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Lanoguard’s Story: From Marine and Industrial - to Easy, DIY Underbody Rust Protection

Lanoguard started in the UK in 2011 protecting heavy duty, industrial vehicles and machinery from the harshest of corrosive environments. Over a decade later our products are now also used by tens of thousands of DIY users who love to keep their vehicles protected from rust, easily, and to the same industrial standard. Read on to find out all about our past and how we started our Underbody Care community!

 

Early days in the marine market and Lanoguard New Zealand

Lanoguard was founded in New Zealand more than 38 years ago and came to the UK in 2011. Upon the realisation that the power of nature, and the natural properties of lanolin (wool grease) could stop corrosion in its tracks and protect, preserve, and lubricate machinery – Lanoguard began in the marine rust prevention market helping boat owners to keep their vessels in good working order.

These were the early days in which, whilst Lanoguard was little known, the products were put to the test in real-world scenarios keeping saltwater at bay and, quite simply, doing their job.

 

Airports, seaports, and Asset Protector

Lanoguard came to the UK in 2011 as a company and product with proven potential to solve the problem of rust, but with no clearly defined market in which to do so. The initial years were spent forging relationships with marine chandleries, ports, and industrial partners. Among these were Newhaven Port, Gatwick Airport, Dublin Airport, and Multihog.

Under the brand of a new sister company, “Asset Protector”, we developed a service to protect our industrial partners’ assets using Lanoguard products in a variety of different strength blends and formats. Given the timing, just after the global financial crisis, many companies were looking to keep their expensive machinery for longer – Asset Protector offered that solution. These years put our products massively to the test in harsh chemical, toxic and highly corrosive environments – with airports using the products primarily to stop corrosion from runway de-icing fluid (potassium acetate, which accelerates the corrosion oxidation process at an alarming rate!), and a host of other companies using Lanoguard to stop seizing of parts and to ensure machinery remained serviceable and operational.

Despite this wide variety of real-world uses, we weren’t done in our mission, and we kept asking ourselves, as we still do, “I wonder if there’s a better way?”. We spent the next few years after launching in the UK to continually improve our products and formulas, which included building a fully UK-based supply chain of the highest quality raw ingredients and materials, and to have a constant focus on reducing carbon and making our product range more sustainable. 

 

All our research led to a simple, easy to use DIY kit

These years of trying, testing, formulating, and reformulating, added to our extensive understanding of our product line and of corrosion protection. In early 2020 we had come to the realisation that, fundamentally, if you could wash a car you could use Lanoguard – and only two product strengths were needed to protect any vehicle in an easy, effective DIY manner – in stepped our Moto Spray and Moto Grease, and our Vehicle Underbody and Chassis Care Kit was born. Our product formulas, application methods and technical properties of the Moto Range made it perfectly suited for underbody vehicle protection.

At this point, it was the start of lockdowns and COVID-19, and much like the global financial crisis, another period of huge uncertainty was beginning. Our underbody kits gave customers everything they needed to have peace of mind that this tough time for all wouldn’t need to be worsened by high garage bills or failed MOTs. One simple, easy DIY rustproofing treatment would empower them to keep the vehicle that they love for longer.

 

Lanoguard today: Thousands of users, Industrial and DIY, saying goodbye to rust…

Since the launch of our Underbody and Chassis Care Kits, we are so grateful and pleased to be able to say that the Lanoguard community is going from strength to strength. We continue to work with industrial partners including airports, seaports, chandleries and the construction sector – but this is accompanied by tens of thousands of DIY users who protect their vehicles and machines, very easily, and are saying goodbye to rust.

It has been fantastic to see our Lanoguard Users Group on Facebook growing month on month, and to see many thousands who also asked themselves “I wonder if there’s a better way” and who opted to join our community, is what keeps us motivated in our mission to stop rust in a sustainable way.

We’ve now added to our product line with new applicators, pressure sprayers and accessory products, including our new 360 degree misting injection wand, new bulk-buy and trade offerings, and plenty more in the pipeline as we continue to take our customers’ feedback and use it to improve further.

 

If you have a vehicle or machine you’d like to protect and are interested in Lanoguard – please don’t hesitate to check out our products or get in touch to find out more.

 

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