Rust issues?

Hello, new member here. I apologize in advance if this has been covered. i searched for results and got mixed review. I am considering a new frontier/Tacoma. I know both are good trucks. and obviously you all are slightly biased. My whole family has owned Tacoma. But my concern is rust. I have done many Google searches for Tacoma rust, and it apparently is still a very big problem. Some say only in winter states where they salt, others say they rust by looking at them. Does Dana and Toyota still put out frames and such with sub par rust proofing? I would hate to buy a new truck like a Tacoma and have it rust in two in a year. I have even seen pictures of new trucks at the dealer with rust on the front end. I live in Oregon by the way, no salt, but tons of water. Thanks for reading all this and hopefully replying.

 

From what i have gathered on here, toyota switched frame companys in 2009, and sued dana for supplying sub par frames. Just take care of the truck And i wouldnt worry about it. where i live they are absolutely ridiculous about the salt. We got less than an inch of snow last week and they dumped an unbelieveable amount of salt on the roads. Completely unneccessary, the city workers must get overtime and just dont care.

 

I have an 05 taco that has been in the shop for two weeks now, and although it seems crazy, i would buy another taco. Toyota is taking the right steps to remedy the situation and in my case, will make my truck last much longer. the recall is on 05-08's so if you buy one, just take it to the dealer and have the frame either replaced or coated and enjoy your new ride.

 

Yup. Toyota won $25 million from Dana.

 

If you're looking at a newer one, i THINK the issue is gone, so you're in the clear. Maybe someone else can confirm

 

I don't think anyone knows if the newer 2nd gen trucks will rust like the older ones or not, we haven't really had enough time to tell yet.

Here's the way I looked at it when I was buying a new truck a few years ago. At least you can deal with the rust issue, by undercoating every year. It's much harder to prevent some of the other mechanical issues that you could more likely run into with the Frontier.

I've been undercoating my 13', bought in the Fall of 12', with Fluid Film twice a year (early spring & late fall). After 3 winters there is barely any rust underneath and I live in PA where we use lots of salt, especially over the last two winters.

 

since you use ff, do you still regularly wash the undercarriage during winter? Or does it wash away? I plan on using ff next winter, and just because ill have the ff, i wouldnt feel right not washing the salt off. i just got the truck this winter, so it is untreated. I have been hosing down with the garden hose, and hitting the carwash w/ underbody spray this winter depending on weather/ salt usage.

 

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]For rust prevention/treatment discussion and alternatives see:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd...on-thread.html [/FONT]

 

You can rinse the salt off of the frame with cold water by hand, without taking off all the fluid film if you don't blast it to hard. If you go through an automatic washer that uses heated water, it might take off a lot more of the fluid film though. I only rinse the under body in winter with a hand sprayer when I can actually see a significant amount of white underneath, and it's also near or above freezing out. When it's really cold below freezing, rust doesn't form as quick or at all below certain temps.

Rust is more likely to occur in the spring, when it's warm and wet out all the time. If you have a professional undercoating like Krown done once a year, they recommend doing it in the spring not right before winter.

I've been using about 4 can's of FF in early spring, and then hitting it with about 2 cans in late fall. The first time I ever did it, I also put 1 full can in the rockers, and 1 full can in the bottom of the door panels (both have water drain holes to access them).

At the end of winter I usually have a lot of the FF left on the frame, except in certain areas that get a lot of road spray like the lower control arms. For those parts I actually cleaned them off and sprayed Amsoil HD MP on them, which cures dry and doesn't wash off. I'd probably do the entire truck in the Amsoil if I wasn't worried about over spray getting on my body. Over spray from FF will wipe right off, but from the Amsoil HD MP it cures and you need to remove it with a clay bar. Hope this helps!

 

Thanks for all the great feed back and tips. im very relieved to hear Toyota took the steps to fix the mistake, and to prevent it. This is by far the best truck forum i have found. Much better responses then the frontier one. Now my issue lies in 2.7 or 4.0 and what color

 

Although i have no issues on my 2012 Tacoma check out TacoGlenn thread(Rust Prevention/Treatment Consolidation.Excellent thread/write up!

 

I think I can chime in here because I live in the same climate as you and the previous owner of my truck did as well. My truck is a 95 with zero rust and zero rust proofing, it just doesn't seem to have an effect unless you live in the salt belt. We get snow sometimes, but they use glycol so our trucks don't turn into rust buckets like the ones on the east coast do. Overall you should't have issues on the west coast, more likely to happen on the north eastern coast.

 

I have rust on my frame and undercarriage

 

I have a 2016 TRD Off-Road and live in Northern VT. I have just noticed rust bubbles forming in the driver side door well (next to and below the tacoma logo) protective plastic on the inside of the door. NOT PSYCHED! I'm very concerned a 2 year old vehicle would already exhibit this characteristic. I take very good care of my vehicle and wash it frequently in the winter as we have rust issues. Truck was also undercoated when purchased in March 2016. I also found out my rear bilstein shocks are leaking at 45k miles. Platinum warranty coverage will replace at no cost - but this is not the Toyota I grew up with or expect. Any other issues with 3rd gen's out there propping up?

 

You need to just do some searches. Like any marquee you'll find a bit of everything.

Haven't really read about body rust thru on new ones though. If you really have that issue you'd do well to be closely examining the frame. No telling what's going on under that undercoating

 

Where do You live? If in a region that slathers roads with salt in winter, then just make sure you properly rinse/wash/maintain the under-carriage--if not then find something else to worry about... IMHO the "frame rust" jury is out on 3rd gen Tacomas, ask me again in 10 years...

 

Are you sure your not looking at the thicker orange peel looking paint that's on the bottom of the cab in the area your talking about? If that's what your looking at, that stuff is there to prevent rock chips.

Post a pic, and we'll be able to tell you.