fluid film question

I live in western mass and plan on treating my frame with fluid film before the snow starts flying (and the resulting road salt). My question is, if i do regular undercarriage washes in the touchless carwash throughout winter, will this wash away the fluid film? With how much crap they put on the roads around here, I just cant justify not doing the undercarriage wash. What do you all do?

 

I've been looking at undercarriage/frame protection as well. I'm curious as to how this holds up as well. What products seem to work the best?

 

From what I've read on here, Fluid film seems to be the top choice. A lot of people say the rubberized undercoat can actually trap debris/contaminants and cause issues underneath it. From what I understand, fluid film can be thought of as "wax" for the frame.

 

You should rinse your undercarriage with plain cold high pressure water to get the salt off. If you don't blast the frame to hard when rinsing and put enough fluid film on, it will last a while and not come off in one or two rinses.

By spring time if you get a salty winter where you are rinsing the truck every week or every other week, then it will be mostly gone. You should plan on applying it in both early spring and late fall. Early spring with all the wetness and humidity and warmer temps, is when most professional undercoating companies recommend having it done.

 

It can be applied with the spray cans it comes in, or you can get it in a bucket and use a paint sprayer/compressor.

 

It seems really easy to apply. I think I'll just pick some up and try it this winter. It's not super expensive.

You planning on spraying everything under the truck? My understanding is that you can basically spray this on anything.

 

Yes, I do plan on spraying everything. Their website says it is electrically non-conductive and will not interfere with any electronics/wiring. I'm just going to hook up a paint sprayer and go to town.

 

You might want to check out this thread if you haven't seen it yet:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/310580-tacoma-rust-prevention-experiment.html

 

I wonder if there is any benefit to the paint sprayer vs the spray cans. I don't have a spray gun and the cans seem easier to me.

 

A couple years ago a few of us free samples of fluid film from a vendor who coordinated it with tcBob.

Here is some tech chat that resulted from that & us buying kits from a place linked in the thread.
There were 2 guys here who were TW members who sold kits.
I can't remember their usernames but they had fluidfilm logos as the avatars.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/229505-application-fluid-film.html

 

The only real benefit is cost. It's cheaper to buy in bulk and use the sprayer. I use the aresole spray cans though, it takes 3 - 4 cans to do the entire truck with a good coating. First time ever spraying it I also sprayed an additional can up into the rockers by removing all the rubber plugs first, and also sprayed an additional can up into the door through the drain holes at the bottom.

Buying aresole cans by the case on Amazon can save you some money. I think you can pick up a case of 12 cans on there for like $90 after shipping. That's not bad, at only $7.50 per can shipped.

 

A common paint gun will not spray it. It needs to be a high pressure gun some thing like a Wagner electric gun or one designed for the FF that can be run with a compressor.

 

I bought over $300 worth of Eastwood Internal Frame Coating and rust encapsulators and just starting spraying whenever I get a chance. I guess time will tell how good this thing is..., hopefully in a couple of yrs from now.

 

I buy it by the gallon I have found it for $36 it will do the truck 3 times.Don't be shay drench every thing I even do the backing plates for the rear breaks remove the spare spray the back of the bumper have at it it will not wash off unless you use a high pressure spray I do not wash the bottom of the truck in the winter it would be a waste of time because the next day it would be just as salty as the day before. I have been using it since the truck was new and the frame is still black. Dirt will stick to it so it's a good ideal to pressure wash the frame as best you can in the fall then coat it.

 

since i do not own a spray gun, could you just put the gallon of fluid film in a spray bottle and apply it with it?

Just curious since the gallon jug seems like a better deal then the spray cans.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluid-Film-...772?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2574d63ebc

actually just found this, looks like the route i will be going

 

BE SURE TO CHECK THIS LINK

 

I dont know whether or not to use the fluid film, or just do weekly washes. As previously said, it may just wash off after a few weeks. Ugh

 

I am wondering the same thing. The website says it's super easy to remove, which leaves me conflicted about it. I think I'm just gonna buy 3-4 cans for $30 and spray it before winter is fully underway. It's not that expensive for some possible protection, in my opinion.

I wonder if anyone has any longterm updates for this stuff. Like, if you treated your undercarriage twice a year for 5 years and how it seems to hold up.

 

I've sprayed it on some welds on my frame where there is surface rust. I've mainly used it on the hitch as that seems to be my area of most rust.

Anyway, its held up well for me. In the winter I do go to the do it yourself places after exposed to salt and the temp gets above freezing. So far, unless you get really close with the high pressure water at those places, it doesn't wash right off. Seems to hold up pretty well so far in my experience.