07 Frame rust (pics). What is the best way to fix?

How bad is the rust on my 07?

I just paid off my truck and would really like to keep this truck for another 10 years, but I fear if I don't act now, the frame will not survive and will go first. Any thoughts? Am I overreacting?

Truck is used as a DD all year round, and is parked outside. (Canadian winters)

Here are some low quality pics for now. I will wash it after work and take better quality detailed pics later.

What would be the best course of action at this point? I'm planning to spray a coat of Fluid Film (or Krown) and keep doing so before every winter, but I'm guessing I should touch up some spots on the frame, or even the whole frame? Or should I just apply Fluid Film after thorough wash?

If I need to fix up the current rust issues before Fluid Film is applied, is a primer and spray paint ok, or is this a candidate for KBS, POR15 or similar? Thanks.

 

Thanks, so just wire brush affected sections of the frame to bare metal, clean, primer and paint? Leave the rest of the frame as is? Finally, a coat of Fluid Film on once a year.

I would imagine once Fluid Film is on, it will be a PITA to touch up any new potential rust spots forming as Fluid Film will need to be removed...

 

i wire wheeled mine (mine was much worse looking), then used a rust converter from eastwood, then topcoated with a rust encapsulating rubberized undercoating.

 

I wish my frame looked as good as yours. I cleaned mine thoroughly and sprayed it down with Eastwood's HD Anti Rust spray. There wasn't much black paint left on the rails, but the crossmembers still had most of their paint on them.

 

Should I wire wheel as much of the frame as I can get to, even where these is still factory paint intact or just do specific small sections where surface rust is already present? I guess it would look patchy, but who cares?

So, Eastwood rust converter can be used as primer after the frame is wire wheeled and cleaned and Rust encapsulator can be used as top coat?

So no wire wheeling? Just a thorough wash and than a coat of Eastwood HD Anti Rust spray? Is this stuff similar in nature to Fluid Film or Krown and needs to be re-aplied annually?

 

I would Wire wheel all you can get too, Use the rust converter as a primer and then Undercoat the entire frame that you can...

 

You need to take a look at the inner part of the frame where it turns up towards the engine bay just behind your front wheels, that's a weak spot on these frames. There's pictures on this site somewhere of that part of the frame rusting out so bad you can put your fist through the whole.
Also, fluid film , as cool as it is, will not hold up as well as Krown rust proofing. The salt we see will break that stuff down, it can be striped off under pressure wash and it dosen't creap into crevices the way Krown does, it will be long gone before the winters out. Even with Krown you will need to stear clear of car washes that use chemical based under body wash("rust inhibitor"), this stuff breaks down the Krown oil. I use Shell touchless wash, they have a pure water underbody wash or you can spray as much water/rinse under your truck as you want. Also, it's supposed to be better to Krown your truck early spring. Mine gets done in the fall because I didn't know that when I brought mine in but if you read their pamphlets or go online thats what they say. Either way it's the best protection for our trucks in the kind of conditions we see here.

 

Not looking forward to this, that is for sure.

Thanks, that helps a lot. I will check those area too.

I'm still considering Krown, but the closest dealer is in Calgary, which is 3 hours away. That is mostly why I'm considering Fluid Film as I can get it shipped to my door and apply myself. I was under the impression it is very similar performing. Krown does get good reviews, except the dripping, but Fluid Film does drip too.

How about Rust Check, or the stuff Canadian Tire sprays, Corrosion Free 3000 I believe? That stuff is not supposed to drip, although I usually try to stay clear of CT when possible.

 

I put up with the drip myself, it wasn't so bad in my case and I got a spare spray can of it while I was there so I can do my own touch ups.
My son recently bought himself a beater that was oiled by Ziebart rust proofing. It's an old 98 Sable I believe, driven by an old guy who lost his license because of his advanced years. So while it had low mileage I was still amazed at how well the body held up on it. I didn't crawl underneath it mind you but from what I saw it looked damn good! That said, all those guys who oil are probably good but Krown is the most popular by far here in Ontario, don't know if that means they're that much better though. Not sure about that stuff at Canadian Tire, you would have to drill your own holes(doors,rocker ect.)spray inside and plug them up yourself not to mention the mess. After crawling under your truck with that stuff you'll be covered in it!
Also, that weak spot on the frame may be towards the back of the truck, not the front as I said before, can't remember. Either way, check out the whole frame, I plan on doing that this fall before I Krown it again.

 

Just got back from CT and bought 3 cans of aerosol fluid film there, so they carry it.

 

Thanks, I've seen it on the shelves there too. I was planning to get the 1 gallon kit with paint gun etc for $84.

 

Good luck with whatever you choose. I agree it doesnt look that bad but taking care of it now is a good thing. Half the trucks on the roads near me look worse..

 

It's up front, right near each catalytic converter. Surprisingly, mine still has black frame paint and looks great there. It's the rails going straight back and the trailer hitch that have scaled on mine.

