Rust removal / protective coating for frame

I live in Salt Lake City (Sandy) and I am trying to find a shop that will coat the frame to prevent rust. I may have to grind off the existing surface rust myself, but I'd like to keep it coated.

 

Good question. Bump

 

Best thing for frames is POR15. Lots of info online.

 

I've always wanted to use bedliner on the frame, pretty sure it would look awesome and be completely functional.

 

That's what I would do.

 

I'm getting ready to coat mine and wondered if i should be grinding any of the metal off before i coat mine. i've coated mine once before with POR 15 and surface rust came through again. since then i've just been re-painting the frame with rustoleum paint. i plan to coat the frame again this summer, not sure if i should start grinding or just prep the surface and spray again with POR

 

POR15, in Utah, kinda sucks. It really doesn't seem to work as good as other items. It seems to take an extra long time to cure since we're so dry here (it uses the moisture in the air to help it cure). Besides that, it seems to work pretty good, although I really dont have many items I originally put it on. (I can tell you not to use Herculiner as any type of top coat, as I put it on my sliders and a few years later it started to peel with rust under neith. No clue what happened to the primer I put on it. I absolutely hated the texture as well.)

If you can afford it, when I had my bed done with Line-X, I asked about them doing the undercarriage as well. They were willing, but it would have ended up costing more than my bed, and they estimated it to be quite heavy. Its a good idea, but I think I wouldn't do it under, as there's just too many chances that you'll need to remove something, then you'll ruin it. I do love the stuff in my bed though.

That being said, with my frame, last year I did the following:

First, I took a wire brush attachment on my hand grinder and took off any flaking or bad places. There really wasn't much on mine, but enough that I wanted to give the next step the best possible chance of working.

I then used Fast Etch http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-s-fast-etch.html (I think the newer product, Rust Converter, might be better http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-rust-converter.html ). Its kinda cool stuff, as any place you had rust, it turns it to a different color. If its still rust colored after a coat, you should probably just brush it off and do it again there. (This is kinda mean stuff, and will burn a bit on your skin. It will also eat away coatings on glasses, if you wear them, so be careful with it.)

I used their Pre cleaner http://www.eastwood.com/ew-pre-painting-prep-qt.html to wash off the Fast Etch, but I'm sure you can use most anything.

I then did a top coat of Rust Encapsulator (http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-rubberized-rust-encapsulator-undercoating-black.html ) They didn't have the rubberized stuff then, but I bet its even better for under coating.

I also did an internal frame coating. http://www.eastwood.com/internal-frame-coating-w-spray-nozzle-qt.html

Anyway, I did something stupid this winter, so it did eat away at some of it, at least I thought it did looking at it. It ended up just being some heavy metal residue from 5 mile that I let sit all winter that may or may not have been rust related, but sure did look like it (but didn't get through the top coat). I did find some spots that I didn't do quite good enough though, which did get through, but I can hardly blame the product for that.

This year, I pretty much did the same thing, but I also added on a more durable topcoat. http://www.eastwood.com/extreme-chasis-black-satin-finish-set.html (Wish they had a flat black, but they didn't at the time.)

Overall, I'm not unhappy how everything turned out. I'm hoping that it ends up being a lot better this year as well.

As far as qty goes, I'm pretty sure I used 6-8 bottles of each of the aerosols, except the internal frame, which I used 3-4. 2 Quarts of the Pre. I believe 1 Quart of the fast etch. That allowed me to do two coats of the rust encap and the top coat.

It took quite a while to do, as I was doing it in bad weather, fighting with good days, then snowing the next. I did it in many stages though. Front axle (have SAS so quite a bit more work than IFS), left side, right side, then rear axle.

Anyway, thats the DIY method. Maybe its not from a professional shop, but I believe I did a much better job at making sure it was done good, and if not, at least I'm the only one to blame.

 

thats a great explanation. since you had to fight bad weather, did you have to re-do any of the steps over again since it was a long process? also so i understand correctly,did you use the encapsulator first then the top coat? i wasnt sure how well an additional top coat would adhere to a rubberized coating.

i may take a few days and do this process over the summer vs. my por 15. your process just sounds so much more involved and could give me better results.

