bean438

Not that anyone cares but I thought I would share.
It was a 4 hour round trip from Winnipeg to Kenora (no Krown dealer in Winnipeg).
My car is oozing and dripping as I type, and I couldn't be happier.
Messy, smelly (oil dripping onto hot parts.....strange looks from people as my car smokes) but I think I did the right thing by having it done.

Fritz the Cat

Silly question: what's Krowned mean?

Battousai

I had the same question but then found this:

http://www.krown.com/

Its rust proofing.

Google is your friend

bean438

Sorry, I guess I assumed everyone knew what Krown was. Turns out most people don't.
The guys I work with never heard of it and think I am crazy for doing it.
I think it is totally worth it.
Google is the best.

khtm

Hmmm...interesting. Does anyone else have an opinion about "Krowning" ? Looks like it costs about $110. This'll be my first *real* winter since moving from Victoria to Calgary and I bet the salt and whatever else is used on the roads isn't very car-friendly. Seems like Krowning may not be such a bad idea afterall...

bean438

Most rust proofing is a scam does nothing but make money for the dealer.
Krown is the only rustproofing that actually works AND is also recommended by the APA (consumers group).
Google rustproofing on the web and groups tab. Krown and Rustcheck will keep popping up.
kROWN are ex rustcheck guys that branched out on their own. Very simmilar but Krown is more thourough.
You have a Krown right in Calgary, I suggest to get your car done. If you are leasing or not gonna keep it that long then I wouldnt bother.
My 8 is the first car I have had krowned. It is my first car actually worth krowning.

rotten42

we don't use very much salt in Calgary......lots of gravel...Krowning won't help that.

bean438

What do you mean when you say Krowning wont help with the gravel? Moisture is still moisture. Condensation still happens, salt or no salt.
Salt speeds the rust process considerably, but even a car in California will rust, though much slower than in eastern provinces.
At my workplace the guys who maintain our tools properly with a light coating of oil have nice clean shiny tools. Those who don't have rusted tools. None of the tools are exposed to salt.
Same goes for your car, inside the panels, under the hood, and underneath.
Will Krown eliminate rust completely from happening? Most likely not, but it will slow it down considerably.
It is definately worth $109.00.
The only negatives are it drips for a few days (not alot but enough to notice it), and it has to be done once a year because the oil will wear off.
Rustproofing has a stigma to it because the dealer-apply-once-only rustproofing really is a scam.
Krown should actually call their system rust retarding, but that might offend some people.
Many people in the east know of Krown style rust retardation because they use a lot of salt on their roads. Eastern cars are worth less money used than western cars.
The use of low salt or no salt is no excuse to not have your car rust retarded wether it be by Krown, or Rustcheck.
Those are the 2 that come up often on google. Zeibert is another one but nothing good is said.

rotten42

What I mean is that when you have all these beautiful rock chips in the paint from the large amount of gravel on the road that gets shot at your car, krowning won't help

bean438

Thats what I thought you meant. All the little chips that I have are in the plastic nose of the car, so I am not concerned with rust there.
What I actually need to do is catch the guy who stole my 8, scuffed the front rim and then brought the car back. That must have been what happened cause I know for sure I didnt scuff the rim and my wife said she didnt do it either.
It is probably the same guy who broke into our house and spilled chocolate milk on our futon, as my wife said she didnt do that either, and I dont drink chocolate milk.

Hellbreed

I haven't looked at Krowning or Rustchecking in a long time, but the last time I did their process involved making holes so that they can spray the stuff inside your panels. Of course they would cover it with a plastic cap after but I don't like the look or idea of extra holes (unless they are "Speed Holes" on your hood). Do they still do this or is there a different method now??

bean438

They still drill holes but try to avoid doing so. Someone in the forums claimed to have no holes drilled but my guy had to drill. They only drill holes from the bottom that drain down.
They use a plug that is coated with the oil and cemented in. There is a lot of goop oozing out of the hole when they plug it. There is no way anything can get into that hole, and I think any exposed metal is covered enough with oil and cement.
I am not sure what Rustcheck does.
You cant see the holes they are done in not so obvious areas.

scoop

Well if I were to drive my RX-8 in winter I would have it oil sprayed . . . I do it yearly to my Subaru (Metropolitan brand, good quality, slightly less expensive), rock chips or not, most serious rusting occurs in seams and from the inside out where water is trapped. Yes they do drill holes that they then grease and cap, the car is a mess afterwords as some oil mist gets on the paint and it drips for a couple days, those are the only real down sides. The only better things to do are park the car or move west and the farther the better. I once had a car with the sort of dealer applied tar like stuff, that was totally useless, unless something like that is applied a assembly time it probably does more harm than good by trapping water and it's all over priced. I wouldn't oil spray the car on the west coast as I had a car for years the spent about 10 years of its life literally across the street from the ocean in Victoria. Road salt, cold temperatures and condensation do much more damage than sea spray that lands on the surface. Another trick is to never park indoors, let the car freeze like a rock and stay that way. Moving the car in and out of a heated parking area in winter creates ideal rusting conditions.

bean438

I didnt insulate my attached garage specifically for that reason scoop.
But you dont have to park in a heated garage to get condensation.
If there is dew on your grass in the morning, then there is condensation happening in your car, no matter which coast you live on.
The mess and dripping really isnt that bad. Maybe I was expecting alot worse so it seems like nothing.
I mean, you can see oil drips and people that dont knopw about oil spraying are like WTF??
But it is a small price to pay.
I drove right from my Krown dealer to a Shell staion 5 minutes away to fill up for the trip home. My car was smoking like I had overheated. A kid in front of me in a beat up pick up started flippin out until he realized it wasnt him that was smoking.
That was kinda embarrasing. I told him I just got the car oil sprayed. I got a stupid look. I went in and paid for my gas and dripped, I mean drove home.

