I think so far this year I have driven my car a couple of times after some salt was put on the roads. Since then I have been thinking about whether I should worry about the effect on my car. I realized I don't know anything about the causes of rust.
Is rust mainly caused by winter driving, by water getting trapped
at various places on the car, or something else. Should I worry?
Don
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1965 912
1981 911SC
2006 Cayman S
Originally Posted by dhopkins
Which car? not much of an issue with the cayman, but its a big issue with the 912! Yes, rain and especially salt are bad and promote rust.
Sorry I didn't specify the car. The car is my 1965 912. At the moment it's the car I most like to drive.
Don
__________________
1965 912
1981 911SC
2006 Cayman S
Not a good idea. You've chosen the worst moment of the year to like driving your 912. '65 Porsches weren't protected well at all from rust & corrosion. Back in those days, if you lived in the North and North East part of the country you could pretty much count on early rust perforation in a daily driver, especially if they were European cars.
Of course you should worry about the effects of water and salt on an old car like this......and Yes, naturally water, snow, ice and especially salt will have a destructive effect on a 45 year-old car, any time of the year.
Your '81 and the Cayman are much more thoroughly protected ( galvanized, completely undercoated with modern, flexible synthetic materials which are not prone to drying out & cracking, thus trapping moisture, many of the underbody parts on the watercooled era cars are plastic, and every square inch is treated with anti-corrosion finishes, no organic materials like the horsehair-type felt and padding as used in the early 900 Series cars which retain moisture and are perpetually damp ), and in the case of the Cayman, equipped with features to deal more effectively with adverse conditions ( ABS, etc. ) and thus would be far superior "winter cars". A couple of pressure washings of the underside during the foul weather months and a thorough spring detailing and waxing should preserve those cars for decades.
To learn about rust, simply google "rust", "causes of rust" & "corrosion of ferrous metals", add a little common sense to what you'll read & learn, and you'll have all the tools to practice a pretty effective rust prevention regimen year 'round on your old car !!
Before it became Ruprecht, my Porsche was a '70 911 T
Paying member No. 895 since 2006
" slavish adherence to originality wasn't for me, because the car wasn't as good as it could be."
Rob Dickinson's response when asked what motivated him to build Singers
Can't comment on salt since I live in SW desert. If the car started life here mainly water from car washing and rain, average rain fall here 7 inches annual so mostly washing and water entering from deteriorated glass and other rubber seals then sitting in area's not visible like rear package shelf, rear seat pans etc. . I have parted (would never consider doing so now this was 15+ years ago) many an early 911 that lived here from birth always same area's rusted and could always trace to seal's. Only once did I find a 911 1966 that had ZERO rust it was sold here, never driven in the rain and was always "DRY" washed according to the owner. As particular as he was about the body it had a type 4 VW engine hanging with all thread in it when I bought it.
Early 911S member #166
I have no problem with the theory that all men are created equal.
But after that moment you are on your own and nobody owes you a damn thing.
Piech writes in his autobiography that - already around 1969 - Porsche customers complained their new 1965 MY RoW cars developed rust...(!). These complaints influenced Porsche very early on to experiment with rust protection (undercarrage spray on 70/71 models) as well as fully galvanised chassis for +1977 MY.
According to Piech - regarding the rust issue - an aircooled engine has some differences to a watercooled engine: while cooling down from a drive, a hot engine of an aircooled car always sucks air, humidity as well as eventually salty air (sea or winter-road salt) into the engine compartment and increasing the risk of exposing the metals to corrosive elements.
Registry member No.773
Oxygen creates Iron Oxide -RUST
Mike
That salt moisture mixture is sitting on the INSIDE of your rocker and other enclosed panels doing it's work on metal that might have primer on it. I wouldn't drive the 912 or the SC in that stuff. If it was the 912 you drove, I would jack it up, pull the plugs on the bottom of the rockers and try to wash out as many of the nooks and crannies as possible.
Last edited by tfiv; 12-28-2010 at 08:52 AM.
Tom F.
'67 911S Slate Gray
'70 911T 2.8 hotrod (in progress)
'92 964
#736
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