How to Fluid Film your 3rd Gen

Took at least 6 cans of RP-342 cosmoline to do my tacoma. This was 2 decent coats letting the first coat creep into all the crevices till it was fairly dry. I coated everything steel I could find, including any transmission and power steering lines. Did not coat the driveshaft, and shocks. Spent some time getting the insides of the boxed frame sections, and rear bumper insides removing the bumper ends, along with doing the spare tire&chain/w the crossmember. That was 3 years ago with the salty winters here. This spring, just very minor touchups in the high abrasion wheel well areas. All else looked great, just like new. Its so much better then having to apply fluid flim throughout the truck every friggin year.

 

Thanks! Yeah I’m sure I’ll burn two more cans when I get back to it. Good, hot, and dry here now. But winters are vehicle eaters. My six yr old Silverado I dumped was looking ugly.

 

Yes, I would've done Cosmoline initially. But I opted for Fluid Film. Once you choose either, you really can't switch.

 

Friend of mine had a 10 year old Silverado that he drove to Vermont every weekend in the winter. By the 10 year without any rust inhibitor coatings on the chassis, one side of his trucks frame was so bad it failed inspection when it went for emission testing. He complained to gm about it. Their answer was ''were sorry this happened, but go pound sand''.

 

You could if not rusty. You'd need to pressure wash any of the ff remains off really well.

 

Basically I want to remove it all before reapplying to a fresh/clean surface. I didn't remove any after the first application before applying it for the second winter. Now I have massive amount of grime & grit stuck to the frame.

 

I understand you. That Fluid Film; even with the grime and grit, is still protecting the frame. I've been Fluid Filming mine since 2019 and just reapply over the grime and grit.

I think of Fluid Film and the grime and grit as barnacle paint. It sloughs off enough throughout the year, to enable another application of it in the fall; in prep for the winter.

 

I live in those conditions 24/7/365. Six years almost on the nose and I thought the undercarriage on Silverado was a mess. Everything was being eaten. I always drove gmc. First Chevy I had. There’s a difference somehow. Chevy, What an absolute POS. transmission gone at 80,000 mi (non warranty). Starter went. Tires always leaked. Electronic tire gauges were out and always weird. Never again. They still gave me $21k for the pile of junk. Only thing nice about it was it was paid off and the Bose speakers (boy JBL sound isn’t great). Otherwise a loaded 2023 taco was cheaper msrp than a pretty stripped z71 double cab Silverado in 2017. Plan for this one to last longer.

 

Curious, do we have to do this shit in mid-Atlantic/Carolina areas?

 

I’ve lived there. IMO no. Not unless you live in the hills of the Appalachians. Or if you really want ten plus years out of that truck it sure wouldn’t hurt.

 

Well from experience owning toyota pickups since 1978, the chassis will rot out even sooner if nothing is done. I used fluid flim on my 2001 tundra every fall, and it still was pretty rusty 19 years later when i sold it. It gets very salty, and wet here in southern New England all winter. Fluid flim works fine if it's reapplied twice a year, but I had enough of just once a year. I've now found cosmoline to be the answer...at least so far.
As far as gm reliability...just ask my brother about gm before he became a toyota owner for keeps now.

 

Anyone know where I can get the spray nozzle extention for cans of cosmoline so I can get inside the box frames?

 

Amazon has them

https://www.amazon.com/OZAPZ-Nozzle...ds=fluid+film+with+wand&qid=1695204323&sr=8-9

 

I could be wrong, but those wands won't adapt to the cosmoline rattle cans....only fluid flim.

 

Oh you're right. I thought he wanted them for Fluid Film. I don't comprehend well when I first wake up and get on the computer.

 

Appreciate the feedback. I Emailed Cosmoline Direct and got a reply back. He confirmed that most of the extensions won't fit but didn't provide info on which ones would fit. He said that Cosmoline doesn't recommend using them anyway. He said the material forms a fog like mist that will travel a good distance and will coat the inside of enclosed frames very well without without an extension to the six inch straws provided. They don't sell one. If it was a good idea I think they would. I plan to just hit the enclosed frames generously with cosmoline from whatever openings are there and call it good. Plan to get an underbody flush at a car wash on a nice non windy day next week, let dry, and then go at it with full body covering and a mask to protect my face. Sounds like a messy job. Will drop the spare tire and the skid plate and also hit the transmission and 4WD differential and whatever looks like metal from underneath. Also anything under the hood that looks like metal that could rust but not get hot.

 

It's a messy job for sure. If you got some latex type gloves, use them. I wore one of the hooded 3m suits with a pair of goggles doing mine. After you're done doing 2 coats, it all goes in the trash. You'll likely need more than 6 cans once you hit those boxed in frame sections.

 

You can get adaptors to use those extensions on cans that they normally don't fit. Search for "graffiti adaptors" on Amazon. I have used the extensions on a similar product and it works just fine. I put the extension on a can of WD-40 and flush it out after use to keep it from getting clogged.

 

These cosmoline rattle cans are odd. What fits on nearly every other can out there doesn't fit theirs. I went through this when doing my truck till I stumbled on a source on eBay. I tried later to get another one of these extended wands, but came up empty.

 

will a 6 gallon pancake compressor be able to keep up? FAQ here (https://www.kellsportproducts.com/FAQ_ep_42-1.html) says anything more than 3 gallon is fine, but that seems a bit small. i dont mind waiting for it to recharge the tank a bit, but dont want it to be excessive to the point where its obviously intended to be done with a much larger tank.

also, how clean do surfaces need to be before applying? gearing up to do my 2017 TRD OR for the first time, and ive never explicitly cleaned the underbody beofre