Rust...

Check out this area above the rear glass. I've seen four other Liberty's with rust in this exact area, in the exact same side.



Notice the corrsion on the hinges too.


I tend to think the Liberty, or at least mine anyway, has some serious electrolysis going on between the steel and aluminum componets. Either that it's the poor surface prep prior to the paint being laid down.

It's as if the thing is eating itself to pieces.

I doubt road salt is the cause of this.

5 years old here and no rust at all but then we never have snow either where I live but my libby lived the first couple of years of its life in Indiana so it would have been exposed to all of that there I guess.

have the rust at back glass thought it might be from twisting this uni-body poping seams a little

Shafer I also have rust on the top where the roof seam is. It's a common spot on all liberties to have rust there.

Nice photos though. Great detail.

ShafferNY said:

Check out this area above the rear glass. I've seen four other Liberty's with rust in this exact area, in the exact same side.

I tend to think the Liberty, or at least mine anyway, has some serious electrolysis going on between the steel and aluminum componets. Either that it's the poor surface prep prior to the paint being laid down.

It's as if the thing is eating itself to pieces.

I doubt road salt is the cause of this.

Click to expand...

Yeah, road salt wouldn't seem to be a culprit way up on the underside of the rear glass. That just seems wrong...

jnaut Quote:
Originally Posted by ShafferNY
Check out this area above the rear glass. I've seen four other Liberty's with rust in this exact area, in the exact same side.

I tend to think the Liberty, or at least mine anyway, has some serious electrolysis going on between the steel and aluminum componets. Either that it's the poor surface prep prior to the paint being laid down.

It's as if the thing is eating itself to pieces.

I doubt road salt is the cause of this.

Yeah, road salt wouldn't seem to be a culprit way up on the underside of the rear glass. That just seems wrong...

Click to expand...

Actually salt is the key culprit for rust there also since when you drive down the wet road the salt spray just gets back sprayed in that area from the vacuum created in the rear area.

tjkj2002 said:

Actually salt is the key culprit for rust there also since when you drive down the wet road the salt spray just gets back sprayed in that area from the vacuum created in the rear area.

Click to expand...

True. Hence the invention of the air deflectors/spoilers that mount above the rear glass on most SUV's.

In all the areas I have rust, it appears as if the rust has started underneith the paint and it has bubbled up.

tjkj2002 said:

Actually salt is the key culprit for rust there also since when you drive down the wet road the salt spray just gets back sprayed in that area from the vacuum created in the rear area.

Click to expand...

idea.gif

ShafferNY said:

True. Hence the invention of the air deflectors/spoilers that mount above the rear glass on most SUV's.

In all the areas I have rust, it appears as if the rust has started underneith the paint and it has bubbled up.

Click to expand...

That's how it happens,the salt and other junk eats pin holes in the clear coat and it doesn't take anything to get through the actual paint.The pin holes will not likely be seen.

Be lucky you don't have to deal with this much rust and rot like toyota's do............
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9652151

You could always use one of these.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...01/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=rust+protection
These are in my 1976 Leyland Mini, since 1976.
I have had to replace them with new improved ones after 33 years!
Aside from the new sheet metal front panel, left and right fenders, and drivers side inner panel. The original whole front end was severely smashed in 3 times by my father, but the car was never written off by the insurance company because back in 1976 you could buy a brand new Mini for$1600.00! Canadian dollars
And his (Now mine!) Mini cost $3200.00 CDN new because of all the extras and full options!
But all remaining sheet metal is all original 1976! And if you know Mini's like I do, you know that some sheet metal likes to biodegrade into rust, on ALL classic Mini's unless they have spent their entire life in a hot dry climate!
Not mine, I use those things illustrated in the link and they have kept the original sheet metal in awesome condition!
I plan on installing them soon in our KJ as well! Our 2004 has zero rust anywhere, and I plan on keeping that Liberty for a long long time!

I've always wondered if those work, or if it's just snake oil.

ShafferNY said:

I've always wondered if those work, or if it's just snake oil.

Click to expand...

Snake oil.