I'm going to retract my recommendation for Eastwood's HD Anti-rust. I had done the rear third of my truck last month and with summer activities, put the rest off. I'm glad I did! I went out to do some more spraying today and parts of the frame were flaking the anti rust off. Reading the makeup, it's an oily paraffin wax that's been broken down by a carrier to be sprayed.

So I spent the better part of two hours using a scraper and getting as much scale off as I could. I'm not wire wheeling the frame and spraying paint. I did an experiment on my running board brackets a few years ago. I wire brushed and sanded the brackets and cleaned them with Eastwood's PRE cleaner, then used Eastwood's rust encapsulator, then used Eastwood's Extreme Chassis Black. After winter was over I checked it.

Most of the paint and encapsulator along with it came off after one season. I checked again today. The remaining paint and encapsulator were blistered, so I poked it with the corner of the scraper. Giant rust blister! My theory is the remaining paint held the moisture against the metal bracket, accelerating the oxidizing process.

I'm not going to wire wheel a large portion of my frame, only to have most of my work come off in spring and the remaining part hold more moisture against the metal.

The best that you can do is slow the rust down. I'm just going to spray Fluid Film over my frame, including the rust that I've scraped down to "good" metal. Supposedly the Fluid Film penetrates the pores of the rust, inhibiting oxidation. If I have to reapply every year, I guess I will.

The time to have my truck rustproofed would have been when it was new 8 years ago. Although any new vehicle I've ever had, hasn't rusted like this.

 

Thanks, I feel that something has to be done as a preventive measure. That sucks though, as I don't consider this regular maintenance, which I actually take seriously.

Thanks for the update. That really sucks that it did not hold up. I will check all of the frame as best as I can and the sections you have mentioned. I'm still unsure what will I end up doing with mine.

I'm almost leaning to just touch up few of the bad spots, such as the one on the first picture and just Fluid Film/Krown the whole damn truck every year or two? I would be curious to see other Alberta Tacomas of similar age, and how they look like from underneath.

 

Kryten, what treatment did you decide on? I'm in the same boat as you, also from Alberta. I bought my 08 last Spring and didn't really look at the frame too much.

It definitely has some surface rust in similar places as yours does. The worst location, as many have said, seems to be just behind the front wheels where the mounts are.

Mine is paid off as well and I planned on keeping this thing for a while but if this frame rust issue is a ticking time bomb I may have to rethink that decision. Trying to take some preventative action to slow down the rust before we get hit with another Alberta winter!

 

Your frame looks a lot better than mine. But mine's an 05 too. I've used eastwood rust encapsulator in the past with great results. Granted it's not a cure-all and you have to follow the instructions and I would still do fluid-film afterwards. I've also used rust bullet blackshell and I thought it actually held up a little better than the rust encapsulator. I'm going to try KB coatings frame kit on my current truck soon.

Last fall I bought a 250k 96 Tacoma as a temporary truck until I could afford another double cab. The truck was clean body and drivetrain-wise but it really should have been part of the buyback. Guy brought it in once and they said it was bad but barely passed and to bring it back in 6 months. He never did and the time ran out. I had to do some welding to get it back into shape structurally. Afterwards I used eastwood internal frame coating (great stuff I'll be using again) and then I used rust encapsulator on the outside of the frame and topcoated it with their new rubberized rust encapsulator. By spring just about everything on the outside of the frame had flaked off. They didn't really suggest the rubberized stuff for frames and I'll never use it for that again.

 

I decided to use Rust Bullet and Rust Bullet BlackShell paint as top coat. After all affected areas are done, I will spray the whole frame with Fluid Film once a year. Also I will be spraying Fluid Film inside the frame as best as I can. Post a few pictures of your frame for reference.

Rust Bullet:
http://shop.rustbulletcanada.ca/product.sc?productId=8&categoryId=2

Rust Bullet Black Shell:
http://shop.rustbulletcanada.ca/product.sc?productId=12&categoryId=4

Fluid Film:
http://www.undercoatmycar.ca/

 

Bam!! This is what I'm doing, except I'm just going to use a quart of Rustoleum Satin black that I have already instead of buying more black over the gray Rust Bullet.

If you got your Rust Bullet paint already, did you notice the caveat that as soon as you break the seal of the can, you have a 1 to 2 month shelf life? And that's even with purging the O2 with this product called Bloxygen, which I stupidly bought to prevent this.

 

No, I did not order anything yet. Probably in the next week or so. I'm planning to do this only once (except Fluid Film) and hopefully do it in one weekend so shelf life should not matter too much.

 

@AgentSmith:

I think you mentioned in another thread you ordered a quart of Rust Bullet. From your above post it looks like you were already working on this project.

Was it enough to cover the parts of the frame you can normally get to? Did you brush it on or spray it on?

I'm just about to order, but cant make up my mind how much paint to order. Thanks.