Beach maintenance

I'm looking to buy a Tacoma soon for beach/work. This vehicle will be driven on sand fairly often. What I plan on doing was spraying the under carriage after each trip and then drying it with a horizontal fan. Does anyone advise against this? I do not want to undercoat as I think this will be more harmful to me than good. Any advice on what to do for extra maintenance?

 

Just undercarriage wash regularly

 

I made this to spray mine off after beach driving.

 

Super smart @wood714

 

I'd apply Fluid Film all over under the truck (to a clean and dry undercarriage).

That always-soft DIY spray coating is difficult to wash off and provides terrific protection. Dust and small dirt will sorta stick to it, but that won't cause any problems unless you brush up against the protected areas.

There are hundreds of threads on here talking about Fluid Film and similar lanolin-based anticorrosive treatments. Probably the biggest downside of FF is its smell. A lot of people find it revolting. I have a dull nose and can barely smell it...

 

driving on the beach does not do the damage most people say it does. It's dry.

The problem of rust is mainly contributed to roads that are salted in the winter.

source: been driving on the beach for 20 years. only undercarriage rinse in the winter due to salt. rust has never been a problem for me.

I dislike all these undercarriage coatings. they make it a mess when you need to do maintenance and mask any drips or leaks you have. juice is not worth the squeeze imo.

 

Maybe spray with clean water with one of those long handle watering things that gardeners use. I wouldn't bother drying.

 

ryobi

 

or put a sprinkler on the driveway and drive over it

 

I live on the beach and am in sand and salt water pretty often. I did a Fluid Film total coverage underneath before it got here and do a light power wash once a month, and reapply Fluid Film every six months. Zero corrosion. Be sure to get inside the frame holes with FF.

 

Note that water causes rust, not salt. Salty water is however worse than water alone. You could be making things worse by adding water to the equation. Albeit I do not know of any scientific evidence supporting that or vice versa.

You should also realize that painted metal does not rust regardless of salt water. There needs to be some imperfection/damage in the paint for the water to get access to the steel underneath.

Typically the rust starting points are in places you cannot see, eg inside the body or frame. Salty water can collect in these places and remain moist for long periods of time. This is why the body and frame have drain holes. Your time might be better spent making sure none of your drain holes are plugged.

Personally, I would have to have a lot of extra time on my hand to bother washing my truck after driving on the beach.

My best personal experience with rust on a modern vehicle is my 2001 Subaru which I owned until 2015. I rarely washed it, never used any rust treatment, drove it through 15 Minnesota winters, and the only serious rust was inside the windshield seam and the roof rack. I blame the windshield seam rust on a shoddy windshield replacement.

 

This works great for cleaning underneath

 

@RIX TUX GENIUS

 

This is exactly what I’ve done for years. I usually park in the grass so everything falls on the lawn and not on the concrete driveway. But it has worked for me.

 

I'm going to bring mine to work tomorrow and do that. Just genius.

 

As long as you stay on dry sand there should never be a problem.

The bone heads that drive down to the water are the ones with rusted out frames.

 

oh i see lots of people total their beach rigs out here in the break...usually young girls in Wranglers or boys in their daddies F350 Superduty

 

try Woolwax, a very slight smell out of the bottle, no lingering smells at all... seems to resist "wash off" better than FF...

 

I’d advice you to quit, beach/work sounds like a horrible occupation.

 

In Texas you can drive on the Beach. They have undercarriage washes that most people who live by the Beach use religiously. BTW