Anyone used sacrificial anodes before?

[J-Ro]

Like the title says....

I just finished a corrosion training course at work, and thought about how beneficial zinc or even magnesium sacrificial anodes would be for our cars. If they have them for boats, why not use them on cars?

Anyone have experience with them?

[ooskers]

They keep the bits on the back of the outdrive (of a boat) from corroding first. As in the anodes corrode first. Yeah, I am sure that is right. They are on our boats. What they do is take the hit from the metals in the water before the outdrive does. They would be pretty useless on a car because it does not spend the majority of its time in water.

[J-Ro]

Yeah exactly.... I have no idea how much they cost, but I imagine the magnesium ones are more expensive.

[ooskers]

I edited my post^^ Yeah. I don't really see the need for them.

[J-Ro]

Yeah, but there's so much opportunity for a car to rust! (Sorry, but this is on my mind because of the course I just finished )

Are they really expensive? If so, I could see that they might not be worth it, but if they don't cost that much, then it's worth the peace-of-mind, even to know that a paint chip (which tend to happen on Civics...... ugh) will never rust and spread.

[ooskers]

Anodes are not really that expensive. But I don't have a solution for protecting the whole car. You would have to treat with something the metal before painting. I guess covering the car in some "anode juice" (for the lack of a better term) Even then, I think the industry has come a long way from when cars would rust. But seeing as how your location is Ontario, I imagine that you see the problem more than I do in Dallas. Still a neat idea.

Go to West Marine: Home Page and search "anode" to see some real products.

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by ooskers

Anodes are not really that expensive. But I don't have a solution for protecting the whole car. You would have to treat with something the metal before painting. I guess covering the car in some "anode juice" (for the lack of a better term) Even then, I think the industry has come a long way from when cars would rust. But seeing as how your location is Ontario, I imagine that you see the problem more than I do in Dallas. Still a neat idea.

Go to West Marine: Home Page and search "anode" to see some real products.

Wicked, thanks for the link. And yeah, salt is a bitch around here

[JMorris]

I have used them, when I worked in the steel mill and at PGE. It's not like you're car is sitting it the bottom of a lake, electrolysis and corrosion shouldn't merit the extra weight and won't be a big deal if you keep up with maintenance. I would put it out of your mind and just keep it clean. If how-ever you plan to encapsulate it in a buried tomb like the old Chevy in the time capsule then you might have a good idea there!

[thcsnob]

i zinc coated an employees truck after i sand blasted it and it never rusted out.zinc paint acts like a galvanize coating.

[JMorris]

On a side note I don't live by the coast or in a location where they salt the roads on a regular basis. I know both will cause faster corrosion so I guess my comment might only apply to local geography?

[ooskers]

Originally Posted by thcsnob

i zinc coated an employees truck after i sand blasted it and it never rusted out.zinc paint acts like a galvanize coating.

Now that sounds cool

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by thcsnob

i zinc coated an employees truck after i sand blasted it and it never rusted out.zinc paint acts like a galvanize coating.

Yeah, that is essentially a sacrificial anode as well, except it's in coating form rather than a block :)

I started thinking about this because when I was working on my car at the shop, I was cringing at the sight of the underbody of my car... 2-1/2 years old and I had to reef on some bolts with a pneumatic impact to get some of them off

I'm probably picking up my Si next week, so I'd like to avoid as much of this corrosion as possible right from the start.

[Verviticas]

Not sure if protective anode will work. If your the entrepreneurial type then you might be interested in cathodic electrochemical rust protection. It uses a flow of electrons to prevent corrosion. The only problem is even though several companies have marketed the idea, they were all banned. Why you ask? Its simple, it didn't work. You would literally need hundreds of devices all around the car or you'd need to submerge the car in water.

But as soon as someone comes up with an effective way to implement, say goodbye to rust forever.

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by Verviticas

Not sure if protective anode will work. If your the entrepreneurial type then you might be interested in cathodic electrochemical rust protection. It uses a flow of electrons to prevent corrosion. The only problem is even though several companies have marketed the idea, they were all banned. Why you ask? Its simple, it didn't work. You would literally need hundreds of devices all around the car or you'd need to submerge the car in water.

But as soon as someone comes up with an effective way to implement, say goodbye to rust forever.

Yeah I know the devices you're talking about. They're rediculously expensive and really don't work that well, because as you said, they can't cover the entire car. However, sacrificial anodes do the exact same thing, but at a small fraction of the cost, and so would be far more cost effective to implement in more areas.

[djpaw]

..here we go again....J-Ro's already thunk it....i was under my car and found some rust after just 7 months of owning this car and i was thinking...we shd have a "sacrificial anode" and heres a thread by J-Ro.

You really going for an Si ? What happened to my Atomic blue hero

[J-Ro]

^ Haha, I just absorb information and try to think about how I can apply it to my car Some places that quickly develop rust (but don't matter that much) are the calipers, underbody bolts, engine fasteners (particularly the low-pressure AC tube bracket)... while it's not a bad thing that they get rust on them, it still looks bad. And sacrificial anodes seem to me like an easy way to eliminate that rust.

And yes, the Si is official... the dealer got me the VIN last weekend. If everything goes according to plan, I should have it on Saturday. The good news is that the EX is staying in the family; my sister is buying it from me. So there will definitely be a photo shoot :)

[SoCal07Si]

I put a piece of zinc in my radiator resevoir a long time ago

[J-Ro]

Where did you get the zinc? Obviously any marine dealer would have it but they would probably charge an arm and a leg for it.

[SoCal07Si]

swimming pool supply store

they use it in pools too

[J-Ro]

Oh cool, thanks!