 

So I was wondering the same thing myself because I live RIGHT ON the beach and was worried about the salt-water air in constant contact with my new TACO. I ended up calling my dealership and after speaking with a few different people I got in contact with a guy who is from the East Coast and mentioned that Toyota has been doing a lot of research on this particular topic; especially because the majority of SoCal beaches have contracts with Toyotas and utilize them day in and out in these salty conditions and want to MAXIMIZE the longevity of the vehicle. Unfortunately they haven't come up with anything substantial they want to release yet but, he did recommended a company called Ziebart and an undercoat spray they install..anyone have any experience with this?

 

Well, they recommend that if you let it dry too much, you scuff it up before doing the next step. Each section was done from start to end before moving on to the next when I did it, so I really didn't need to worry about it.

The encapsulator is actually made to paint over rust, but I figured I wanted to help things as much as possible. Officially, you could skip the fast etch/rust converter if you wanted (or skip the encapsulator if doing the converter), but it is rust we're talking about, so I wanted to take every precaution I could.

The pre-rubberized encapsulator was pretty thin, but with this new rubberized option, I think you can get away without it. My ride is an offroad rig that is never driven in ideal circumstances, so I figured the extra top coat was required either way. If you're strictly on the pavement, its probably not as necessary. The rubberized stuff is really not rubbery like most people think of (its not plasti-dip or bed liner). It dries quite hard and really isn't very thick. I dont think it'll have any issues holding a top coat, specially a top coat that is main for the under carriage.

Regretfully, there really isn't an easy solution when it comes to rust. It's a cancer that needs to be inspected and kept up on. Products offered do help a lot, but I've never seen anything that is 100% successful forever. And of course, just like everything else, you get out of it what you put in.

If you're thinking of doing the por15, I think Eastwood recommends doing encapsulator, then the extreme chassis black instead. (The current Extreme Chassis Black is not the same stuff they were selling 5+ years ago. Its actually quite equivalent to POR15, but stronger.) POR15 really isn't made to stop rust all by itself and you need to do the fast-etch/rust converter/some type of rust neutralizer before doing it. Also, POR15 is recommended to have a top coat added if there's going to be sun involved. I think Eastwood is trying to move away from POR15 as an all-in-one solution and steering people towards a more specialized solution for their needs.

 

Never heard of them, but they look to be more of a shop/franchise and doesn't look like they sell their product to the public. Also, it seems the closest one to me is 800 miles away in Nebraska. They do have a warranty for rust protection though, so if they're close and cost effective, they're probably pretty decent.

 

Is there a Zeibart equivalent here? I checked the location via the site, and the closest is Nebraska.

 

Really? You never heard of Zeibart? They were around like before 'Rhino'-Linings were a common thing...they were one of the earlier big names doing protective coatings.... They were/are a known name like say Maaco...
lol and I'm not even that old

 

They aren't really a west coast / sw / pacific NW shop. They are mostly on the east side of the country.

 

So I ended up doing the following:

• 
  Air powered needle scaler on the loose rust everywhere on the frame.

• 
  Angle grinder with wire cup on the remaining accessible rust. The rest was just bare surface rust with nothing loose, which is fine.

• 
  Marine clean (degreaser) on everything.

• 
  Phosphoric Acid the frame - turns the rust silverish and then dries to a white chalky substance

• 
  POR-15 on everything relevant. Dries to a smooth finish (2 coats)

• 
  "Chassis Black" top coat over areas that get direct sunlight (UV Ruins POR-15) - reflected light doesn't matter.

I still have to do the top coat in the wheel areas and probably the rear axle, but this is what it looks like. I have before pics but they are not on this computer. I'll probably do a full post on it later. (I did include a before pic of the frame on the rear wheel well)

 

Wow!!! That looks awesome. I am planning on doing that this summer. I live in Orem, by the way.

 

Where did you get the acid to do the frame?!? Just curious because I need to do that on mine.

Also, was thinking about using a power washer with the degreaser, do you think that would help?

 

How is this finish holding up?

 

Yes how is this holding up?

 

I've been away for a bit, just now checking this thread vs the main thread (which is now a sticky) It still looks great, though maybe not as shiny haha.