Complete Corrosion Protection for my New T4R

I purchased a new 2021 T4R SR5 Premium this past spring. I've lived in the heart of the rust belt (south shore of Lake Ontario) for my entire life, so I know a little bit about corrosion and corrosion protection. I also came out of a 2014 Tacoma TRD Sport, so I know what rusts and what doesn't on similar vehicles. Finally, I used to work at a local Toyota dealership in Service, so I got to see what my friends swore at and what they'd do differently if they were building vehicles.

Seeing that this will probably be one of the last new vehicles I'll ever buy, I want it to last. My son is a former Toyota / Lexus Certified Service Technician, so all maintenance is done by somebody who really knows what he's doing. That left corrosion protection for the upcoming winter as one of the last loose ends I needed to tie up. I thought I'd share what I did and why with my friends here so that maybe some of you can consider the same steps. I'm also wide open to suggestions for further ideas.

The first thing I did was get the insides of my frame coated with the same product that Toyota uses on their latest program to keep Tacoma frames from rotting out from the inside. The coating also comes with a number of plastic plugs to close a number of holes stamped into the frame rails. Don't ask me how I got this done or how much it cost, but trust me, it's worth a bundle.

Second, I got the entire underside of the truck coated with a product called Waxoyl. I've looked at, read about and tried a number of different underbody coatings and I really liked what I saw in this particular product. I also asked them to coat the entire rear axle housing since they are known to rust through over time believe it or not. And yes, the spare tire was out when they did the coating. In case you're wondering, I would absolutely not - under any circumstances - recommend Ziebart undercoating or inner body coatings. The product and the process suck and the "free annual resprays" are just and excuse to get you in the door to twist you arm for additional products and services.

Third, I got all of the inner body areas sprayed with a product called Krown. This is an oil based product and I really like the fact that it seeps into small areas and seams to protect them. I didn't get it done on the underside because it does tend to wash off and needs to be re-applied at least yearly down there.

Next, I removed the plastic trim above the rocker panels on all four doors. This area - especially on the driver's door - is known to rust out because the underside of the plastic trim piece rubs through the paint right where you can't see it - until it's too late. I cut pieces of Clear Bra with radiused corners and applied them so that they covered an area just slightly greater then the trim piece. This should keep the plastic from cutting through the paint.



Underneath the truck, I applied a liberal coat of Fluid Film to the Transmission Shifter Position Sensor on the passenger side of the transmission case. These are known to corrode and cause hard shifting over time. They can also be a bit of a bear to get off once rusted.

Under the hood on the driver side, I applied a liberal amount of Fluid Film to the Intermediate Steering Shaft. This is the part of the steering shaft with the universal joints and rag joint. For reasons that elude me, Toyota doesn't put any kind of finish at all on the bare metal. When this bad boy starts to corrode and bind up, it will feel like your steering is going loose-tight-loose-tight as you rotate the steering wheel.

Since I was under the front end, I slathered Fluid Film all over the metal power steering lines leading to and from the steering rack. Someday when either the lines or the steering rack need replacement, somebody's going to thank me.

I also coated the entire inside of the Lower Core Support as well as the foam gasket on the front of it that is known to trap both salt and moisture with a decent amount of Marine Fogging Oil. While I was in the area, I also flowed it into the area between the radiator and the core support of the same reason. Marine Fogging Oil is a special oil loaded with corrosion inhibitors for those of you that haven't heard of it.

While I had the Fluid Film in hand, I applied a liberal amount to the front hood latch mechanism as well as the rear hatch latch mechanism. I also laid a nice coat on the striker plate at the base of the rear hatch.

Finally, maybe the most important thing. My son and I removed all four Alignment Cam Bolts from the Lower Control Arms. These are known to trap salt and moisture that allows them to corrode pretty quickly. When that happens, your ability to use them to align your truck goes pretty much out the window. So, we removed them and liberally coated them with Never Seize. As the pictures below show, even though the truck is only 8 months old, they were already starting to corrode. Even though we carefully marked the positions of the cams, the truck goes in for an alignment tomorrow just to make sure.



Did I forget something? Probably, but this is the best corrosion protection program I've ever applied to any of the numerous vehicles I've owned over the years.

The only other thing needed to get the truck ready for snow is slapping on the winter wheels and tires. I scored a nice set of 2019 Tacoma TRD Sport 17" wheels with TPMS sensors on Craigslist and mounted a slightly narrower than stock set of Blizzak DM-V2 Ice and Snow tires on them. My experience has shown that narrower tires are always better on hard packed snow and ice. These will go on in early December.



I hope this rather lengthy post will help some of you that also want to prevent your T4R's from rusting into an early grave.

 

Wow. That’s pretty thorough. I live at the bottom of Lake Michigan in northwest Indiana and we get hit pretty hard with snow and salt as well. I fluid filmed my 2020 off-road last year and it appears to have gone through the winter with minimal corrosion. Today I mixed the leftover fluid film with some wool wax and sprayed away!

 

this needs a TLDR summary...lol...just kidding good stuff man!