Undercoating... When and what?

[mattjans]

So I recently learned that there's some good undercoating out there to prevent rust and minor dings. Not the fake stuff that the car dealership trys to upsell, but thick, rugged coating that might actually work. Some initial questions.

1) Should I have this done? Others' experiences good or bad? My rig is a 2002 and staring to get a little rust underneath but not much.

2) When should I have it done. Obviously after my new exhaust goes in. But should I wait until I have armor, etc, new suspension, too? I'm guessing they wouldn't coat the suspension.

3) Any brands or types people like best?

Thanks for any advice!

-Matt

 

[Saints&Sailors]

I just went to Home Depot and picked up the undercoating spray from Rustoleum. It's like $6/can and took less than an hour to apply. I repeat it every year or so to touch up spots.

 

[KDC]

So I have been looking into this as well and I found a video on youtube that was not only an undercoat but possibly could be quite good for keeping moisture out of things other than metal.

 

[Wawa Skittletits]

Fluid Film or nothing. I’m against traditional thick undercoating because it potentially builds and blocks weep holes.

 

[KyleGrant]

I just took my truck to a Ziebart dealer who applied a full undercoat and applied rust prevention inside the doors. First application wasn't cheap, every one following is $40 as an annual thing. I like the added piece of mind, personally.

I'll likely go get a can and touch up spots. The issue on my truck is GM now uses a thick wax base type material, I'm unsure what exactly it is. Spray on has to match the type of material on mine or it won't stick.

 

[JoelIII]

I have used CRC Zinc It but it is hard to find and pretty expensive. I've only had to use it once on my 04 Tacoma and followed up with an anti rust primer of some sort just for an added layer. It took about 4 cans of the CRC to get good coverage of the entire frame, brackets, rear diff and a few other parts of the truck.