Carbon steel samples covered with initially crack-free zinc-nickel coatings were polarized with a small anodic overpotential in moderately alkaline NaCl solution. Along with zinc dissolution, the coatings developed a mud-crack pattern due to tensile stress release, allowing the electrolyte to access the underlying steel surface. Simonkolleite grew on both the zinc-nickel coating and the steel substrate. The resulting current density, that was first strongly anodic, switched to small cathodic values when the coating surface was almost fully covered by a compact simonkolleite layer.