Thoughts on getting the new taco undercoated

That interesting, I’ve never heard of that stuff before. Did they really tape off your shocks when they applied it? That’s dedication!

 

I prefer to use cavity wax over anything for rust prevention. The fluid comes out thin so it seeps into seams and pools in low spots, exactly the way water does, yet thick enough to say on horizontal and overhangs. It also dries mostly clear - so you can still see and monitor metal condition, it doesn't attract dirt, no issues disassembling for repairs, and resistant to washing off.

Undercoating just sucks for the frame, body, and suspension. You have no clue of the metal condition under it and it gums up everything making disassembly difficult. Usually to keep the warranty, they just blast it with another coating. Years later your truck weighs an extra 100 lbs, it's rusting out as the undercoating becomes the structural support of your entire truck. And good luck dealing with wiring if the installer was lazy and just blasted everything. Good for offroad bumper, sliders, and skids - things that take hits and easily removed for repair or replacement, but that's it.

Fluid film and similar are pretty decent, similar properties to cavity wax, but it attracts dirt and washes off easily. Cosmoline is pretty good stuff, doesn't wash off or attract dirt, but it can sticky up wire connectors.

 

Ya super cool stuff never had an issue - the only downside is installers will only coat vehicles that haven't seen a winter yet, so you gotta get done within the first few months. Ha, didn't even realize the angle - the blue is just the shock, but he did clean off everything that wasn't coated. First time getting it done with this guy and I was super impressed - these are actually pictures he gave me while putting it on as well as did a live stream video after it was complete so I could see it before pick up. If anyone is in the MA area lookup Mass Mobile Undercoating, even for standard oil undercoating the guy Todd is awesome!

 

More myths perpetuated from misinformation by people who have zero experience. The science doesn’t even add up! Rust and corrosion is caused by oxidation, if you seal a new rust-free surface air tight, it’s not even possible for rust/oxidation to occur.

I just changed my factory skids out which had the factory undercoating applied to them. I’m going to scrape off the undercoating and post pictures of the perfect metal underneath so all these people pushing misinformation about magically occurring rust will be quiet.

This whole thing reminds me of those commercials: “I heard it on the internet, so it must be true”. Everyone watches the same BS video and keeps regurgitating the same BS everywhere someone will listen.

 

Factory undercoating? There is no factory undercoating, even on the skids. The OEM two-part splash guards are painted or powdered coated, same with the OEM TRD skid. If yours are undercoated it wasn't factory. Anyway, skids are easy and actually a decent use of the stuff, as I noted. They are a simple surface easily removed for proper prep and spray. That is totally different from the complex geometry and construction of a welded, riveted frame, body, and suspension.

Yes, I'm well aware of the process of iron corroding. As you said, if you seal up air tight it won't, and I agree. But sealing it up tight is exactly the problem, you won't seal it up tight on a fully assembled truck. You're spray a viscous liquid from limited access points and angles, it simply won't find every single access point for the water. Not even to mention proper surface prep on a fully assembled truck. In time the coating degrades, gets brittle, flex of the frame and body eventually cause cracks to open in the coating - water will wick it's way into every crack and start corroding the metal, the rust creeps in from the side causing the coating delaminate and more metal is exposed to the trapped water - now that is proper science.

 

In Hampton roads we don’t get a whole lot of snow so not much road salt. I’ve bought 20-30 year old trucks that lived in this area their whole lives. Dad has an 88 F250 he bought brand new living here. Zero rust and it’s stayed outside it’s entire life with 2 paint jobs just to keep it looking good. Just apply wool wax or fluid film.

 

Dude, we get it. You got what is possibly the worst coating you can get applied to your frame and you are trying to justify it to yourself. That's ok, but don't try to convince those who know better. I lived in the salt belt in mountains for 56 years. I drove more rusty vehicles than most and many were undercoated with crap like Ziebart sells. What happens in a few years is that stuff cracks, letting salt water in. It stays in there in pockets because it cannot escape. You go get it touched up in a year and the damage is done. I was a bodyman for several years. I know rust.
Fluid film is good, hell even just painted is better than that stuff. I solved the problem of rust though... I moved to South Carolina. Sold my snow blower, gave the shovels away and haven't even had to wear a winter coat in my first full year here.

 

Do you know this from your vast experience working on vehicles in the rust belt? Or are you forming these opinions from a YouTube video?

 

Yes you’re right. The worst stuff you can get and I’m trying to justify it to myself. Nice try. I’m just sick of fairy tells that are pushed by people with zero experience on the matter. Perfect example of this is the thread on locking gas caps. People saying there’s screens in the filler necks to prevent people from siphoning fuel, another guy saying if you put a beer cap in someone’s tank it will get sucked up into the fuel lines and cause a vehicle to not run. These people literally have never even taken a gas tank out of a vehicle and are talking out their asses. They’re not subject matter experts, they’re subject matter enthusiasts.

