Warren - Those guides that rusted on my friend's rod were chrome-plated, coiled, heavy-duty wire. One continuous spin of wire from foot to foot, twice around to form the ring. EXACTLY which brand they were, I can not be sure. I used the name "Foulproof" because I didn't think that anybody but Aetna (?) made them. I am so un-fond of them that I lost track of the brand-specifics. It seems that every rod I have ever seen with coiled wire guides USED IN SALTWATER has had rust on them at the heel of the guide foot going into the epoxy AND in-between the adjacent coils in the ring. Lots of reasons that rust could be there, from user neglect, to product inferiority. "Rust never sleeps" and seems to be contagious, so I avoid it at all costs. ... Ceramic rings for me, ... IMO.
Wire coil guides seem to fair just fine on FRESHwater rods. And I suppose IF YOU WASHED THEM after EACH saltwater trip, that wire coil guides can be kept in good condition on a saltwater rod. But it just seems that the fishers who think that a wire coil guide is indestructible mechanically make the mistaken assumption that the wire is also corrosion-PROOF. It is corrosion RESISTANT, not -PROOF, and with PROPER care may be almost corrosion "proof". BUT anybody who has ever seen a chrome bumper rust on a car or truck driven over salted winter roads knows that chrome can rust. And chrome over brass reel seats can get corrosion on the barrel, or on the outside of the hoods, or especially between the hood and barrel.
With some brands of heavy-duty wire coil guides, the last time I looked, it was hard to tell if they electro-plated the chrome onto the base metal before or AFTER the coil was formed. If chrome-plated BEFORE the wire is coiled: chrome is very rigid and does not flex readily, requiring a thinner plating --> earlier saltwater penetration thru thin coating or micro-fractures formed during coiling. If chrome-plated AFTER the wire is coiled: the area where the adjacent coils of wire form the guide ring and touch together is VERY difficult to get the chrome into, and any shearing flexing between those coils can crack the chrome union ("tent"). BIngo --> saltwater intrusion --> rust. Even a little corruption spreads spontaneously and irreversibly. In either scenario of chrome-plating, an inferior product, hard use or user neglect will give saltwater the little advantage it needs to begin the rusting process and change the smoothness and or strength of the guide.
That's my assessment as a fisherman, my observations as a rod-builder, and my insight as a professional chemist (B.S.). We don't have to be metallurgists or material (ceramic) scientists to see why ceramic guides have long-ago displaced chrome & wire guide rings, and continue to dominate the market today, even with some newer unplated metals for the wire rings.
(RECOILS are probably a great choice for light-duty freshwater applications. BUT the context of this discussion is a medium-heavy++ SALTWATER rod for grouper. The very fact that the guide ring is formed by two coils of wire makes the perfect crevice into which saltwater can dry and start the corrosion process. I don't care what the outer metal of the guide ring is made out of. It's gonna rust. Eventually. Period. And that goes for "stainless steel", too. Unless that metal is titanium or gold or platinum, the dang thing is gonna rust when the saltwater dries. No metals (mechanically suited to make guide rings) are more noble than these against a highly concentrated saltwater solution. A corrupting type of electrolysis will occur no matter what the product description says. That's just straight electro-chemistry and the Nernst Equation.)
Warren - you asked: "The ones you mentioned that rusted, were they stainless? What if you washed them off after use, will they still rust? I picked up a set to put on a GUSA 8' 6" MegaMag for cobia. Sounds like I should reconsider."
Warren, I don't know what brand of guide you bought, and it probably doesn't matter. IF you take care of it, you should be fine. Rinse it, sponge soap it, toothbrush the inside and outside crevice in the guide ring, rinse it, drain it and then towel dry the ring. Or at least whack the rod against your palm to shake off the water, and towel dry if you can. If you do all that, you should be fine. If you do something less than that, and how much less, I don't know, you increase your chances for rusting CONSIDERABLY.
IMO, the one, very simple thing that can be done to prevent corrosion that can make all the difference in the world, is to do this: use a CLEAN TOWEL or WASHCLOTH to DRY the guide feet and rings BEFORE the saltwater can evaporate. ... BEFORE the rod leaves the fishing grounds at the end of the day. Before the rod leaves the party boat. Before you trailer your boat and start driving home. Before you throw the rods in the car or truck. Before you get home and are too tired for all that clean-up. Just DRY the SALTWATER OFF the metal parts of your fishing rod BEFORE the saltwater can get concentrated, and LONG before it can form damp salt crystals. If there is no water and no salt there, because you rinsed it off and / or dried the saltwater off the metals with a towel, you have eliminated ~95% of the source of the corrupting electrolysis. One little clean washcloth stuffed in your tacklebox or stowed dry on your person is all it takes to dry a couple of rods. Doing SOMETHING EARLY to remove the saltwater and to prevent its concentration is much better than doing too little too late. IMO, ... (And it works on hooks, lures, plugs, swivels, stainless leaders, knives, pliers, etc. ... It's the "kill it before it grows" principle.)
Warren, Let me know how you like that GUSA MegaMag when you get it going. Thanks, - [
cmkmhall@ufl.edu ] . 'Hope that helps. -Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA+++
