I need to be education on rust and how to protect against it.

some data from Minnesota
FF seems to have failed in this controlled experiment

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tacomas-in-minnesota.16179/page-111#post-22218661

 

Paint will always eventually fail and rust will start. You could clean the frame up well and use por15 or rust bullet to seal the metal but inside of frames are almost impossible to clean and paint so using oil is always the best option. If it is covered in oil it will not rust. But oil can and does wash off over time. If you want to do the best job you can clean the metal paint it and once the paint is dry cover everything in oil.

 

that looks to be able to be applied over both clean and corroded metal, that is a ++!

might have to try some of that inside here where i seemed to have missed a spot a couple months ago

 

so i wonder what the normal scheduled maintenance/replacement of 1st gen Tacoma frame paint coating is? my owners manual does not cover this topic as far as i know
...think i maybe head to the dealer that sold it to me and get some answers!
possibly could be a different interval for those in severe climates
mine is peeling in areas but not sure if its due to age or the probable lack of protection against chemical seepage right on through to make it bubble and delaminate

#hardcoretacolife

 

So did you use por 15 there?

I called several auto stores in Minneapolis and Anchorage, most started talking about undercoating or rustoleum (which people have said been terrible right?)

Sounds like a real lengthy treatment now - por 15, with 3 different coats. Followed with a top coat to prevent UV damage. Followed with Fluid film. Worth it in the end though?

Rust bullet sounds good to, but there are no other coatings to put on before or after?

 

call over to Hi-Tec professional auto body if you’re in Anchorage. They stock POR-15. Or they did a while back when I was considering using it on my boat trailer.

 

por15 goes a long way. If you are just touching up the frame where paint has failed buy a couple of the small 8 ounce cans you can get them shipped for about $10 a can. Por15 dont do any good if you paint over the factory paint because when the factory paint flakes off so will the por15 so it's wasted effort. https://www.ebay.com/itm/POR-15-450...OZ-CAN-POR-45006/332425798324?epid=2300772696

 

When i did my 4runner i wire brushed the rusty spots cleaned it up good at the car wash por15'd it and let it completely cure. Then right before it started getting cold i covered everything in fluid film, i should have used wool wax but i didn't know about it at the time. On my new to me 2002 Taco i didn't paint anything i just covered the underside in wool wax. Be warned though por15 needs a completely clean surface to stick to with no oil at all on it. So if you do oil undercoating now you will probbaly never get it all off to do por15 later. And once you get the por15 contaminated with oil it ruins it. So if you are painting rusty sports and end up jamming the wet brush in some wool wax that is in a little crevice then you just ruined the paint and it will never stick like it should to prevent rust.

 

I just talked to Pat at Napa off Dowling in Anchorage, VERY helpful. He said basically 2 quarts of each should be enough to do it all. He's had a lot of great feedback about por15, he never heard of rust bullet (not that it's bad). He concurred that por15 followed with fluid film sounds like a solid treatment/prevention plan.

I don't have any coating on my truck that I'm aware of so far. Started seeing that rust on the frame rail and haven't done anything yet.

I'm planning on treating the whole undercarriage in one shot, probably when I put my new coilovers, arms, and lower control arm bushings in, so I can take advantage of the drying time between coats.

How do I know if it still has factory paint? I'm just talking about the frame rails, cross member, etc underneath the truck.

Wool wax looks to be the same as fluid film, does it just last longer or easier application or something?

So then sounds like it makes sense I should still por15 first before either of the wax applications to make sure I can treat all the metal...

 

that is a no on the POR-15, just a spot i had glass bead media blasted out to naked steel and must've forgotten to get some extreme primer on there, the weather may have gotten too cold for a good application per the ideal temp instructions and i may have called it a day before completing. just noticed it the other day while figuring out how to yank the fender liners out for some deep cleaning before winter sets in

 

Looks like your frame still has nice paint on there then or something compared to mine.

So after the por 15, how many 12 oz cans of fluid film or wool wax would I need to treat the whole under carriage roughly? I don't have a spray gun, comperssor, etc.

 

factory paint should probably look like this, without the beginnings of rot thanks to the calcium chloride stuff they put on my roads last winter to remove an inch of ice
i tried the auto car wash with undercarriage wash instead of wand hand spraying (like i have always done in the past) and it just did not thoroughly clean all the roadspray off
then TW came along and so the story goes



halogen light makes that bad stuff glisten

 

that is just 2 coats of eastwood chassis extreme black primer on a completely blasted down part of the frame
next spring/summer i need to scuff it with some sandpaper and but a topcoat on and see how durable it is against chipping and chemical seepage

i have heard that 5 or 6 cans of FF covers it, not sure about wool wax

 

WoolWax is thicker and stickier and resists wash off better than fluid film is the main reason. WoolWax has an animal smell to it and i assume it is because it has more lanolin in it than fluidfilm which makes it thicker and stickier. WoolWax is much easier to pour into the gun fluid film is weird and gelatinous and even in warm weather does not pour i had to spatula it into my gun and it was a huge pain. I dont know what kind of extra fillers fluidfilm puts in their mix but it does smell much better.

 

But wait, fluid film smells better...?

Either way, woolwax is stickier, longer lasting, gotcha.

FYI, I just found this discount code for woolwax on another forum: IH8MUD

Has anyone used just the aerosol cans for woolwax or is it really necessary to get a gun, compressor, etc?

This guy reviews a lot of the coatings, but didn't follow the application instructions for por 15 and it came off?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXlhmbvdKBo

 

Just wash it with a garden hose and coat it with bio biodegradable motoroil from a garden sprayer. You seem to have body panel rust. Spray into weep holes and allow to run along welds.
Any area you can reach underneath by hand, “paint” with red grease using a foam brush which goes on clear. Do the oiling yearly on older trucks. It’s a twenty minute job and is effective as fluid film which costs a bundle.

Motor oil creeps better then thicker fluids. Plus, it hurts nothing if you over spray though I would be careful around brakes.

 

I cant see cans being worth the effort unless you are doing some small areas like up inside the door drain holes with the little red stray to keep the door bottoms from rusting out. For doing the entire undercarriage and inside the frame you need the professional gun and an air compressor. You need to put the truck up on ramps and start from the inside of the frame rails and work your way out to keep from getting as much of the oil off you as you can.

 

It can fail with poor workmanship. It’s not a one time shot. It needs to be repeated periodically. No5h8ng stops rust. All we’re doing is slowing it down.

 

You can do everything with three quarts of biodegradable motor oil....it’s comparable cheaper. The fender liners, front and rear quarters, tailgate and rockers all have to be done inside. Remove any access plugs and threshold plates for access along with drain holes and fenders from from engine bay. You can get to everything with a little imagination.

 

so it would look like the FF will also fail the 'cost' test of repeated application of product + time spent, for those who care about the time & money involved anyways?