"new" pick up

[randyt]

A bit a go I bought a 2019 pick up with 35 thousand miles on it. Thank goodness for a good economy, I about paid cash for it, first time since 2007 I've been in that position. That's a story for another time.

This post is about some kind of fancy azz undercoating method. I'm in a area that salts the roads in the winter. I heard about some sort of undercoating, maybe "bulletproof undercoating". I think it runs about $1000.

Has anyone done this? I also wonder on a used vehicle if it's worth doing?

 

[Rebecca]

We had an undercoat put on our second hand pick up truck we purchased in 2019. It was done by the dealership and cost about what you say above. They claim it will last 5 or 6 years...I forget which. But we had it done because of the large amount of salt on the roads here, and a hope of keeping rust repair down, and hoping it wont look like a rust bucket when we try and sell it on. The truck was in excellent shape when we got it, here's to it not deteriorating too much, at least due to the salt anyway.
Can't say yet if it will last the length they claim. I'll be keeping an eye on it after each winter.

 

[VThillman]

Get the underside 'oiled' (sprayed). My guy uses new hydraulic oil. Drills a few holes so he can get oil inside the quarter panels and a few other 'water-catching places then plugs the holes with tubing plugs. Charges $75. My cars have gotten the treatment since 2010. No rust has shown up.

 

[Peanut]

I made "poor man's" undercoating once. A gallon of burned motor oil thinned down with paint thinner in a garden sprayer. It lasted it about 2 years.

Be prepared the first time you start the vehicle, keep a fire extinguisher handy... some if it is going to drip down on the exhaust system. When it heats up the first time it'll smoke worse than a mosquito truck.

 

[Cabin Fever]

I bought a new Suburban in 1985. It was applied by Ziebart. Ziebart guaranteed no rust through for the life of the vehicle. The only stipulation was you had to bring the vehicle in once per year for an inspection and reapplication in areas that needed it.

I scheduled the inspections religiously and the car still had rust through. Ziebart paid to have the rust fixed by a company of my choice. I cannot remember exactly, but Ziebart paid to have rust-through fixed three or four times.

The last time I brought the vehicle in with rust, Ziebart totaled the vehicle. They handed me a check for the Kelly Blue Book value of the vehicle. I got to keep the Suburban.

Moral of the story: Ziebart's rust proofing didn't work however they did stand behind their warranty.

https://www.ziebart.com/
The funny thing is, less than a year later, my daughter was gifted the Suburban to use away from home at college. I wanted a lot of metal around her for protection. At any rate, she damaged a car in an adjacent parking spot when she was backing out which caused some damage (mostly to the other car). Our insurance company (State Farm) totaled the Suburban and handed us another check for the KBB value. We still got to keep the Suburban.

We sold the Suburban a year later. The check from Ziebart, the check from State Farm, and the check from the buyer, totaled to about half of what I paid for the Suburban new. We had the Suburban for 14 years and about 180K miles.

 

[VThillman]

I made "poor man's" undercoating once. A gallon of burned motor oil thinned down with paint thinner in a garden sprayer. It lasted it about 2 years.

Be prepared the first time you start the vehicle, keep a fire extinguisher handy... some if it is going to drip down on the exhaust system. When it heats up the first time it'll smoke worse than a mosquito truck. View attachment 56171

I used to get the oiling done by an elderly codger who applied used warm used motor oil yearly. Had to avoid parking the car on pavement the rest of the day, and it stunk some for a couple more days, but it did the job. Ol' Jesse finally retired, moved to Florida.

 

[Peanut]

Funny story… I heard about the poor man’s undercoating from a neighbor who was a volunteer fireman. The volunteer fire station was about a mile and a half from my house. The week he told me about it he also complained about training that coming weekend.

The volunteers trained in the morning. After lunch they sat outside playing cards or domino’s in front of the station. I’d seen them a couple of times that summer. My neighbor didn’t like the wasted afternoons but it was required.

That Saturday afternoon I’d finished applying my undercoating and started my truck, waiting patiently with my fire extinguisher. An idea hit so I jumped in my truck and drove to the fire station. When I pulled up in front of the fire station white smoke was billowing out from under my truck. The guys were jumping and running for equipment…

It didn’t catch fire, just burned off the oil that had dripped onto my exhaust system. Everyone had a good laugh about it, except the fire chief. He was mad at me for months! Hey, they all got real life training that afternoon, for about 10 minutes and it was free! They didn’t get to use their equipment though, maybe that was what he was mad about.

 

[Tootsie]

Get the underside 'oiled' (sprayed). My guy uses new hydraulic oil. Drills a few holes so he can get oil inside the quarter panels and a few other 'water-catching places then plugs the holes with tubing plugs. Charges $75. My cars have gotten the treatment since 2010. No rust has shown up.

