I need my 06 Escape to last a long time and it will see plenty of winter use. I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on rustproofing methods.

Generally speaking I haven't seen many Escapes with rust on them, for some reason they seem to hold up better than some of the other Ford models. But I want to rustproof mine very shortly. My choices are dealer rustproofing which doesn't drill holes in the body but it doesn't provide all that great of a coverage either. The dealer application advertises lifetime warranty coverage on rust on treated panels, but the given the fine print of the warranty I don't really put much faith in the warranty. I had to open up my sister's rear hatch recently to adjust a rattle that she had, her Escape was treated by the dealer and the rust proofing spray in the rear hatch was very localized, with round spray patterns around the access holes only, it didn't penetrate or run to other areas of the hatch, seemed like a thick wax like substance. They basically spray what they can through access holes and you don't get good coverage. They other choice is your typical rustproofing shop that does drill holes in the body, you get significantly better coverage of the panels that they treat at a lower cost, but you do get holes drilled into the body. The dealer says that holes drilled in the body voids the factory warranty, but I don't think much of the factory warranty either as it is unlikely to rust-through anywhere within the factory limits.

Any opinions or advice on this subject ?. thanks

Joey

 

I think rustproofing is a waste of money. I haven't seen a car rust for years and where I live you would think that salt is a winter paving material. Keep your Escape washed during the winter when it gets salt on it and you will be OK. My last Ford has 200,000 miles on it when I sold it and there was not even a speck of rust.

 

thanks for the reply, I think it can be a waste of money to some degree, perhaps if I just spray some over the counter products into lower door panels that might be enough for relatively low dough, if there is any rusting to happen it is likely to occur inside door panels I think.

 

If the crimp on the door panels wasn't sealed properly at the factory, I doubt that aftermarket rust proofer with do much good. It's probably more important to keep the door drains unplugged. The only "rust-proofing" that I did on mine, was to spray some rubberized undercoating from a rattle can on the chassis between the wheels. I figured that this might help prevent paint chipping from road debris tossed up by the front wheels.

I used to have all my vehicles rust-proofed and they still developed rust problems with all the salt used on the roads here in the wintertime. If anything, the rust-proofing material held the water and salt better than painted steel. The newer vehicles seem to be better built to prevent rust problems. Use of galvanized steel and better seam-sealing materials have helped a lot. All the plastic parts help also.

 

I get some cans of Lubramatic Corrosion Pro and climb under the vehicle in the fall. I spray the stuff on sharp edges and into cracks and crevices. When it sprays on it penetrates really well, then it dries and becomes very sticky and greasy.