rust prevention on pickup

wilson ind

Well-known Member
Have 2010 Silverado 1500, never been on salt road. Just may have to use some this year. I have heard of problems with thick undercoat trapping moister and salt products. Some have suggested oil of some sort. Plan is to spray well under truck with hot water after each salty use. Your advice and experience requested.
 
I personally do not like undercoating, as believe it lifts and traps moisture, wash the underbody especially fender wells often.
 
The problems experienced may be due to the contaminant being present before the product was applied. I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast. Standard practice back in those days was a steam cleaning of the under carriage to ensure any existing salt is thoroughly cleaned out and then after a thorough drying (easy as the hot steam evaporated in a couple of hours) a good coating of undercoating material like you can buy in a spray can a wally world today for a song.....probably the same stuff they want 19.99.99 on TV. It was easy to tell the cars and trucks treated and not. I've used it all my life.
 
I have a small garden sprayer that I put about 1/2 diesel fuel and 1/2 used motor oil. After truck is clean and dry spray under truck in every crack and crevice including cab corners, rocker panels and lower part of door below any electrical items. It helps a lot.
 
I live on a dirt road. My truck is a 07 f150, I have coated it with a mixture of bar and chain oil cut with vegetable oil every fall. I'm pretty much rust free there are spots on the leading edge of the bed down low that are chipped and have some surface rust but other than that it's solid. I am also not a wash fanatic it hit it with the hose at most 5 times a year
 
You need to check your owner's manual on undercoating.

When I was selling vehicles for GM, one of my hotshot colleagues sold a new car to a little old lady. He also sold her on having it undercoated. A couple of days later, she walked in with her owner's manual in her hand and pointed to a line that said, "Undercoating this vehicle will void the rust through warranty".

The dealership had to give her another new car without the undercoating.

We had a heck of a time getting rid of the car that had been undercoated. As I recall, we used it as a service loaner and salesman's ride until it had accumulated enough miles to put on a dealer auction without creating suspicion.

Those dealer auctions aren't for the faint hearted.
 
I use to spray underside of truck with used crankcase drains but found it contains an acid. I now use a cheap new oil to spray vehicles.
 
I live in southern Ontario where road salt is used constantly. My truck is under coated in early fall before we get salt added to the roads so the salt is not trapped in nooks and crannies underneath. The undercoating is a thick substance than coats evenly. I remove the tail lights and spray "Deep Creep" (TR)around the inside rear quarters. I use Fluid Film on areas under bumpers and under hood. My trucks outlast a lot of trucks because of the undercoating. You can tell the trucks that have been undercoated vs those that haven't , usually about 5 to 6 years old and you see bubbles around the rear wheel wells. I am convinced that undercoating is well worth the time and money. I agree with Goose that some manufacturers of new vehicles will void warranty, my truck is a '97 and still looks good.
 
Bill,
In 2007 I bought a new GMC work truck. Before I took it home, I dropped it off at Z-tech at money creek square and had them under coat, sprayed inside doors, fenders, spray in a bed liner and give it a hi-tech wax job. Best money you can spend, $1000. No rust 11 years later. Neighbor has a Chevy truck the same age, rust all over. If I ever buy another new truck, I'll do the same. Not sure put Z-tech over rust will do any good.
 
I've used my cleaning gun on the air compressor to spray used hydraulic oil on the underside of my 81 pickup some years. It is hanging in there pretty good as far as rusting but then don't drive it a lot in winter either.
 
Buy a can of WD40 or any penetrating oil, insert the plastic straw in the spray tip, open the doors on your vehicle, and at the bottom where the water holes are, insert the straw, and spray inside. There should be two or three holes in the bottom of each door, use them! Do this twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, the doors won't rust.
 
I worked with a guy with a 70 Ford. He used old Electrical Transformer oil regularly on his truck. He made up a wand to spray underneath and into every hidden cavity. He drove it year around and there was NO rust. That oil will creep. I was told WD40 will do the same if you use it often enough.
Dave
 
(quoted from post at 19:29:13 12/04/18) Surprised no one mentioned "fluid film"???

Michael mentioned fluid film 70 mins before you. I was going to mention it also. Like Vicinalvictor I go over my '06 F350 and '07 Escape 3-4 times a year with WD-40 to drive any moisture out, then follow up the next day with aerosol chain lube. No rust for me! even though I am in NH.
 
Fluid -Film also. main thing is you need to get INSIDE doors bottoms and inside box all along above tires and also inside fender above tire and also inside fender down behind front tire.Also inside cab corners. This is where you CAN NOT wash but the salt mist and salt dust in summer gets in and rusts them out. May take some access hole drilling but you can buy the push plugs to seal back up and use some sealer on them when putting in. You can wash it all you want and even underneath all you want. Won't help where they really rust. Just take a look at a 2003- 2007 or so and see where they are perforated / rusted out. I've got a '99 Suburban and it's as pristine as the day it was born. I live and drive in MI salt.
 
