I took a few photos of the car on the lift before I started the spraying but once I got all messed up, I forgot to take any after shots...silly me, but in my defense I needed to get packed up and away up the road and was pushed for time.
It's not all that easy to see in these photos, but the black linkages and brackets are all the mild steel components that will rust pretty quick if they don't get some protection.
My next job will be to lift up the bonnet, doors and boot lid and spray some of the fluid in the hard to get at places around engine, door frame and boot cavities....Then follow on with a full wash and wax of the paintwork...Then i'm ready for the dreaded winter...By'ekk, it's grim up north!