Considering you already have current running through the unibody anyways it is just a snake oil gimmick.All electronic devices,including the battery and alternator are grounded to the unibody and the unibody is a giant ground with current flowing through it.

kj924 said:

Snake oil.

Click to expand...

Really?
They have kept my Mini from rusting away.

Ryan09 said:

Really?
They have kept my Mini from rusting away.

Click to expand...

I'm betting you take care of your Mini better then most take car of there vehicles,plus it should have a positive ground electrical system which is doing more of a job then that snake oil is.

tjkj2002 said:

I'm betting you take care of your Mini better then most take car of there vehicles,plus it should have a positive ground electrical system which is doing more of a job then that snake oil is.

Click to expand...

I'm the "JeepJeepster" of Mini's!

All Mini's with an alternator were negative ground.
When my Father bought the car brand new back in
1976, a friend of his gave him one as a gift. I replaced
the original one some twenty years ago with
similar item.

So, yeah, maybe It is a physiological thing and I have
been fooling myself all along! But the car has no rust.
I guess mounting zinc blocks on the bottom of the KJ
might also work as sacrificial anodes.idea.gif

Ryan09 said:

I'm the "JeepJeepster" of Mini's!

All Mini's with an alternator were negative ground.
When my Father bought the car brand new back in
1976, a friend of his gave him one as a gift. I replaced
the original one some twenty years ago with
similar item.

So, yeah, maybe It is a physiological thing and I have
been fooling myself all along! But the car has no rust.
I guess mounting zinc blocks on the bottom of the KJ
might also work as sacrificial anodes.idea.gif

Click to expand...

Sounds stupid, but I thought about doing this.

Zinc anodes are used as a scarificial metal on boats that are keep in salt water to protect their drives and hulls. In freshwater they use magnesium anodes.

ShafferNY said:

Sounds stupid, but I thought about doing this.

Zinc anodes are used as a scarificial metal on boats that are keep in salt water to protect their drives and hulls. In freshwater they use magnesium anodes.

Click to expand...

I was thinking about this too, but I thought that with boats it had something to do with the fact that it is parked in the water all summer.

I don't know, I am not a anodeologist.....

Dave

I copied this from Wikipedia.
An interesting read.
I don't think that attaching a block of zinc will
work on a land based vehicle!
Only boats

The metal is most commonly used as an anti-corrosion agent.[82] Galvanization, which is the coating of iron or steel as protection against corrosion, is the most familiar form of using zinc in this way. In 2006 in the United States, 56% or 773,000 tonnes of the zinc metal was used for galvanization,[83] while worldwide 47% was used for this purpose.[84]

Zinc is more reactive than iron or steel and thus will attract almost all local oxidation until it completely corrodes away.[85] A protective surface layer of oxide and carbonate (Zn5(OH)6(CO3)2) forms as the zinc corrodes.[86] This protection lasts even after the zinc layer is scratched but degrades through time as the zinc corrodes away.[86] The zinc is applied electrochemically or as molten zinc by hot-dip galvanizing or spraying.[10] Galvanization is used on chain-link fencing, guard rails, suspension bridges, lightposts, metal roofs, heat exchangers, and car bodies.[10]

The relative reactivity of zinc and its ability to attract oxidation to itself also makes it a good sacrificial anode in cathodic protection. Cathodically protecting (CP) buried pipelines requires a solid piece of zinc to be connected by a conductor to a steel pipe.[86] Zinc acts as the anode (negative terminus) by slowly corroding away as it passes electric current to the steel pipeline.[86][note 2] Zinc is also used to cathodically protect metals that are exposed to sea water from corrosion.[87] A zinc disc attached to a ship's iron rudder will slowly corrode while the rudder stays unattacked.[85] Other similar uses include a plug of zinc attached to a propeller or the metal protective guard for the keel of the ship.

With an electrochemical potential of −0.7618 volts, zinc makes a good material for the negative terminus or anode in batteries.[88] Powdered zinc is used in this way in alkaline batteries and sheets of zinc metal form the cases for and act as anodes in zinc-carbon batteries.[89][90]