Home rust treatment guide

[Jethro_Tull]

Behind the wheels in the arches  and under the bonnet my Fusion (mechanically a Fiesta MK6.5) was showing early signs of tin worm.

Time for some rust preventative.  However, I'm a) tight and b) convinced I can do better, so instead of buying some Waxoyl I decided to make my own.

You will need:

300g of paraffin wax flakes.  Dirt cheap on eBay, or you can take a cheese grater to a candle if you like.

2 litres white spirit.

2 litres if light oil.  I only had new engine oil, so I used a litre of that and a litre of duck oil.

A garden sprayer, the pump up type.

1. Chuck the wax flakes into the white spirit.  Put the container somewhere warm, and stir it every few days.  Within a week you should have a liquid that looks like a smooth wallpaper paste.

2. Pour in your oil, and mix thoroughly.

3. Decant the lot into your sprayer.

4.  Take a wire brush to any rust, paint on some rust killer/rust remedy to neutralise it.

5.  Heat up your goo in a bucket of hot water, or by placing it on a warm radiator for a few hours.

6. Shake it like buggery.  Shake it some more.

7.  Pump up your sprayer, and get spraying.  I did inner wings, underside, rear valance behind the bumpers, inside structural members, inside doors, absolutely everywhere.

8. Wipe off unwanted over spray with white spirit.

9.  Allow to dry for a day or so.  Warm, or better still hot, weather helps.

The white spirit will evaporate out.  However, the oil will remain leaving the wax slightly soft so it don't crack or flake.  Any minor stone chips etc will eventually bleed over.

Nothing repels water like wax. Stick your head underneath after a drive in the wet and the water will be beading and running off, it simply will not stick or accumulate.

Its proven to to be effective, durable and cheap.  With luck you can make it with items you have laying around.  The ingredients above will give you enough to do a really thorough job on one car.  The results are visibly thicker than store bought Waxoyl, and give a nice, thick, seriously effective coating, which creeps into joins and seams very well indeed.