UnderCoating vs Synthetic Oil Spray vs doing Nothing

Hey All.
I'm new. Waiting for my Alpine White Sport 6'box to arrive. My 1st Toyota Truck! I'm stoked and looking forward to getting to know yal on Tacoma World.

Question about Rust Proofing in Southern Canada / Northern USA
The dealer is trying the explain to me that the paint is now water based and not as good as in the past and so it needs a full undercoating $$. The guy also said that having the new truck sprayed with synthetic oil can harm the plastic side the doors and also can wreck the small computer modules here and there and thus void warranty.

I'm consider doing nothing and taking care of it and rinsing it off lots in winter.
Do you think I'll be good for 7 years rust free even if I dive in road salty conditions a few months a year?
He also said unless I get their Toyota OEM or approved Remote Starter from the dealer the warranty is also void. This guy was the paperwork guy not the helpful salesman I signed with.

Advice much appreciated.

Sean

 

just get it undercoated and forget about it. If it's about the 500 bucks they want to charge you , then do it yourself and forget about it, you shouldn't have to go under your truck 'lots to rinse it off in winter.' Just look at a 2010 Tacoma in your neighborhood and you'll see how yours is going to look very soon.

Edited cause op was talking about going under his truck lots to clean it. With undercoat it shouldn't be something you think about daily in your life.

 

I don't agree with the guy that already posted. You can't just "do it and forget about it." I live in PA and we get tons of salt. I spray the shit out of the underside with fluid film every fall and wash it off after the salt is off the road in the spring. I post the same thing in every rust prevention thread about doing it yourself and using fluid film.

I'm quite familiar with dealer offered rustproofing. It's costly and I'm not particularly a fan of "lifetime" treatments. In other words, I don't like a solution that claims to be permanent, because the battle with rust will forever be present. The dealership is probably offering a "permanent" solution.

Take two hours and spend $50 per year to do it yourself and you'll be doing the best thing you can to keep your Tacoma rust free.

 

I realized I forgot to chime in about the second part of your question. If you install an aftermarket remote starter make sure you see what kind of warranty comes with it and what it covers. Have a trusted and certified installer. If anything happens to your Tacoma that requires warranty work you will be covered unless they can prove that the aftermarket remote start caused the issue... in which case you'll have to fall back on the installer's warranty.

What your salesman told you about "paint" is stupid, in my opinion. Paint and sheet metal is as good as ever. Toyota's sheet metal hasn't really rusted through since the 90's. Put sealant and wax on it before winter and you'll be fine. The only cars nowadays that will have their sheet metal rust are the one's that aren't taken care of at all

 

Krown oil undercoating seems pretty popular up your way.

 

Undercoating it and forgetting about it is the #1 way to have your frame rot. The stuff will eventually flake off and if you don't take care of it and reapply yearly water will seep behind it and your frame will always be moist rotting it out quicker.

 

Hahaha. I have my Sunday Night Football buzz on and this made me laugh way too hard!

 

Fluid film twice a year.Wiring friendly

 

It's because of the bull shit games and lies like this that caused me not to have my truck already.

Now some guys I talked to at the dealership explained they don't think you have to treat the truck, I figured because they didn't offer it is why. Meanwhile another dealer 20 minutes away, puts undercoating in every deal.

 

Thanks for the tip. Ordering some now ... if anyone else is interested:

$33 Fluid Film (3 Aerosol Cans) Rust & Corrosion Protection; Metal Surface Penetrant & Lubricant, Marine, Automotive, Industrial, Home, 11.75 Oz

https://www.amazon.com/Fluid-Film-11-75-Spray-3-pak/dp/B00B93ZXGS/

Hope this was the right stuff People seem to like it in the reviews.

edit: see comment below, cheaper at Lowe's

 

Fyi- cheaper at Lowe's and you can get as many as you need

 

Find a Rust-Check location. They are cheap, and good quality. I used to believe in Ziebart but now... I think Rust-Check is the way to go. http://www.rustcheck.com/

 

shieeeet, gotta cancel that order! I get 10% veteran discount at Lowe's too!!

brb ...

 

Another option is buying a gallon of the stuff and painting it on with a foam brush an spraying it on with an undercoat gun if you have a compressor. A gallon is $50 and a can is $9

 

I've mentioned it in other threads, but I will mention it here as well. I heavily undercoated my 2G every year since I purchased it new in 2012. I did as much as I could reach including filling the box sections as much as I could using the small holes inside the front wheel wells.

As of spring 2016, all of the black factory paint on my frame was fully intact including on all the welds with the exclusion of the leading edge of the crossmembers that were open to road debris. I had see multiple 2012+ trucks that already had rusty welds and paint chipping on the frame.

In fact, the only area on my truck with any real appreciable surface rust was the top of the inside of the rear bumper as I didn't get my spray up in there. I cannot comment on the actual status of the box section of my frame on the inside since it's nearly impossible to reach/see, but I am fairly confident it was in great shape.

I just put a HEAVY coat on the 2016 and will probably crawl under there with some spray cans to touch up any areas I missed. I can only hope that it continues to work well. I did notice that the 2016 have fewer openings in the leading edge of the box section than the 2G frames, so hopefully that eliminates an entry point.

I was extremely pleased with how well the FF held up. During the summer my the box section would actually weep as the heat thinned out the FF and it would trickle out.

 

No salt used here and don't get much snow just a shit ton of rain (in October it rained 26 days/31...). I considered undercoating and still might do so but not too concerned based on other Tacomas around I know that haven't had anything done.

 

Yall talk about undercoating drying out cracking and trapping moisture but most undercoating I've seen now are rubberized coating which flex with the frame and I've not heard of them drying out. even my local harbor freight is carrying rubberized undercoating. it would obviously take a whole lot more prep but that seems the better solution to me.

 

New to the idea of undercoating a vehicle myself- time will tell what works best and all of us face different environments and mileage. I prefer something that washes off and needs to be reapplied- even thoughy mantra when remodeling my house is "maintenance free"

 

My wife is from NJ and while all of the other Toyotas her family has owned didn't have rust problems she had a RAV4 that sat a lot while she was in college and that thing turned into a pile of rust. Her dad said he washed it off during the winter when he would drive it in the snow, and I know he is good about taking care of cars because he also had a Camry that had almost 300k on it when he got rid of it and it didn't have any rust problems. I dunno, some cars seem to not hold up as well as others, but using an underspray/coating can't hurt. Especially here in SE MI where they salt the hell out of the roads.