Duct tape as temporary rustproofing? Good, bad, waste of time?

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Glam_Stachee

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Bosnia and Herzegovina
So I don't enjoy driving my cars in the winter, and my latest one especially, since there is no rustproofing left on it what-so-ever. Used to be there under the fenders, still some rubberized coating left from it's glory days, but mostly it's just bare metal now. Now I live in one of the poorest regions in an already poor country, and we don't get salt thrown on the road in winter...we get gravel. The car body is not in exactly great shape, paint is faded, starting to crack in some places, a few rust spots, etc. But the car is low mileage and runs great, and the interior is in pretty much mint condition, and nothing has rotted away so far, but until I get in contact with my guy who knows how to properly rust-proof cars I figured I try my own old trick: Duct-tape.
I did this almost 15 years ago on my first car, I worked as an electrician so I had a lot of that really thick, high-quality duct tape and put it all under the fenders and along the floor of the car where all the gravel hits, wasn't noticeable and if anything it gave me some peace of mind, since it did provide something in-between the debris and exposed metal.

Sorry about the wall of text, but my question goes to you people smarter than me: Is this something which actually works? I've never seen or heard anyone do it. Is it actually counter-productive and can damage the metal for some reason? Or is it just a waste of time which does nothing?
 
Duct tape will just trap moisture and encourage rust as it would with rubberized undercoating. You would be better off either coating it with a thick oil type spray to slow down the rust, or cutting out a section and putting in some sheet metal with rivets and sealing the edges with silicone and then painting the panel with some paint. (Epoxy paint works great)
 
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Originally Posted by KrisZ
Since you're obviously into the redneck solutions, get a manual pump sprayer and spray the entire underside with used oil. If you do it annually the rust will be kept at bay.


I don't think the redneck comment added anything to the otherwise helpful comment. He said he lives in "one of the poorest regions in an already poor country"
 
Originally Posted by KrisZ
Since you're obviously into the redneck solutions, get a manual pump sprayer and spray the entire underside with used oil. If you do it annually the rust will be kept at bay.

Bar and Chain oil might actually work pretty good for this, as it's already tacky to stick to the chainsaw blade
 
Originally Posted by Cressida
Originally Posted by KrisZ
Since you're obviously into the redneck solutions, get a manual pump sprayer and spray the entire underside with used oil. If you do it annually the rust will be kept at bay.


I don't think the redneck comment added anything to the otherwise helpful comment. He said he lives in "one of the poorest regions in an already poor country"


Nah, I am rather honored to be called a redneck, However I have looked into using old oil and a lot of people say it's a really bad idea and can actually encourage the spread of rust, that's why I'm not really too eager to try that. And rubberized coating is what I'm aiming for but outside specialized paint shops it's really hard to get, hence why I'm waiting for a guy I know who does this stuff to come back from working abroad.
Doesn't help that you are not allowed to buy used oil anyway and I disposed of mine after I did the oil change.
 
Originally Posted by Glam_Stachee
Nah, I am rather honored to be called a redneck

What I find most amazing is that someone from "Bosnia and Hercegovina" even knows what a redneck is.

Oh, and you misspelled your homeland name, did you not?
 
Transliterations from Slavic alphabets are always debatable.

If going the used oil route, heat it up and melt in some paraffin wax, to get it to stick. Otherwise you just have a sloppy pollution hazard.
 
Originally Posted by kschachn
Originally Posted by Glam_Stachee
Nah, I am rather honored to be called a redneck

What I find most amazing is that someone from "Bosnia and Hercegovina" even knows what a redneck is.

Oh, and you misspelled your homeland name, did you not?


You'd be surprised how much we are into american slang, even 60 years ago, and yeah I messed up the spelling on the 2nd part of the country because that's how it's spelled in our language, I'll fix it later.
Originally Posted by StevieC
Watch this before you decide on Rubberized undercoating... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXvl9nt57Kg


Pretty sure that car had rust on it before that was done, people here drive cars from the 70s which did not come with any rustproofing from the factory and you had to get this done right away after buying it so it wouldn't rust after one winter, and if done properly it's still road-worthy.
But oh well mine has some tiny rust spots I found and who knows how many more I didn't see, maybe I'd think twice about it.
From your recommendations I would avoid the latter, since the car hasn't rotted away at all and there's no reason for cutting it up, I'll see if I can find some of that oil-type spray, never heard of them or seen them sold anywhere, but I got some contacts and I'll see if they can get some.
What would you recommend I do until then? Should I just wash the car after every trip and hope for the best?
 
