Morris Minor Owners Club

Its a wonderful product called DENZO and it comes in the form of a lovley khaki couloured bandage, its acutally used for keeping moisture out of underground cables as used by underground Jointers working for BT & Electricity boards
But I dont think this will prolong the life of a leaf spring as they deteriorate with age and the weight on them and not due to moisture the average life span is 10 years + ( anyone know exactly how long ) its quite normal for then to look rusty, and Denzo really is something else when it comes to gooeyness the grease is not unlike bearing grease but with a better colour & smell

I have replaced springs before and they have gone rusty looking within a few months, but it's only very light surface rust and so I'm not that bothered about it.

Long ago you could buy LEATHER gaiters which covered
the leaf springs. You should NOT lubricate leaf springs as
they are designed to work dry. Oiling them alters the action.
If they look too tatty for you then try painting the outsides
with Waxoyl, it keeps them looking more presentable. Don''t
try to lubricate between the leaves.

Denzo tape can be purchased from a plumber's merchants - I bought mine from Travis Perkins. Having suffered catastrophic spring failure on a speed hump due to spring leaves rusting together over the winter, I have wrapped it around all the springs on my cars. Get yourself some rubber gloves - the grease doesn't come off anything! They use it a lot on North Sea oil rigs - need I say more.

I also dismantled my springs and packed them with graphite grease between the leaves before fitting them. This is a controversial mod as it affects the rate at which the springs can bounce, but I also have modern dampers fitted to my rear suspension which can cope. The leaf springs were designed to work dry as the Minor Armstrong rear dampers were very inefficent - practically useless, and the extra friction between the spring leaves helped the damping. However they don't work if the leaves are rusted together - if they can't move there is no friction! You can check for this simply as there will be no wear marks at the ends of the spring leaves showing where they have been moving relative to the next leaf.

Some racers used to fit PTFE sheets or zinc sheets between the leaves for the same lubrication effect as the graphite grease. I suggest that you DON'T grease your springs unless you know what you are doing, but I am glad I did.

Take care.

As Willie says using Waxoil is the simpler solution and nowhere near as messy as Denzo never drys.
I have heard of springs breaking in normal use due to age & fatigue, but I have not come across them rusting together as this would mean you had no spring movement what so ever and would affect everything including breaking, it would be like driving a solid car.
I would have thought as soon as you pulled away the movement would have freed the springs if they had rusted together, my cars live outside all year round and have never suffered from the springs rusting together, do you live on a coastal area with lots of salt or severe weather.