sea air and rust - tyro
The thread on Cuban cars raises a question in my mind.

I've often heard it said that the salt in the air means that cars that reside near the sea suffer a lot more rust and corrosion, and hence don't last as long as other cars. I would have thought that a high proportion of the cars in Cuba are near the sea, and yet they survive for decades. I've also seen quite a few oldish cars near the Mediterranean coast.

I'm tempted to wonder if sea air really is a major cause of rust and corrosion. Does anyone know?

sea air and rust - Stuartli
Probably because it's a lot warmer and drier in Cuba and the Med.

I live in a seaside resort - a mixture of salt air and cars used to be a problem and regular washing helped to prolong lifespan, but modern paintwork and bodywork internal protection seem to stand up to it far more effectively.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
sea air and rust - Altea Ego
Dry salt does not rust cars. Wet salt does. So anywhere wet and near the coast will eat cars
sea air and rust - Cardew
I spent some years in Malta where you cannot get more than 3/4 miles from the sea and it is very humid.

The cars, and particularly buses, seem to last forever.

sea air and rust - Stuartli
The only time I've been to Malta the weather was glorious and it certainly wasn't humid, but that may have been due to the time of year.

The buses are wonderful, especially the pre-war ones...

Stupidly cheap too - only problem was the occasional verbal exchange with drivers trying to diddle us with the change. Seemed to forget that we use a decimal coinage system as well....:-))
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
sea air and rust - holly1
Interesting post this because many years ago we visited the Isle of Wight. The coach driver actually commented on the fact that we would see more old cars there than back at home because the sea air preserved them ...... and sure enough the average age of car was at least 6 years older than the ones by us and in much much better condition.
sea air and rust - Aprilia
A couple of years back I bought a BMW from auction (so sell on) - it looked fairly good and had a Northern Irish registration (which I wrong assumed had been transferred on in England). As it turned out the car was a genuine NI car and had spent most of its life close to the sea. It was in a really poor state underneath - the rustiest BMW I've seen for a long time. I've been wary of 'coastal cars' ever since.
sea air and rust - tyro
It was in a really poor state underneath -
the rustiest BMW I've seen for a long time. I've
been wary of 'coastal cars' ever since.


Presumably if the underneath was in really poor state, washing the car regularly wouldn't help much. Or is there a technique for washing the underneath?
sea air and rust - Aprilia
Presumably if the underneath was in really poor state, washing the
car regularly wouldn't help much. Or is there a technique
for washing the underneath?


I have a long lance with a 90-deg angled end that fits my Karcher pressure washer. Good for washing away the salt from underneath the car in the winter and only takes a couple of minutes to do.
sea air and rust - BazzaBear {P}
Interesting post this because many years ago we visited the Isle
of Wight. The coach driver actually commented on the fact that
we would see more old cars there than back at home
because the sea air preserved them


Hmm...
Not so sure about that. Would the actual reason not just be that the likelihood was the cars had much, much lower mileages than average? So it was down to mechanical lastability rather than bodywork.
sea air and rust - Cliff Pope
I think there might be several factors here:

1) in places like Cuba all cars have a scarcity value. This makes it financially worthwhile keeping, and maintaining, old cars long after they would have become unviable elsewhere.

2)People who for whatever reason want to make their cars last probably take more trouble to wash off salt (it only takes a minute's blast with a pressure washer, after all)

3) Places by the sea are less likely to suffer from icy roads, so won't be subjected to routine salting of the roads. So any differences will tend to be ironed out anyway.

4) The real difference is between damp and dry atmosphere.

The 2 million mile Volvo man I think lives by the sea, but washes his car regularly.
sea air and rust - THe Growler
I lived many years in Bahrain, which is a country on the (very salty) Arabian Gulf with very high humidity. Cars used to rot out very quickly. But then you're dealing with a wealthy country where cars are cheap so just go and buy another one.

Cuba may well have a similar climate, I don't know I've never been there, but simple economics there would probably indicate that old cars would be welded up and kept going.

Not unlike the Philippines. I've just been up country in the boonies for a few days' R & R and there are plenty of ex-US 1940's trucks and jeeps still running round.
sea air and rust - v8man
3) Places by the sea are less likely to suffer from icy roads, so won't be subjected to routine salting of the roads. So any differences will tend to be ironed out anyway

I don't know where you got this from. I have lived on the south coast in Eastbourne for most of my life and the roads certainly are routinely gritted in winter.
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
sea air and rust - Civic8
There are a lot of old cars on the IOW.But if you take a close look at some.You will see where a lot of welding has been done/body repairs..My recently retired mate on the Island.Made a living through this..Sea air doesnt do a car any good. Specialy the old ones
--
Steve
sea air and rust - David Horn
Digging back to my A-Level chemistry, I was under the impression that there isn't actually any salt in the air near the sea, unless you get splashed with seawater.
sea air and rust - L'escargot
Digging back to my A-Level chemistry, I was under the impression
that there isn't actually any salt in the air near the
sea, unless you get splashed with seawater.


I hope you're right ~ I live within half a mile of the high water mark. I try to make the best of things by using a dehumidifier in the garage if my car is wet when it goes in.
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
sea air and rust - Cliff Pope
I think that's true, Jesse, on a calm day. Salt doesn't actually evaporate so can't escape the sea in the way that water vapour can.
The noted effects of sea air I think must derive from fine spray/mist being blown inland. Why else would salt-tolerant or salt-loving plants grow by the sea?
sea air and rust - nortones2
Industrial plant on the west coast (Cumbria) has been known to rust through from the outside. Bit of a nuisance on cracker! Salt blown on strong winds, elevated plant, saturated air + condensation on cold plant, = pain in wallet.
sea air and rust - GrumpyOldGit
A very long time ago the AA did a county by county survey on car rot. The coastal counties were generally no worse than inland ones. As said above there isn't any salt in the air, only in sea spray.

iirc the most rusty cars were in Kent and it was put down to the fertilisers used on farm land being washed onto the roads and causing rust.
sea air and rust - frazerjp
Isnt it a fact that cars in the north-east tend to rot earlier in their lives then anywhere in the uk because of the amount of salt that is put on the roads up there?
--
Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
sea air and rust - defender
sea air certainly rusts cars near the coast,we are six miles from the coast and after a north easterly gale you can wash the white stains of the windows,havent tasted it to see if its salty but bare metal in my shed rusts very quickly with it.the worst thing you can do to cause rust is to put a wet car of salty roads in to a cold garage,better to leave it outside to dry
sea air and rust - defender
grumpy I would not think these fact are correct as only some fertilisers are corrosive in fact dont they use urea (a commonly used fertiliser) to de-ice runways
sea air and rust - malteser
I live on the coast and you very rarely see a rusty car here - banged and dented, yes, but not generally rusty.
--
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
sea air and rust - Stuartli
Most likely because it's generally warm and dry...:-)

I live about a mile-and-a-quarter from the shoreline and, because of the prevailing westerly winds, even at that distance sea spray reaches my property in the event of strong or gale-force winds.

Most people used to wash their cars pretty regularly at one time but, as I stated earlier, modern vehicles are much better protected and it's now just the weekly or so makeover.

Mind you there have been occasions over the years when we've had our vehicles covered in sand which, according to news reports, had eminated from the Sahara many hundreds of miles away.....:-)


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by