Hellbreed

Did you guys do the engine bay to? There is quite a bit of the grey insulation on the side walls and under hood. If the stuff is sprayed around it how good of a job is that? Also I tend to keep the engine bay clean as I clean it everytime I wash the car, can't do that once the goop is all over it.

bean438

They sprayed in the hood itself, through various holes. I guess the stuff will ooze onto the grey insulation abit.
The engine was not sprayed from the top. The covers were left on but the car was given a spray from underneath so the underside of the engine was hit. Actually this stuff is sprayed into a very fine mist and literally creeps everywhere.
I was smoking for a couple of hours.
It really doesnt ooze that much.
The engine bay still looks pretty clean, especially with the covers not oily.
Check out Krown's web site. They have a lot of info as to what they actually do. They explain it better than I can.

scoop

Well by necessity there is normally a lot of spray in the engine area. They usually go for all the cavities in the hood, the firewall, hinges, finders, brake lines, all the supports and stuff behind the grille and lights etc. If you want to drive in winter where they spread a lot of salt you can take your pick between oily residue or corrosion unless you drive something like an Audi. Given that choice I would pick the oil as you come out way ahead in the end but it is messy. Personally I can't bring myself to drive the 8 winter and I have a couple of much more suitable winter cars so I won't bother to oil spray it.

bean438

I dont understand the Audi comment. A choice between corrosion or oil or an Audi?
Even if I wasnt gonna winter drive the 8 I would still oil spray it. Condensation causes corrosion and anything to slow it down helps.
It really wasnt that messy. The oozing has pretty much stopped.
109 bucks is cheap piece of mind.

scoop

Yes you are right to oil spray the 8. What I meant was if it was 100% dip galvanized after assembly like an Audi and filled at the factory with seam sealers and such I wouldn't bother. My Audi winter car has never been oil sprayed, it is almost 15 years old, it is rock solid and still fairly pristine looking after all those eastern winters. I had another Audi that was even older that I sent to the junk yard as it was beyond economic repair, when I ripped the door panels off to salvage a bunch of spare parts there was not a spot of rust anywhere. My Subaru is only a few years old and it on the other hand was only assembled from panels made of two side galvanized sheet metal. That doesn't provide protection for cut points or spot welds and crimps that may breach the galvanized surface so I oil spray it yearly. If you look at some 4-5 year old untreated Subarus you can see rust starting to form in the seams of the hood and rear hatch. Based on the fact that the corrosion warranty on the 8 is five years and it is twelve years on an Audi you can tell they didn't go overboard trying to rustproof the thing. There is also a weight issue with significant factory rustproofing.

In terms of mess, all I would say is if someone cleans their engine bay all the time to keep it in show car condition they would not appreciate the oil over spray in there. Some of the mess issue would be affected by the oil spray application company/technique/person, I would rather they use too much than too little though. i.e. you may well have had less mess than I have had. In my mind it comes down to oil spray or don't drive the car. By driving the car in winter the engine bay will become full of salt and sand anyways so cleanliness is really out the window no matter what.

bean438

Not that I am doubting you but my father in law drove a 97-98 Audi (can't remember for sure. It was a piece of crap, needing more repairs than an american made car.
It had rust starting to show through. We dont use a lot of salt in the winters at least not as much compared to the east.That was then, so I dont know how well the Audis are made now a days, but I would be scared to buy one. Edmoinson says german cars are going down quality wise.
Why would such a poorly made car go to the trouble of dip galvanizing?
Regardless, I would still oil spray an Audi. I don't care abot the mess, as it really isnt that bad.

bean438

Update to above post:
Lemon aid confirmed my opinion of Audi's early 80's poor quality.
However he says they made a complete turn around and is now his top choice for European luxury and sports cars.
He does generalize European cars as over priced, poorly serviced, and not that reliable. A more bucks than brains kinda car.
I have never owned a European car because of lemon aids view.
All I know is that Beamer drivers are typically ******** who are not courteous.
There are not a lot of Audi's in Winnipeg. My father in law hated his.
That being said I am looking at dumping my 95 protege and buying one of those new smart cars built by Benz.
They are reasonably priced, and fuel efficient. I have never been a fan of Mercedes cars as they are way over priced for what you get save for excellent safety tests.
But I think the smart car will really take off here, especially once the smart for fours arrive.

Hellbreed

Well I gave in to rsut proofing, I took my car into Krown today here in Bolton and had it done. I asked for them to do it without drilling holes and they did, they took good care and used factory plugs where available. For the rocker panels I removed the plastic runner that goes over it which provided many holes to get the stuff into. Other than my car being a dripping mess I'm very happy with the way they applied it. If this stuff keeps my car looking newer for longer then the $100 a year is well worth it.

bean438

Way to go. My guy had to drill to access the doors. Kinda sucks cause a few people have had their cars krowned with no drilling.

Hellbreed

For the front doors my guy used the 3 drain holes under the bottom rubber stripping. The back doors were a bit tougher because they don't have these drain holes so he went through the wiring harness access, just pulled the rubber off which gave him a hug hole to spray through. Rear quarters he went through the trunk behind the left and right grey cover stuff (pretty technical huh?), front quarters are pretty accessible.

THought I'd give more details on the access points in case anyone else is interested and are told that it's not possible. I was told that the warranty could not be offered because they could not drill holes, I didn't care much as I watched it all and they got it in there pretty good.

bean438

Well I would have prefered no drilling but really, they seal it up pretty good. I would be more concerned with no Krown warranty and no drilling over warranty and drilling.