Tested: Valvoline Multi Spray corrosion protection review

By John Milbank

Posted 23/04/2018 13:00 UK

Date tested: April 2018 | Price: £5.57 for 400ml can | www.valvolineeurope.com

While not a dedicated corrosion inhibitor, Valvoline Multi Spray is a penetrating fluid that’s also marketed as offering protection against rust.

It comes in aerosol form, and is easy to apply, while being relatively cheap (if difficult to find for sale in the UK).

Valvoline Multi Spray performance

Valvoline’s multi spray was the most effective rust proofer of our non-specific products on test, taking four weeks to exceed 20% coverage of corrosion on the metal plate, and 13 weeks before it was completely ruined.

Fresh steel plates were cut to size, folded at 90° (to give vertical and horizontal surfaces), then thoroughly cleaned before being coated with each product, as per the manufacturer’s guidelines. The test was carried out indoors, with a reasonably regulated temperature. For more information on how the test was done, please watch the video below.

Morning and night, the plates were each sprayed with a 5% solution of road salt in water, then consistently rinsed off at the end of each week with a hose head set to a shower pattern.

After eight weeks, the hose head was switched to a more aggressive fan spray, and the plates were rinsed with a consistent five full strokes from a distance of one inch each time.

After 14 weeks, any products that hadn’t completely corroded were hosed off every evening.

Valvoline Multi Spray stickiness test

After leaving for 24 hours to dry, the metal plate sprayed with Valvoline Multi Spray had a matte finish, though looked wet where pooled. It retained more sand than products like WD-40 when dusted, but less than the dedicated corrosion protectants. When rinsed, a very small amount of sand was left on the plate, but it was all removed with the hose head set to a fan pattern.

Metal plates were cut to size then thoroughly cleaned, before each product was applied as per the manufacturer’s instructions.

The plates were left indoors, laid horizontally for 24 hours, then each was dusted with fine sand. The plates were tapped vertically to knock any excess sand off, before being assessed for stickiness.

Next, each plate was rinsed with a hose head set to a shower pattern, and the amount of sand left was assessed.

Finally, each plate was hosed with five full strokes from a distance of one inch using a more aggressive fan pattern, before being checked for any remaining sand. Both rinsing cycles represent the methods used during corrosion testing.

Valvoline Multi Spray safety on rubber

Soaking an O-ring in Valvoline Multi Spray caused no ill effects whatsoever.

Brand new O-rings kindly supplied by motorcycle parts specialist B&C Express were put into test tubes containing each product. These were left for three months to soak, before the O-rings were carefully removed and assessed for any swelling, cracking, or other changes to their structure.

Please note that we do not recommend using these products as chain lubes – we’re just using the O-rings as a consistent material.

Valvoline Multi Spray review verdict

Despite being a multi-purpose spray, this Valvoline product was fairly effective. If you’re serious about stopping your bike from rusting, we’d still recommend using a dedicated product from the choices reviewed below, but Valvoline Multi Spray is certainly better than nothing, and more effective than some of its peers.

Interestingly, while we will be testing multi-sprays at a later date, in a supplemental test of penetration, Valvoline loosened a corroded bolt more effectively than GT85, which itself was better than WD-40 (control bolts were torqued to 15Nm, then corroded before being loosened with a digital torque wrench).