I just drive them. Even if they only last me ten years, and rust out, and I have to get a new one. How many new trucks would I have left in me ? Two ? Three maybe?? Screw iit, l am just going to drive them, and if they rust out, I?ll get another.
 
I think just wash and wax em a few times a year . 1994 3500
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Neighbor said he used it and was good if vehicle set but if run in salt like they use around here it wouldn't last through winter.
 
It seems the rocker panels are the first thing to go. If you look under your truck, you'll probably see drain holes on the inside of the rockers. Something I've been meaning to do on my truck is to flush the dirt out of the rocker panels with a hose. Seems that would help.
 
For a lot of years I used motor oil or auto transmission fluid on our vehicles,15 yrs. or more ago discovered Fluid Film. I do the under carriage every year inside the fenders doors and rocker panels at least twice. Our last truck 91 Chev we had 14 yrs. no rust any where. The truck we have now 06 Ram still looks brand new. Living in Maine you can bet we have plenty of salted roads to deal with. Also do the undercarriages of our camper and deckover with Fluid Film.
 
I've noticed around here Dodge trucks rust out 5 to 7 years before FORD or CHEVY. I had a 1995 CHEVY and it was 16 years old before I saw any rust. All I did was get Under body spray going thru car wash.
 
Mark,
Z-tech drilled holes in my doors and rockers and filled them when my GMC truck was new. Neighbor's GM truck, same age as mine, the rockers are gone. That's proof enough for me that Z-tech works. Not to mention the sprayed bedliner is worth it. Things don't slide around, no dents in bed.

I plan to keep this truck on as long as possible. It's the last of the classic body style, a low rider. Only have 100K on it. No issues. Change oil regular. When the wheels fall off, I buy new ones and keep it going.
 
I am now using fluid film. They make a nozzle for the little spray cans with a 2 foot ? tube on it with a spray tip. Very small tip and it will go up in most existing drain holes too so no drilling needed. That stuff really stays soft and creeps ! Keep it off of soft rubber weatherstrips it will swell them up. you can buy it bulk and also buy a sprayer from them too. There are a few local shops here now you can pay to do it too.
 
Actually the best thing to do is NOT have the under coating and wash the truck on a regular basis. I know its too late now if the truck is already gotten the dealer screw job undercoating. Manufacturers actually recommend against this option but dealerships make hundreds of dollars on $20-$30 of product. They don't care if it causes problems years down the road when its no longer under warranty.


Best thing you can do is wash it at least once a week and spend lots of time on the underside of the fenders and rocker panels.
 
Here's a link below (quite long to read through) that supposedly sounds like it might be at least somewhat true, including some tests made by the Canadian army. And we use a lot of salt on our roads, and lately some bigger cities are using a calcium salt solution to make snow removal from streets easier later on, etc. Like anything you read on the web of course, take it with a grain of "salt" (pun not intended) ...
Untitled URL Link
 
(quoted from post at 07:38:00 12/05/18) Here's a link below (quite long to read through) that supposedly sounds like it might be at least somewhat true, including some tests made by the Canadian army. And we use a lot of salt on our roads, and lately some bigger cities are using a calcium salt solution to make snow removal from streets easier later on, etc. Like anything you read on the web of course, take it with a grain of "salt" (pun not intended) ...
Untitled URL Link

I looked at it. I recognized only WD-40 of the various corrosion inhibitors that they tested, and of course here at YT we don't recognize WD-40 as a corrosion inhibitor.
 
(quoted from post at 22:07:29 12/04/18) I worked with a guy with a 70 Ford. He used old Electrical Transformer oil regularly on his truck. He made up a wand to spray underneath and into every hidden cavity. He drove it year around and there was NO rust. That oil will creep. I was told WD40 will do the same if you use it often enough.
Dave

How old of electrical transformers? Didn't transformers used to have PCB's for oil until the early 70's? I sure wouldn't want to pay an EPA fine getting caught for that.
 
(quoted from post at 09:39:49 12/05/18)
(quoted from post at 22:07:29 12/04/18) I worked with a guy with a 70 Ford. He used old Electrical Transformer oil regularly on his truck. He made up a wand to spray underneath and into every hidden cavity. He drove it year around and there was NO rust. That oil will creep. I was told WD40 will do the same if you use it often enough.
Dave

How old of electrical transformers? Didn't transformers used to have PCB's for oil until the early 70's? I sure wouldn't want to pay an EPA fine getting caught for that.

Yes Skyhigh, a friend had one back then that he had to pay extra to get it disposed of.
 
