Old truck rust is a problem that has to be understood in order to be controlled. Rust is a general term for a series of iron oxides, usually red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron with oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture.
Several forms of rust are distinguishable visually and when we first notice its presence the tendency is for us to think our truck is gone. Oxidation is a serious problem but it's not the end of the world.
First we have to understand that old truck rust forms under different circumstances and consists of hydrated iron oxides.
Rusting is the common term for corrosion of iron and its alloys, such as steel. Other metals undergo equivalent corrosion, but the resulting oxides are not commonly called rust. Given sufficient time, oxygen, and water, any iron mass eventually converts entirely to rust and disintegrates in the form of small flakes. Old truck rust is invincible.
This is a natural process and it is present in big buildings, in famous bridges, in the gigantic oil drilling platforms offshore and in modern cars too. Even the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, France and the Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco, California are under constant attack by corrosion.
Your old truck is certainly under the permanent attack of the two elements that are the main culprits for old truck corrosion: water and air. I wish I had better news but the fact of the matter is that there is no way to cure this. The most you can do is to keep your eyes open and try to prevent corrosion.
But how do you prevent old truck rust?
There are several ways to prevent corrosion involving chemistry, electricity and so on. But, for all practical purposes, from the point of view of the owner of an old truck, painting is the way. Keep in mind, though that you have to make absolutely sure that there are no rust spots in the surface to be painted. You have to have the surface completely cleaned and down to bare metal.
If possible, make sure the other side of the surface is free of corrosion too. It makes no sense to clean and paint one side of the metal if the other side is being attacked by rust.
If the corrosion has eaten part of the surface you have to patch a new piece of metal there, clean well and apply paint. There are several products in the market that can help to prevent corrosion. None of them will prevent corrosion completely and none of them will prevent corrosion from coming back in the future but they can delay the process and this helps. You can do some research on paints also and find our which product is better recommended for your specific case.
The type of steel used in old trucks is much thicker then the metal used in modern cars. That gives us a slight advantage since the corrosion will take a little longer to bore through. But that doesn't mean that the steel used in old trucks would resist corrosion. It doesn't and it can't.
Now you know what corrosion is and what it can do to metals. On my next article I will tell you about my own experience with rust that attacked my old Chevy truck.
