Protective coating for older/weathered paintwork...

[Ruairidh Dunford]

I wonder if any Forum readers have any experience with products that are more commonly used by the VW fans to preserve the rusted look of the their much loved "Rat-Look" vehicles please?

I need to preserve the painting on a very weathered vehicle. I think similar products are used on older motorcycles to keep the same look, can anyone recommend a product they have used please?

[Ian Williams]

I have heard of Penetrol, Linseed oil and boot polish all being successful for sealing and slowing rust.

[JonE]

I use the oils which harden and 'set' on rusted steel plinths after sanding them occasionally - so boiled linseed often. The difficulty is finding something that stays transparent rather than yellow tinted, if using on anything other than rust colour. You joked elsewhere about engine oil getting onto your clothes for oily rag, but I reckon there are advantages in the non-setting oils just for maintaining surface contact, done regularly enough and polished back enough?
What colour is the paint... ?

[Charles Levien]

I have heard of Penetrol, Linseed oil and boot polish all being successful for sealing and slowing rust.

Hello Ruairidh,

About six months ago I started looking for something better than the usual car wax and after a bit of research found Collinite No476S Super Double Coat Auto Wax. 
It’s not cheap and as the word auto suggests it is made in the USA but I can recommend it. I use it to good effect on my Opal which, as you know, is showing patches of that excellent prewar steel.

Charles. In Norfolk, which is warm (at last)

[JohnD]

I looked into this several years ago for a project, the VW boys use a product called "Ankor wax" 

Depends on how flakey the paint is tho, and how much you intend to use the car, a good car wax would do a similar job

In the end i painted over the patina with a clear matt finish lacquer, this sealed and gave a smooth surface. This was a false patina i created tho, not original paintwork which could cause a reaction

[Chris KC]

No direct experience of doing this but Owatrol (UK version of penetrol) might be the kind of thing you are after. Would deffo suggest a discreet test before slapping anything on in quantity! Much of course depends on what is the nature of the substrate. .

[Colin Wilks]

I use WD40 to clean and preserve the ancient paintwork on my Series Land Rover. The rain still beads weeks later, just as if it had had an expensive wax job.

[Tom the Blacksmith]

Hi R,

I can recommend morris ankor wax, I found out about from the rat look lads. Goes on very thin and then dries off, you can almost buff it after it's dry. I bought 5lt tin years ago and I think it's going to see me out.

Tom

["Slack Alice" Simon]

I have stopped using WD 40 for most things that I used to use it for.

Mainly because, when used on bicycle, after a while it left a nasty brown stain, difficult to remove.

Either WD 40 has something in it that dries brown, or it attracts and fixes more dirt than I like.

Now I use sewing machine oil, which, if it attracts dirt, is easily cleaned off.

Simon

[Ruairidh Dunford]

The rain still beads weeks later, just as if it had had an expensive wax job.

I live in Glasgow Colin - this has a different meaning here and your only saving grace is that it was expensive!


Thank you everyone - this is very helpful to me, I will report back how I get on.

Great Stuff!