I posted pictures of my own vehicle with the stuff applied, can you point out the cracks in the coating and the rust developing underneath please? You can’t, because the only rust is on the bare metal parts that weren’t coated. I’m forming my opinions from the thousands of vehicles I’ve serviced in the rust belt and seeing through my years of experience what works and what doesn’t. I’m not forming my opinion from a YouTube video that clearly is trying to mislead people. I agree, fluid film works great. It’s also something you have to apply yourself every year. I bring my truck in once a year and they touch up any areas that need it, which generally is very little. I’m replacing my leaf spring in a few weeks. If anything, a flexible spring should support these fairy tales, right? Lots of flexing, cracking, moisture trapping, and rust, right? I’m going to scrape the undercoating off the old ones so keep an eye out for that post.

 

Never ever Ziebart. Yes, if you are able to get a perfect frame and Ziebart, you may not begin with any trapped moisture. But over time you will get trapped moisture. Also, they Ziebart cables, nuts, bolts and makes repair a big issue.

$60 on Amazon for a six-pack of Fluid Film.

 

This bears repeating. You're dealing with already painted surfaces many of which are inaccessible on an assembled vehicle. There are lots of miracle coatings and paints (like por 15) that would work great in theory but don't in reality because you can't apply them completely or correctly.

What works in the real world is an annual spray application of an oil based, non hardening product. It will make the underside of your truck a greasy, grimy mess and it's anything but pleasant if you do it yourself but it works.

 

Funny, I replaced my shocks and struts and I had absolutely zero issues removing the ABS sensor harness from the steering knuckles, sway bar links/bushings, strut mount bolts, shock nuts/bolts, upper ball joint castle nut, or the parking brake cable.

I added a power lock to the tailgate about a month ago, and running the harness through the body plugs presented no challenges.

I had zero problems changing my differential fluids, transfer case fluid, and tranny fluids.

I replaced the front brakes last weekend and none of the bolts gave me any problems.

I replaced my skid plates... again, zero problems.

Again I ask? Are you drawing this conclusion based upon your years of experience repairing cars/trucks, or was it something you heard someone say?

 

Usually happens when vehicle is 5+ years old. I'm an old guy. I was a bodyman before I became an engineer. I applied undercoat back to areas that had been damaged. I also put out 1000 fires I caused when using the torch near undercoating. every time I got ready to use a torch near undercoat, I always moved my wet sand bucket close and a wet rag. It's shit, plain and simple. Good luck though.

 

POR-15 is great stuff. I used that to paint some plate steel skids on a heavy Wrangler that was V8 swapped and set up for crawling. It could literally slide over rocks without chipping. It did get gouged a few times which penetrated the coating, but the metal etching pre-coat seemed to work really well. They were rusty prior to being painted, but I ground all of it down to bare steel and kept it in a humidity controlled environment after grinding and prior to painting. My buddies body shop uses it to paint muscle cars that he’s doing restorations on. He patches the holes with a spray welder called the rust-buster, then paints the entire frame and body with POR-15 prior to paint. If done properly, it works amazingly, it’s also very expensive.

 

I’ll make sure to check in at the 5 year mark so we can put this myth to bed.

 

That's my point. If you can remove a part and completely prep and coat the whole part then you can get great results. Since most people aren't going to completely disassemble their brand new truck, the question is what's the best and most practical alternative. I actually do take apart my new vehicles much more than most people would consider doing in order to coat everything as thoroughly as possible. I can tell you from doing this that the rear bumpers on these trucks are a ridiculous sandwich of plastic and sheetmetal that holds water like a sponge.

 

Anybody else use corrosion free?
I used it on my 2018 for two winters and so far so good.

 

I use Corrosion Free HD and ACF-50,

Underside of truck and engine compartment look better than brand new. Same with inside the boxed sections and control arms etc

And I live in a nice salted area in the winters.
3' brown snowbanks on the end of my driveway and my black truck turns white from that salt spray.

I switched to CorFree-HD from Fluid Film mainly because Fluid Film washes off too easy, stinks and is messy.

ACF-50 in the Engine compartment and everywhere there isn't direct water spray. (except belts and brakes)

Then Corrosion Free HD in areas like the wheel wells, front of the differential, leaf springs etc (mixed with ACF-50) where it gets direct water spray.
It's best point that it does not harden and it is tough to clean off, is a pain when your doing maintenance because it's tough to clean off.


For some of the other previous posts;

I would never recommend a rubberized coating for a climate where they salt more than once a year or near the ocean if you play on the beach.

Even a maintained Ziebart coating has a serious "system flaw" .

Since the frames/undersides can not be 100% cleaned of contaminates, you'll get areas that paint, and coating do not adhere properly.
The Ziebart guys will tell you that is not an issue as they will perform maintenance/touch up on the frame every year...
They can't properly clean out inside a boxed frame... or behind obstacles, nor do they dry it out...
Now touchup material is layered over top of more contaminants, dirt, moisture, silicone etc.
Looks great on the outside, rots from the inside out.
Worse on laminated frame sections.
Does not "heal" when damaged,
Seen it with my own eyes.
So don't waste your time blathering nonsense to me about Ziebart.
It's better than nothing,
but will never surpass the oil based non hardening applications out there.


Stay away from any rubberized coatings!

I'm not speaking from Youtube knowledge,
I'm speaking from driving through half frozen saltwater for 4 months a year for almost 40 years,
fixing my own cars, and family members cars ,
Restoring old cars,
And oh yeah, doing a lot of corrosion studies and failure analysis as an Automotive Reliability Engineer.