Is this amount of rust concerning? 2021 Tacoma..

Northern Canada here, 2016 with 100k miles, never seen interior parking ever in its life.

Krown or similar 2x a year (fluid film isn't the greatest)

 

Folks up in the north country and rust belt that don't undercoat their cars are either insane, stupid, or rich enough to use cars like disposal items.

 

I don’t anyone off this forum that sprays goo on their car every year including myself.

 

See post 23 of this thread

 

Up here right before winter time there are literal lines of cars waiting to be undercoated at the rustproofing shops. I think folks who do not undercoat are in the minority here.

Most dealerships will undercoat new cars before they leave the lot, too. No matter the season

 

I should probably go check mine out and report back lmao

 

Are the Marine ceramic undercoatings any good?

 

Probably not considering marine applications usually use non ferrous metals like aluminum and stainless steel.

Truck frames are super high in iron and carbon so they rust super easy and require an actual physical barrier to stop oxidation..that's where thick goopy coatings come into play

 

I’ve only only owned 3 new cars and only one for its entire life. So here’s my n=1 experience with rust.

I owned a 2001 Subaru until its death in 2015. It was driven in Minnesota winters and parked in a garage at nights. I never rustproofed it and barely ever washed it.

It was mostly rust free when it died from natural causes. The only visible rust issues were the roof rack which disintegrated and rusty water leaking out of the windshield seal and staining the paint. I’m not sure what happened to the roof rack (perhaps water leaked into it), but I suspect the windshield issue was due to a botched replacement.

Oh and the rear window wiper seized due to corrosion.

 

Let's not forget Tacomas are naturally rust buckets.... probably it's greatest Achilles heel

 

I personally don’t see many rusty Tacomas on the road here.

Back in the 70’s and 80’s rusty cars were everywhere. I think the manufacturers really upped their game.

 

Link?

CRC Marine is a good Cosmoline-like product. I use the spray cans interchangeably with Cosmoline-branded RP-342 cans. I prefer Cosmoline over Fluid Flim / Krown / Rust Check because it doesn't attract dirt as much.

 

I think this discussion partly comes down to one’s tolerance for rust. I once owned a Datsun pickup which had so much rust that it had a bungee cord preventing the right front corner panel from blowing in the wind, square pieces of sheet metal on the floor preventing water from entering the cabin, and holes in the bed large enough to loose a small child.

 

Problem with a dry wax undercoating is if it cracks it will hold the shit. Ones that stay wet I think is best..

 

I don't have a pic on hand, but Fluid Film certainly works. I've applied it prior to the last 3 winters and only wash the body at the self serve car wash in the winter, not the underside. Roads are heavily salted up here in northern WI from November to March.

It's filthy/dirty underneath from all the dirt it collects, but wipe the grime off on any spot and it's like new underneath. I figure the process of crawling underneath the truck every fall to spray another coat is also a good time to investigate any rust starting or places missed with fluid film previously, so far I haven't found anything that needs attention.

 

I'm pretty sure it's not cosmoline. I was calling shops around to see what they did, but I think I'm gonna end up doing it myself with the CRC marine. Do you have to do 2 coats with it?

 

Mine is a 2020 as well and I live across the river from you. Did you wipe a weld off? I haven’t noticed any rust elsewhere on the frame besides the welds similar to the OP’s pic.

I also have surface rust on my hitch receiver and rock sliders due to normal use removing the paint/powder. I’ve cleaned and repainted those a few times.

 

2013 Tacoma here. I Fluid Film 1-2X per year and I barely have a spec of rust. I also don't live anywhere near the salt belt.

 

There’s a reason that people in the great white north will travel all the way to Texas to buy a classic automobile to bring back home and store it in a garage every winter.

 

A few tiny specks of rust on the exhaust hanger weld, I wiped off a few spots on surrounding welds and they were clean.