Did the Toyota dealer just ruin my truck with this undercoat?

Don't know what to say brother...I would crawl under and try to scrape off that stuff, pain you know where but I would if it were mine. Even if it took days and days!, you can do it!

 

I bought a used 2000 Explorer years ago with that the previous owner had Ziebarted. That car went through 17 Chicago winters, had 200K+ miles on it and the frame still looked almost new. Rest of the body not so much but wherever the undercoating was still looked good.

 

Holy shit!

 

Check prices in your area. With ongoing chip shortages, Toyota cutting production by 40%, etc., you might be able to sell it yourself for a profit.

Jokes aside, we are giving advice based on a one-liner description. "Soundproof" suggests it's like tar and laid on thick, which if true would be problematic later on.

Assuming you got your used truck from a Toyota dealer, "dealer undercoating" isn't spec'd by Toyota corporate and it could be from any vendor. A Toyota dealer may outsource undercoating to an off-site shop as the process gets messy and ties up a lift. Get exact information on the brand of undercoating used and you can make a better decision.

Did the dealer dictate a yearly respray requirement to maintain your corrosion warranty? The Ziebart crap shown in the video is the result of piling it on year after year.

 

My brother had ziebart done right at the dealer when he bought his 77 trans am. At the time they must of used cosmoline, or similar...its a hard waxy coating they did plus in all the door, and rocker panels.. Car is still in perfect being showroom condition being garage all its life during the winters.

 

Ok, just took it to my trusted long-time mechanic who's been taking care of my family's Toyotas for years. There is nothing wrong with the truck mechanically, it's in great condition. It's just the crappy undercoating, which he just basically said to keep an eye on and have it treated with fluid film every year regardless. Yes, at some point, it's going to start to flake/chip, but with the fluid film it will help mitigate rust (and in the meantime, I will keep researching for someone to actually have it removed, if po$$ible).

Fuck it, I'm keeping this baby. I love it.

 

That's the Taco Spirit! Congrats! It will all work out. Looks like a clean truck.

 

Like a proud parent!! Love it.

 

Nice looking truck, but imo, coating an existing layer of another type of undercoating as fluid film is asking for a mess....just ask a buddy of mine that sprayed cosmoline over fluid film at a later date. The two turned into a dripping, oily mess all over his driveway. I hope you never have to crawl under there for any future work if thats the case...let your ace mechanic handle it.

 

You can still apply Fluid Film to the frame and into all frame openings. With that it will last.

I would just spray it onto the coating as well. If the coating gets small cracks the FF will creep into them and protect from rust.

 

I have nuxodol on mine which is the waxy stuff. Seems good so far after a couple winters . Was definitely nervous about moisture getting trapped but took a gamble.

 

Quick question. I have a 2011 with the Ziebart treatment. They did a rust inhibitor, let it sit for 24 hours, then did the undercoat about a year ago. This was after Toyota treated the inside of the frame on recall. (Evidently, it wasn’t bad enough for the total frame replacement). This truck was in Saskatchewan for a few winters (I think 5) and it shows. I’m really bummed out reading all the negatives here, so all things considered, should I be applying annual fluid film or whatever? I don’t want to create any more problems or messes. Lol

 

Yes ! It’s a keeper !

Buy a can of Wool Wax and test spray an area. My guess is it would be fine. And, it the test area works ok, blast the entire undercarriage with Wool Wax.