Worried for Winter and its salty roads

[MrRPM]

This will be my first year owning my jeep wrangler in the winter.
I live in Michigan where winters salty roads will kill vehicles from rust waaay before the engine is ready to quit.

Im looking for a simple easy way to protect my jeeps underside from salt. I have slowly been painting it under there but the prep work is over whelming and every time I cheat the paint finds its way off the jeep.

Im looking for an oil type coating that I can spray on over rust and maybe a little bit of dirt that wont come off from power washing, I ALSO would like it to be a easy to find store bought product, so when i need to touch it up i can swing by the store.

Is there anyone who uses anything like PB blaster or wd-40 or even cheap motor oil to protect their vehicle?
wranglers seem to rust badly as I see so many with rust holes and things, mine is clean so far but wont be for long.

The Condition of the jeep underneath is light rust, nothing bad yet.

I have read about things like Krown but thats not available in the US and also AmsOil HDMP but that needs to be orderd as far as I have found.

Anyone have some recommendations? It obviously doesn't need to be a perfect solution, but a good enough one thats easy to do. (like crawling under the jeep every 2-4 weeks with a can of PB blaster after the first coat.)

 

[hisilver]

I have used Fluid Film for several years. I spray it wherever I see rust and it clings and holds pretty well. It is a bit expensive.

 

[Kestas]

Forget paint, forget oil. Don't even consider PB Blaster or WD-40. Try the rustproof shops around town.

You would need a minimum two galllons of rustproofing to do a job that lasts more than a year. That makes it cost prohibitive to use stuff from the shelf.

 

[river_rat]

Why not rubberized undercoating? My '69 VW Bus came with that and it's clean under the undercoating where it has gotten old and peeled. I just re-do it periodically. The only rust areas are mostly rocker panels from the inside. Of course, it could be the vehicle was not in the salt-zones until 1997.

If you want oily, or more like clear-oily-sticky-waxy...you could try 3M brand, Rustfighter I. I get it in spray cans from Carquest. It's expensive, but goes pretty far. It is intended for re-coating inside of auto body panels after repair/replacement of the panels, but I've had good luck using it externally on small areas like shock bolts, etc., under the car so far. I've been using it for about three winters.


I think you can also buy Waxoyl online. Never used that myself.

 

[eljefino]

You can make waxoyl or cross into Windsor and get Krown.

Typical waxoyl recipe involves carefully boiling parrafin, grease (for tackifier) and some bar and chain oil (more tackifier) to thin it... naturally this could catch fire easily!! Then brush it on while it's still hot.

I tried hosing my already rusted Olds Silhouette floorboards with WD40 as a last ditch effort, didn't help. My belief was the visible rust was going to soak something up, be it salt water or oil, might as well be oil.

Not all spray on rubberized undercoating is the same. I got some lousy stuff from walmart that never set up right (still gooey) and good from Advance. (Used a coupon!)

 

[dparm]

I have heard of guys just doing truck bedliners on the bottom. It will weigh the car down a bit but it does work and will actually reduce road noise.

 

[demarpaint]

LPS-3 is a pretty good store bought product for rustproofing. CRC makes one too, most good Marinas carry it. You can also use Bar Oil used for chain-saws.

 

[MrRPM]

I have been using bedliner and undercoating but because the jeep is my daily driver and I live on dirt road its hard to get it clean, prep it, then clean again then paint with the jeep being used everyday. Just washing it as good as possible then painting has left a few chips in the paint after a few months of usage and alot of people say these products will allow moisture to get to the metal and rust it from under the coating. so Im done trying with paint.

Kestas, what do you mean by rustproof shops? is that a company name or do you just mean shops that do rust proofing? what do these shops do/use?

 

[Ben Boyle]

Greetings from Michigan, get a rust proofing gun from somewhere online and head to your John Deere dealer and get fluid film. It will need to be heated to be thinned, then go to town and spray it EVERYWHERE!

Trust me on this, this is the best option.

 

[Kestas]

I agree that is one of the best options, I do something similar. But I believe the OP doesn't want to get too deep into the DIY part of it.

 

[stenerson]

I've used fluid film. Good stuff. I also bought a can of LPS3 in a hardware store when I was in Wisconsin. Never seen any in stores around here. That stuff really sticks.
As for used oil I had a 95 volks that rusted really bad. The radiator support bracket disintegrated. I had a leak though and the area that would get covered remained pristine. Oil works if you're consistent.

 

[johnsmellsalot]

I used to live in Ohio and I know how bad the winters up north get. But I haven't owned a car until recently. I recommend to get an underbody wash at an automatic car wash every month or so. You could also try spraying tire shiner under there. Someone at O' Reilly said that's what they do to protect the underbody. I know that some people also spray it in the wheel wells. I only spray it on the tires. I live in Texas and they don't do anything to the roads when it snows.

P.S. It's also probably a good idea to wipe the inside of the door jambs with a damp cloth. Alot of people often for get the clean there too.

 

[eljefino]

Remember when it's slushy and around freezing is when salt does the most damage. Mid february when your car is just caked with dry white dust it's not actually hurting that badly.

If you're going to get your car wet to "help" it, make sure it rinses and dries. Nothing worse than exiting a car wash back into traffic.

 

[Donald]

How do the DIY rustproofers clean the underbody and spray on rustproofing without a lift? Or am I the only one without a lift?

 

[FXjohn]

either drive to indiana for a rust check center or to canada for a krown center.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

Originally Posted By: Donald
How do the DIY rustproofers clean the underbody and spray on rustproofing without a lift? Or am I the only one without a lift?


big jack, big jack stands, creeper.. gotten alot done this way.. safety glasses and a jumpsuit when working this way.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

I use big jackstands and POR-15 with a brush. None of my treated cars have yet rotted out underneath. I also hose out all the frame sections on the inside to wash out the salty goo.

 

[SLCraig]

I have my car KROWN'd and I do Fluid Film touch ups for areas that have surface rust.

 

[NHHEMI]

I live in NH so I see bad winters and the road salt too. I don't bother anymore with undercoatings and special protectants. Just head to a touch free carwash 2X's a month and add the under carriage wash( just go slow over it so you get a good rinse ). You will always have a little undercarriage rust no matter what you do. Using the car wash 2X's a month has taken good care of my vehicles.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: Donald
How do the DIY rustproofers clean the underbody and spray on rustproofing without a lift? Or am I the only one without a lift?


Ramps, jack, jackstands, a creeper, it works.