I just put pen-to-paper on a IS 350 AWD Ultra-White F-Sport. Super excited - taking delivery next week.

During the "business manager" sales phase, they told me that they don't do the spray-on undercoating or rust-proofing anymore and instead sell you a $800 Corrosion Control Module...They said the rust-proofing applications "interfered with systems".

I'm skeptical about the CCM working...

So who here living in wintery climates has actually rust-proofed? Should I get this done anyway?

I'm somewhat paranoid because my previous car (a 2004 Mazda 3 GT) I had babied and washed frequently in the winter, and it still rusted through around the wheelwells...but I never specifically got it rust-proofed.

Thanks!

 

Your dealer is telling you 1/2 of the truth. I'll start with the truthful part. The spray-on undercoatings have been known to interfere with various systems/sensors/moving parts since they coated things with a sticky, rubbery substance.

That is where the truth ends. The CCM will do absolutely nothing for your automobile. It is snake oil. What you are really paying $800 for is a rust warranty. Be sure you get in writing that the $800 covers surface rust, and not just perforations due to rust. Normally, the warranties only cover perforations.

If I was you I would skip it entirely, and pay an experienced, and reliable detailing shop to Opti-Coat your car instead.

 

I had one of those CCMs on my Evo when I bought it from a private sale. The previous owner bought into the whole, this is Hawaii so you will get rust! For a CCM to work correctly (as on boats and bridges) they need a mass power supply in which the car battery would be dead fast. In any system where corrosion is prevented, anodes are consumed. The exact amount of metal ions that are prevented from corroding in the structure must be consumed from the anodes. As these modules do not have large anodes that need to be replaced, they are not actually doing anything. If the dealer is saying that it sends an electric current through your chassis to stop rust, that is crap as electric currents does not prevent rust. If it did, your regular grounding system would do it!

 

So now that winter is here again and to summarize this thread... DON'T rustproof my car?

 

Hi.

I live in a country with very harssh winters. Norway.
In addition, they use a lot of salt to keep the roads free of ice, so the snow that falls turns into a salty slush. VERY bad for cars, and creates a lot of corrosion problems.

Becuase of this I had my 3IS (is 300h, hybrid) coated with a product from dinitrol. The proper term if tectyl (google it)
This is a form of that black sticky stuff mentioned earlier.
I have not had any problems, other that the smell of burnt tectyl from when the hybrid system works hard and the electrical components become warm.
But you have to take your car to someone professional. Someone that know what they are doing, and covers up all hot and moving parts before spraying on this stuff. You do not want this stuff on your engine, transmission, brakes, driveshaft, damshaft, or dampers. Some places it is can limit heatflow away from hot components, some places it can mess up electrical stuff, and some places it an cause unbalance in moving parts.

So if you can get it done somewhere proffesional, i would absolutly recomend it. It does protect the car a lot from rust. And if done correctly, it will not interfere with your cars systems.
however, if done incorrectly it can mess up electrical and mechanical stuff.

as mentioned I have done this to my car, and it is not that hard. But make sure the people doing it know what they are doing. Otherwise it will mess up your car.

 

My local dealer rusted proofed my 3IS last week. Was about $200