We used roof coating. A bucket of that applied with old brushes on a nice day, and the results were good. This was on a 4wd that saw the ocean a lot, plus salted roads. This was in ‘78, before Rusty Jones. All the vehicles since have been done at the shop and have not lasted, but we didn’t go back after initial application. Wish we had.

 

[Spikedriver]

New F150s have all aluminum bodies and therefore shouldn't rust. I wonder if there's a benefit to coating them anyway...

 

[SheepDog]

Aluminum may not rust but it oxidizes fast! Coating it likely won't work because in order to stick it has to be bead blast clean.

 

[Aerindel]

The difference is, that when aluminum oxidizes, it forms a protective coating that prevents further oxidation. There are forms of steel that do the same thing.

 

[SheepDog]

Aluminum has few advantages. The disadvantages are many and extreme.
The aluminum oxide layer is sensitive to impact and abrasion. Certain mineral salts and acids erode the metal under the oxide layer and some metals will destroy the characteristics of the metal and break the molecular bonds. It is prone to fatigue even if it is never stressed beyond it's elastic limits. The biggest advantage is its light weight.

 

[Spikedriver]

Aluminum has few advantages. The disadvantages are many and extreme.
The aluminum oxide layer is sensitive to impact and abrasion. Certain mineral salts and acids erode the metal under the oxide layer and some metals will destroy the characteristics of the metal and break the molecular bonds. It is prone to fatigue even if it is never stressed beyond it's elastic limits. The biggest advantage is its light weight.

I'm planning on buying a brand new F150 in a few months. With the incentives they're giving, you can actually buy new for less than the retail value of a two year old used truck. I've been wondering about the aluminum skin. Dodge and Chevy are using aluminum for quarter panels now too but steel for cabs. I think for me, I won't be doing much heavy work with it so it should be ok.

I do think having the frame done is a good idea. Frame rust kills a lot of old trucks in the Midwest because of all the winter road salt...

 

[Bacpacker]

I have used Line X in my truck beds in the last 2 trucks I've had. They show pics of Jeeps and all kinds of vehicles that had it sprayed all over them. I bet it would work for undercoating as well. No idea of the cost for that. My trucks beds were around $300.

 

[backlash]

I just go through the car wash and get the underside cleaned. We don't have a problem with salted roads so for me that's good enough. Also since you bought a used truck you would be sealing in the rusty parts that are already there unless you do a really good job of cleaning the underside.

 

[bamadeb48]

I had just purchased a 2019 ford fiesta, in March, then when the Covid hit, I was out of work until June, got paid for that time, but decided to take an immediate retirement , I have health issues, and am 67 . but I do wish I had not bought that car, now I have a limited income, and the car payment is terrible, wish I could sell it.... I am at my whit's end making my bills... I really did not think this thing out, I worked for the gov. usda, I sure do miss that paycheck.. I have been thinking about selling the car but I would probably get enough to pay it... I done a really stupid thing....

 

[zoomzoom]

This is the stuff I use. It does a great job but does need re-applied every couple of years.
https://www.fluid-film.com/I bought the NAS (Non-Aerosol-Spray) for jobs like undercoating. I use a pneumatic paint sprayer for application and can do my truck in under 30 minutes including setup.
They make newer, heavier duty products now for undercoating. Details can be found here.
https://www.kellsportproducts.com/
I use Fluid Film everywhere. My bottles of PB Blaster and WD-40 have sat on the shelf untouched in years.

 

[Duncan]

New F150s have all aluminum bodies and therefore shouldn't rust. I wonder if there's a benefit to coating them anyway...

I'm going to show this to Dawn and hope that'll help me make my case for that that absolutely stunning 2021 F-150 with 4WD and the 3.5-liter EcoBeast engine I see everyday at the Ford dealer in Twin.

 

[VThillman]

Aluminum doesn't 'rust', but it does corrode. Several decades ago, one of my employer's engineers owned a Land Rover. It had aluminum brake lines. They gave it up seemingly all at the same time.

 

[backlash]

I had just purchased a 2019 ford fiesta, in March, then when the Covid hit, I was out of work until June, got paid for that time, but decided to take an immediate retirement , I have health issues, and am 67 . but I do wish I had not bought that car, now I have a limited income, and the car payment is terrible, wish I could sell it.... I am at my whit's end making my bills... I really did not think this thing out, I worked for the gov. usda, I sure do miss that paycheck.. I have been thinking about selling the car but I would probably get enough to pay it... I done a really stupid thing....

All of my expensive mistakes involved a vehicle. Notice I said mistakes so I don't include my wife.
If you really want to get rid of it then grit your teeth and take the loss. It will hurt for a while but you won't suffer for years trying to get it paid off.