This is why I like Rustproofing Trucks
- Thread starter Mcbeem5
- Start date
JTK
$100 Site Donor 2025
It's sad. An untreated 2015 can look that bad in my area. 10yrs and they're done.
This is why I'm a big fan of lanolin based treatment products.
This is why I'm a big fan of lanolin based treatment products.
I understand that every place to live has good and bad but I would not live where they purposely ruin your cars so you have to replace them constantly.
Every vehicle I've ever owned, has an Owners Manual which states the necessity of thoroughly cleaning vehicles operated in highly corrosive environments.
I owned an SUV that was operated on salt encrusted roads every winter for 22 years. Also time on the Bonneville Salt Flats every year for several Landspeed events. When I sold it it had zero rust. The reason? I washed the Salt off the vehicle, including the undercarriage, whenever necessary.
Most people don't bother to clean their vehicles which are operated in highly corrosive environments, and a prematurely aged and rusted-out vehicle is the cost of their neglect.
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2023
- Messages
- 1,434
You just don’t drive the ones you care about in winter, it’s not hard. Also do the rust treatment and rinse off your car regularly.
A lot of people just let the salt accumulate and basically never wash their cars. This is the result.
I try not to drive my truck much in the winter especially if the roads are salty.
That sucks. I call it Yankee rot. The rust belt. Lol Grew up in Pennsylvania with said rot. Moved to Texas in 1990. Night and day difference in salt vs no salt. Cant imagine now.
Yeah.....I would not live in the salt belt. No way. Cars get ruined in a few years. You'd think in all this time they could come up with an alternative that doesn't eat cars. Of course the companies that provide the salt probably get paid big bucks and they want to keep the gravy train going.
I found that it takes more than washing. I started using Fluid Film 5 or so years ago and my cars look better for it. I used to just wash my cars often in the winter and still had issues with door edges rotting. Fluid Film eliminated that.
My new to me Wrangler will not be driven in the winter much, but, I filled every crack and hole I could do with a long spray of fluid film, as well as the inside of the frame.
Brand makes a huge difference as well. GM and Dodge products are very quick to rust. My 07 Silverado started to rust in 4 years, which included many washes and waxing, but no Fluid film. I live in IA, which isn’t near as agressive salting as IL, MN and the North Eastern States are.
My new to me Wrangler will not be driven in the winter much, but, I filled every crack and hole I could do with a long spray of fluid film, as well as the inside of the frame.
Brand makes a huge difference as well. GM and Dodge products are very quick to rust. My 07 Silverado started to rust in 4 years, which included many washes and waxing, but no Fluid film. I live in IA, which isn’t near as agressive salting as IL, MN and the North Eastern States are.
I tried to get a side hustle of oiling vehicles in my area where anything over a few years old is showing rust, people are not interested in preserving their rides.
I throughly wash the underside of my trucks when I drive them in the salt water surf of the Gulf of Mexico. Never had an issue.
The reality is washing your vehicle more often does not stop rust. Only a properly applied coating can protect your vehicle from salt. I no longer get the under body spray at our local touchless car wash to help preserve our lanolin coatings.
Cars are no more than disposable transportation devices.
If they're rusty after fourteen or fifteen years and a couple of hundred thousand miles then so what?
The vehicle has served its purpose and is ready to be retired.
I live in the rust belt and I've never seen any point to extraordinary measures to try to forestall the inevitable.
If they're rusty after fourteen or fifteen years and a couple of hundred thousand miles then so what?
The vehicle has served its purpose and is ready to be retired.
I live in the rust belt and I've never seen any point to extraordinary measures to try to forestall the inevitable.
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2023
- Messages
- 138
I suspect the rust belt causes many to rust badly before a couple of hundred thousand miles have been accumulated.
My 2015 F150 has been Fluid Filmed every year since I bought it in 2021. Admittedly, I baby it to some degree, but I drive it year round on salty PA roads and it still has probably 90% of the original paint on the frame and the (aluminum) body is spotless.
The boxed, hydroformed steel tube frames on modern half and even 3/4 ton trucks are made from very thin steel. They are super rigid and lightweight, but there isn't a lot of material there. They aren't like the thicker C-channel on older trucks. If caught early enough, the rust can be patched up, but annual Fluid Film, Surface Shield, Krown, etc, type coatings seem to be the best way to prevent them from getting to that point if you have to drive on salted roads.
The boxed, hydroformed steel tube frames on modern half and even 3/4 ton trucks are made from very thin steel. They are super rigid and lightweight, but there isn't a lot of material there. They aren't like the thicker C-channel on older trucks. If caught early enough, the rust can be patched up, but annual Fluid Film, Surface Shield, Krown, etc, type coatings seem to be the best way to prevent them from getting to that point if you have to drive on salted roads.
Frequent washing helps, but people often don't wash the important spots- the wheel arches, inside the bottom of the doors, behind the plastic bumpers and all the plastic cladding, in and around the rocker panels, underneath, etc. The spots where dirt and salt get packed and hold moisture and cause rot. Running it through the drive thru carwash probably is enough to help a whole lot.
My 2001 with 130,000 miles on it ran great all of sheet metal was good except rocker panels were gone and 20"long-3" holes above wheel arches.It was retired because of severe frame rust, that 5.3 LS motor with automatic trans, will go 300,000 miles.I was going to keep it as second vehicle to and from work in winter time.
I've used 3M underbody rubberized undercoating. Did GM and Ford cut back on treating the metal during assembly?