. We used to spray automatic transmission with a pressure pot sprayer with the two remote hoses .
Over all the fender inners , door inners , rockers , from the back of the bumpers from underneath and every nook and cranny underthearh where salt could accumulate. Also sprayed in through the grill , around the headlights and every gap.
Treated the old Grand National that way for 15 winters and she never rusted through anywhere it was oiled .
I did miss the A pillars and there are a few pinholes there .
 
When you figure out how to wash out the insides of the cab corners , fender bottoms, inside the box walls above tires, inside the doors or any of the places that actually rust out , let us know. The places you can hit with power washer..never rust out anyway because they get washed out with fresh road water when you drive.
 
WD-40 is worthless to prevent rust. I sprayed my main tractor case down during restoration and came back next day to flash rust ! I then put some kerosene and hyd. oil mix in a hand spray bottle and that worked good.
 
I had my 1996 F-250 rust-proofed by AUTO-ARMOR, they use two different products, first is a rubbery type of black tar coating on the frame, fender liners, most parts on the ubderside, stuff stays pliable, resists chipping off. Second coating is a tough waxy coating that goes on all painted underside sheet metal. I ordered out my '96 F-250, had it Auto-Armored a day after it was dropped off at dealership, they did a great job, truck has one small bubbled spot on right rear wheel well after 22 Wisconsin winters, 300,000+ miles, first ten -11 years as my daily driver. And the bright red paint still looks brand new and I only rubbed on the Auto Armor paint rejuvinator 2-3 timess in the first 5 years I owned it. They applied a paint protectant that had Teflon in it, about 15 years ago I parked next to a similar year bright red truck that didn't have any Auto Armor on it, terribly faded dingy chalky paint. They also have a fabric protectant with Scotch-Gard that works great too.

Most dealer undercoating is worse than nothing, I've used Rusty Jones and Ziebart, couple others with a rusty car or truck in less than 10 years, ANY rust proofing that requires annual inspections is a SCAM, betting you will forget and void the warrantee. That's not the case with Auto Armor. Most car dealers advertise rust proofing "Just as good as Auto Armor", What does THAT tell you?
 
(quoted from post at 13:49:29 12/05/18) WD-40 is worthless to prevent rust. I sprayed my main tractor case down during restoration and came back next day to flash rust ! I then put some kerosene and hyd. oil mix in a hand spray bottle and that worked good.

Mike M, WD-40 is actually very effective in preventing rust. If you will go back and read the rest of my post instead of quitting at 40 you may understand. If not read on. You see Mike, almost all of our trucks are subject to not only moisture and salt but also DUST collecting in those places that end up rusting through. If there were no dust the moisture would quickly evaporate and rust would quickly stop and the factory protective coatings would last for many years. Since dust does accumulate it holds moisture and the protective coatings ultimately are penetrated. If you spray fluid film it will penetrate some of the mud but in many places it will not. Here is where the WD-40 comes in. As we all know WD-40 will penetrate and DISPLACE the moisture. The D of WD-40 stands for displacing. A generous spray of WD-40 will penetrate a lot of moisture filled mud, and then the fluid film or other oil can penetrate through the mud to the rusty metal. I have inspected some places here and there on my 12 year old Ford and found oil penetrated to the metal and no moisture. I actually prefer to use aerosol chain lube after the WD-40 because it comes out very thin, then sets up thick like grease. I allow the WD-40 24 hours to penetrate the moist mud.
 
You can believe in WD-40 all you want. But in my testing I will not count on it to prevent rusting of metal parts anymore.
Now as for water displacing it's ok. For Leather treatment seems to be working good to. Rust penetrant ? well you best use PB blaster. On Squeaky hinges it works.
 
(quoted from post at 05:42:01 12/06/18) You can believe in WD-40 all you want. But in my testing I will not count on it to prevent rusting of metal parts anymore.
Now as for water displacing it's ok. For Leather treatment seems to be working good to. Rust penetrant ? well you best use PB blaster. On Squeaky hinges it works.

Mike M, I am not going to type a lot again. Perhaps you could try reading again.
 
(quoted from post at 11:16:51 12/05/18) Actually the best thing to do is NOT have the under coating and wash the truck on a regular basis. I know its too late now if the truck is already gotten the dealer screw job undercoating. Manufacturers actually recommend against this option but dealerships make hundreds of dollars on $20-$30 of product. They don't care if it causes problems years down the road when its no longer under warranty.


Best thing you can do is wash it at least once a week and spend lots of time on the underside of the fenders and rocker panels.

I suppose in a perfect world where someone had a heated garage to wash the truck in every week that might work. Pretty hard to do that when freezing weather lasts 6 months of the year and you have no garage. Kneeling down in mushy snow or laying on your back in the same trying to wash the underside of a truck once a week doesn't sound like much fun to me! :lol:
 
(quoted from post at 07:14:33 12/06/18)
(quoted from post at 11:16:51 12/05/18) Actually the best thing to do is NOT have the under coating and wash the truck on a regular basis. I know its too late now if the truck is already gotten the dealer screw job undercoating. Manufacturers actually recommend against this option but dealerships make hundreds of dollars on $20-$30 of product. They don't care if it causes problems years down the road when its no longer under warranty.


