Defender, Discovery, Motorhome – Before n After rustproofing

Classification: c) Over 10 years old but very clean for age. Not expected to need re-treatment under the guarantee.
This was a curate's egg. It was Before 'n' After'd in 2004. 70% of the underbody was in miraculously good condition. I attribute this to the fact that Land Rover under Ford's ownership of the time were spraying the under body with a water based synthetic wax. The waxoyl we applied would penetrate into this and form a very useful amalgam with anti-corrosion properties from the waxoyl and anti-abrasion properties from the synthetic wax. The rear of the diff casing was very rusty and I had to chisel off and grind off laminations of rust. The paintwork was in very good condition apart from some typical Defender bi-metal aluminium corrosion bubbling through in a few places. The owner (since new) had waxed the paintwork religiously, twice a year with autoglym's wax. I was able to inject the two front doors as these were just a bit rusty underneath. Corrosion had not yet eaten away the steel tubes or entered the clinches. I advised the owner to just clean up the rust with a wire brush and paint it with red hammerite smoothrite. The rear passenger doors had some rot in them but were still borderline repairable because the corrosion had not got into the clinches. The front bumper is very rusty but the owner is going to replace it with a galvanised one.