Having dealership under coat new truck

Ziebart haven't seen that name in years. I had a few of my vehicles done back in the 70-80 but have not heard of or seen them in years. Are they still around or did they change names.

 

I'm in Newfoundland, eastern Canada and live on the coast. Salt is used heavily on our roads in the winter. Everything rusts. Salt in the air and salt spray from the ocean doesn't help either.

I had my 2018 Tacoma undercoated at the dealer when I purchased it. Seemed like a good thing to do. The tech did a great job. Coated everything heavily. Maybe too heavy. He did the inner wheel wells also. He did a touch up job one time and got overspray over 50% of the truck. I wasn't too happy but they cleaned the truck.

The dealer tells me that they use a product called First Canadian Platinum Shield. As far as I can tell they use 2 products. A semi transparent coating for rust proofing the body panels and a black oily type undercoating for the frame and under the truck. It does wear off in places that are hit with tire spray and they'll touch up as needed. They claim it adds sound proofing also. I don't know about that claim. The undercoating doesn't fully harden. Hard to tell if there's any rust under the coating.

I'm trading in my 2018 on a 2023 and at this point I'm not sure whether to get it done at the dealer or go with something like Krown. The dealer applied stuff seems good but they missed sections that are hard to get at, especially under the engine - there's a frame part that goes from side to side and it's open on both ends. That's rusting from the inside. They don't spray the rear end and leaf springs. I'm thinking something like Krown would get into those places better provided that the guy doing the application is any good.

I guess something is better than nothing. Maybe. lol.

 

I did the rubberized undercoating from Toyota (they out source it) on my 2nd Gen Tacoma and 5th Gen 4R. Each of them showed rust within years from frame and component rust to inside the door panels (I had flakes of rust coming out the drain holes on the rear hatch on the 4R). For my new 3rd Gen I decided to go with Krown. They sprayed in every nook and cranny. I'll get the full spray done yearly and have them do a respray every 6 months. The respray only costs $20 so it's a no brainer.

 

If it were me Id have it done by an undercoating specialist. Not the dealer. A company that does undercoatings every day will always be better than some guy at the dealership with a spray gun. They are just applying a coating with the biggest profit so they want to do it as cheap as possible.

Many dealers farm out undercoating applications to these very same shops anyway, so cut out the middleman and go direct .

 

I used fluid film in the past which is ok if you keep applying it every 6 months if in the rust belt. On my 2020 when new I did it in cosmoline, so far after 3 years and 2 1/2 salty winters the chassis still looks like I just did it. Imo, it's cosmoline for the win.
On another note those hard rubberized coatings suck. Given time they will destroy your chassis.

 

My brother had his 77 trans am zeibart coated when new. To this day it's perfect like just delivered. I've looked closely at the coating which I believe is cosmoline. It's not a black rubberized type coating but more amber when looking at the door jams and under the hood....sort of a semi hard waxy finish. Idk if zeibart used a different formula in their coating back in the 70's, but I was impressed with what I saw.

 

I had a waxoyl application forabout 700 bucks, yearly reapplication for the time I own the vehicle, I'm in the northeast.
I wouldn't go with a rubberized or asphalt based one for the reason that others have mentioned.

 

Yeah, I'm convinced. My new truck won't be getting undercoated at the dealer. I'll bring it to a local shop my buddy uses for his fleet of commercial pickup trucks and personal vehicles. It's a local Krown shop. He gives them a 2 thumbs up.

 

As someone that works at a dealer can confirm . Shit is usually sprayed on terribly by some min wage idiot and gets all over electrical connectors and stuff that shouldn’t . Does absolutely nothing for rust protection either .

 

Then what after 7 years????

 

Well not always. A friend of mines son had a job at a local ford dealer back in the 80's making $15 an hour rust proofing vehicles they sold while saving up for college. Kid is far from an idiot. He's now one of their top guys at Jacobs vehicle systems.

 

Dealerships sell cares, not very well, but they try. To have them do the undercoating is beyond me. They will likely have someone else do it and tack on some profit for themselves. I’d suggest don’t have them do anything that isn’t part of their core business.

 

In 1970's we used plain transmission fluid on our cars and hotrods and it worked fine for many years (applied yearly or so) - except it drips and smells.

Fast forward to 2023, there are tons of products out there, some very expensive, others not so expensive. I personally am getting ready to apply surface shield, fluid film or woolwax to the new 2022 4runner we purchased.

The idea is to 1) cover everything, let it soak well and do what it does best. 2) I like to inspect metal and this allows it as well. 3) most critical space is inside the "frame rails". I pln t soak it good with a 360 degree tube sprayer and soak it really good (back and forth 3 times and move the spray around on each stroke), this is key, as this is where they rust from (like my 2004 Tacoma).

As indicated, undercoating peels when old/dry and traps moisture.

The minor downside is you get greasy when working on the truck, but if it is a new truck, there is not going to be many reasons to crawl under it.

Alex

 

I asked the dealer about undercoating for my truck that is due here next month. They said they did not do undercoating and did not recommend it. I'll probably go with wool wax, I live in Michigan.

 

I get it now, if two “dudes” tell you something then it must be true. Very good lol

 

Two dudes said that.

 

surface shield supposed to last longer (2 years), but it all depends on road conditions.

 

Fwiw, I did my winter car with it back in November. It's been the wettest and saltiest winter I can personally recall here in VT, I'd bet the roads have been wet 80% of the time since I coated it. I do a minimum of 50 miles a day with it, and even in the highest water spray areas like here, it's still just as thick as when I sprayed it on.

I can't recommend the stuff enough. It's amazing so far. But like FF, it does help significantly to get a layer of dirt built up on it though

 

I take layers of dirt buildup any day over swiss cheese chassis.

The drive trains on Toyotas are good for 500,000 miles with basic maintenance, but the chassis are not. I am going to guess that either A) cheap imported steel or b) designed to rust out, so we are forced to buy a new truck. But products like Sufrace SHiled, fluid film help us with keeping the trucks longer

 

Was interested in doing this as well, mostly for the sound deadening. I like a quiet ride, I already sound deadened every panel. I decided to try and find some better comparisons. It's pretty easy to find ruined frame videos with the rubber stuff, but we don't know when and how it was applied. What is obvious is that the damage is hidden.

https://youtu.be/lyWHF4NoNVk

This video swayed me to use CRC spray on my own when I had to drive through some snowy areas. You could easily see if it was to trap any salt/water because it is mostly transparent. I was lazy about spraying it onto my drum brakes and you can now see a shadow of rust where the rim got in the way of the spray. So the effectiveness is quite noticeable even on a single piece of metal.