Best thing you can do is wash it at least once a week and spend lots of time on the underside of the fenders and rocker panels.

I suppose in a perfect world where someone had a heated garage to wash the truck in every week that might work. Pretty hard to do that when freezing weather lasts 6 months of the year and you have no garage. Kneeling down in mushy snow or laying on your back in the same trying to wash the underside of a truck once a week doesn't sound like much fun to me! :lol:

I am with you Brett. Even indoors with heat and concrete floor you would have to be under it on a creeper to get into all those access holes, which is why I use the aerosol chain lube after displacing the moisture in the dust with WD-40.
 

I don't think people who don't live in the rust belt and in an area where winter is a 6 month thing have any real idea what it's like trying to fight the rust here. One guy here said that exposed areas don't rust because they keep getting splashed with fresh water in the snow. Well, it's not fresh water, it's salt water and sand sandblasting every exposed surface and it most certainly does rust! I'd just as soon go back to the days when people put on studded snows in fall and drove 35mph if needs be and drop the tons and tons of salt they put on our roads that end up in the ground water.
 
(quoted from post at 12:39:49 12/05/18)
(quoted from post at 22:07:29 12/04/18) I worked with a guy with a 70 Ford. He used old Electrical Transformer oil regularly on his truck. He made up a wand to spray underneath and into every hidden cavity. He drove it year around and there was NO rust. That oil will creep. I was told WD40 will do the same if you use it often enough.
Dave

How old of electrical transformers? Didn't transformers used to have PCB's for oil until the early 70's? I sure wouldn't want to pay an EPA fine getting caught for that.

How in the world would you get caught? And if you do not get caught it is not wrong. I would pour it down a hole in the ground begfore I would pay for disposal of anything. That also gives one the satisfaction of knowing that in your own way you have just flipped off the damned US government!
 
(quoted from post at 14:58:11 12/08/18)
(quoted from post at 12:39:49 12/05/18)
(quoted from post at 22:07:29 12/04/18) I worked with a guy with a 70 Ford. He used old Electrical Transformer oil regularly on his truck. He made up a wand to spray underneath and into every hidden cavity. He drove it year around and there was NO rust. That oil will creep. I was told WD40 will do the same if you use it often enough.
Dave

How old of electrical transformers? Didn't transformers used to have PCB's for oil until the early 70's? I sure wouldn't want to pay an EPA fine getting caught for that.

How in the world would you get caught? And if you do not get caught it is not wrong. I would pour it down a hole in the ground begfore I would pay for disposal of anything. That also gives one the satisfaction of knowing that in your own way you have just flipped off the damned US government!

You're an intelligent lad aren't you.
 
(quoted from post at 16:26:09 12/08/18)
(quoted from post at 14:58:11 12/08/18)
(quoted from post at 12:39:49 12/05/18)
(quoted from post at 22:07:29 12/04/18) I worked with a guy with a 70 Ford. He used old Electrical Transformer oil regularly on his truck. He made up a wand to spray underneath and into every hidden cavity. He drove it year around and there was NO rust. That oil will creep. I was told WD40 will do the same if you use it often enough.
Dave

How old of electrical transformers? Didn't transformers used to have PCB's for oil until the early 70's? I sure wouldn't want to pay an EPA fine getting caught for that.

How in the world would you get caught? And if you do not get caught it is not wrong. I would pour it down a hole in the ground begfore I would pay for disposal of anything. That also gives one the satisfaction of knowing that in your own way you have just flipped off the damned US government!

You're an intelligent lad aren't you.

I hope that word gets out around Witchita before he sells property to an unsuspecting honest person.
 
(quoted from post at 14:28:11 12/08/18)
(quoted from post at 12:39:49 12/05/18)
(quoted from post at 22:07:29 12/04/18) I worked with a guy with a 70 Ford. He used old Electrical Transformer oil regularly on his truck. He made up a wand to spray underneath and into every hidden cavity. He drove it year around and there was NO rust. That oil will creep. I was told WD40 will do the same if you use it often enough.
Dave

How old of electrical transformers? Didn't transformers used to have PCB's for oil until the early 70's? I sure wouldn't want to pay an EPA fine getting caught for that.

How in the world would you get caught? [b:b5ee40ab65]And if you do not get caught it is not wrong. [/b:b5ee40ab65]I would pour it down a hole in the ground begfore I would pay for disposal of anything. That also gives one the satisfaction of knowing that in your own way you have just flipped off the damned US government!

I hope that's sarcasm... :shock:
 

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