Stainless Steel will rust

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

Under the right conditions. It routinely rusts under saltwater conditions 
such as on sailboats. The difference is it will only surface rust and then 
stop. It rarely decomposes completely.

Also, depending upon what scratched the stainless it can show rust. If 
plain steel did the scratching then what you see is the residue of steel in 
the scratch rusting.

Finally, stainless steel relies upon it's chromium component to form a skin 
on the surface that is shiny and will not oxidize further (it's similar in 
concept to anodizing on aluminum though the chemistry is different) so when 
you scratch stainless and introduce a foreign metal it might start the 
stainless rusting a bit. In other words, stainless steel is a steel that 
normally "rusts" with a shiny surface, then stops oxidizing. You can easily 
stain stainless steel by overheating it or by cleaning it with the wrong 
soap or water softening products.

ALFA content: the exhaust system on the 164 is NOT stainless steel though 
the 1991 factory brochure claimed it was. Just the tips of the final 
muffler are stainless steel, and the ones on mine are rusting!


Michael Smith
Calgary, Alberta,Canada
91 Alfa 164L
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