I know what you saw, and anodes are sacrificial hunks of metal that corrode at a faster rate than the metal you are trying to save. You have them in your water heater.

There was a big dealer of the electrical rust stoppers in town years ago. He did a fantastic business for about 3 years. Then the cars that had the gizmo on them started rusting faster than the ones without it.

Our family had two Buick LeSabres and one got the electro-rust thing, one did not. Same year car, same location obviously. The electro protected one rusted years ahead of the other. By then the con-artist was out of town.

 

Every september I buy a can of that Rust Check and literally spray it everywhere feasable to do so. Inside the tailgate, tail-light housings, rockers and anywhere I could get at a body panel seam. I also bought a Counter-act. This is that electronic buzz box device you guys are speaking of. I did study a bit of this in engineering technology at college and the theory sounds correct. You're right about it not being in direct contact with the sheet metal, however it does provide a minute electrical charge to the vehicle. I've had it on for two years up here in the salt stricken roads of Alberta and am not a 100 percent convinced, but I am optimistic its doing something to allow the metal to be a passive player in the rust process. I have one small surface rust spot on the bottom inside seam of the rear door but that was there prior to installing the box... Time will tell the truth on this one.

Cheers

 

Move out of the rust belt?

lol, same problems here in illinois

 

our trucks have sacrificial anodes... That is what the body is for... It rusts to ensure the frame and engine last longer than the running gear :-)

 

There is an electronic system up here called CounterAct that is supposed to inhibit rust formation, even claims the brake rotors will stay rust free but I don't know of anyone that has the system installed. Google CounterAct, research the claims and make an informed decission is all I can say. Like Ronny Regan used to say, "trust but verify".

 

I use the wax- type motorcycle chain lube for rustproofing the out of sight areas. Works great and won't collect dust.

 

Electronic - I saw these and was interested but I also heard they are "tuned" to the vessels they are on, so a one size fits all doesn't work, and how do you generate a field on a cab which is mounted in rubber with one solid ground, not sur etheory is good but application?

Paints - I like something called Hirsch Miracle paint can only get though the internet I think, its down side there is no way to remove it once dry without mechanical abrasion. Also if paint starts to flake it is like the harder rust preventatives they then form a pocket that holds the water and salt and rust. I once bought an older car that had one of those harder preventatives on it, looked pretty good but once stripped it had thousands of pinholes in it.

Rust check and Krown or any liquid oily type preventative - believe they are best because they penetrate seams and if rust has formed will soak into that also displacing moisture (metal + air + moisture = rust). Was told that a university professor did a study when they were treating monuments with it and wrote a paper about how even if it has started it slows the corrosion progression to 1/12th its original rate. Down side is believe it is best if done yearly, and if vehicle isn't washed, they recommend no soap wash for some set time, was also told best if done in spring not fall. I saw a 1991 Chev S10 Blazer that had been done since new (knew the owner, an they were rust buckets) every year and had never even had paint touch up work done on it. He just sold it to the guy that owned the shop where it was treated, and it still looked like new after 18+ years and 143,000 miles driven in/near Kingston Ontario.