I live in the Rust Belt in North America with tons of salt dropped and now a brine solution that is very sticky and I have had 0 rust with oil sprays. The longest vehicle in our family was 22 years old with 460,000km on it and was rust free when the electrical harness melted and caused a fire killing the vehicle.

Just FWIW in terms of oil sprays.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Cressida
Originally Posted by KrisZ
Since you're obviously into the redneck solutions, get a manual pump sprayer and spray the entire underside with used oil. If you do it annually the rust will be kept at bay.


I don't think the redneck comment added anything to the otherwise helpful comment. He said he lives in "one of the poorest regions in an already poor country"


It wasn't meant as a derogatory comment, I'm into redenck solutions as well where I feel I don't need to go the "proper" route.
 
Originally Posted by Glam_Stachee
Originally Posted by kschachn
Originally Posted by Glam_Stachee
Nah, I am rather honored to be called a redneck

What I find most amazing is that someone from "Bosnia and Hercegovina" even knows what a redneck is.

Oh, and you misspelled your homeland name, did you not?


You'd be surprised how much we are into american slang, even 60 years ago, and yeah I messed up the spelling on the 2nd part of the country because that's how it's spelled in our language, I'll fix it later.
Originally Posted by StevieC
Watch this before you decide on Rubberized undercoating... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXvl9nt57Kg


Pretty sure that car had rust on it before that was done, people here drive cars from the 70s which did not come with any rustproofing from the factory and you had to get this done right away after buying it so it wouldn't rust after one winter, and if done properly it's still road-worthy.
But oh well mine has some tiny rust spots I found and who knows how many more I didn't see, maybe I'd think twice about it.
From your recommendations I would avoid the latter, since the car hasn't rotted away at all and there's no reason for cutting it up, I'll see if I can find some of that oil-type spray, never heard of them or seen them sold any were, but I got some contacts and I'll see if they can get some.
What would you recommend I do until then? Should I just wash the car after every trip and hope for the best?


The reason these rubberized coating seem to work OK in your region is because, as you mentioned, salt is not used on the roads.

I lived for almost 20 years in a region that got heavy salt usage every single winter and have seen how poorly these rubberized undercoatings work, even when applied on brand new cars.

Used oil will not promote rust. Have you ever seen the undercarriage of a vehicle that leaks oil quite heavily? It will be a mess, but no rust.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
I live in the Rust Belt in North America with tons of salt dropped and now a brine solution that is very sticky and I have had 0 rust with oil sprays. The longest vehicle in our family was 22 years old with 460,000km on it and was rust free when the electrical harness melted and caused a fire killing the vehicle.

Just FWIW in terms of oil sprays.


I mean I don't consider 22 years old to be really "old", since by then manufacturers have already started implementing rather good rust-proofing measures. Mine is 1991 Peugeot 309 with only 89k km on it. They seem to have minimal issues with rust as far as I read, but I'm always paranoid since my family and I were used to driving Yugos, which DID have huge issues with rust, and I mean we never had holes in the chassis on any of them after using rubberized paint, mostly around the fenders and doors where nothing was applied.
And yeah, I know about the rust belt, but trust me you guys have it good, our government is so cheap that they can't afford to drop salt on the roads, so they resort to gravel, maaaybe mixed in with a little salt if you're lucky sometimes, and saying tons is an understatement.

Also I may sound dumb for asking but what does FWIW stand for?
 
This vehicle was from 1986. It was 22 years old when it was scrapped. It's not 22 years old now.
grin2.gif


FWIW = For What It's Worth (sorry)
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by StevieC
This vehicle was from 1986. It was 22 years old when it was scrapped. It's not 22 years old now.
grin2.gif


FWIW = For What It's Worth (sorry)


Alright, my bad, thanks a bunch.
 
If you have any clear coat (lacquer as is called here) it will last a winter or two. Hides scratches as well.
Easily removed if you dont like it or spray/use too much. Like 2.5$ a can here...
Dont wash your car too often, the stuff in these foam washes is pretty aggro.
 
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