Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Under Coating???

Just took delivery of a new 2015 Toyota 4-Runner and it just dawned on me that I did not have it under coated.
In the "old" days this was the first thing done to a new vehicle, but I have heard that it is not needed on the newer vehicles. Could you help me out on this? I live in the Houston, Texas area, so not much chemicals on the roads to combat snow/ice. Would you recommend under coating? If yes, what brand should I spend my money on?
Thanks for any opinions,
Jim

Now days undercoating is not necessary. I have been driving Tacomas for about 15years now, the two I have and had never showed any signs of rust. Ditto, my 98 Dodge truck. I live in Colorado

Thanks Saddlesore,
Did a little surfing since I posted and it seems that you are correct. What I found is that when washing be sure to spray the wheel wells, inside bumpers and under carriage and everything should be fine.
Thank you.
Jim

Undercoating voids the warranty on some new vehicles, in theory guess that some manufacturers feel it promotes rust....

I hate to upset the theme of this thread, but Tacomas are probably the biggest rust buckets out there. In fact, if you own a 95-04 Tacoma, some 05-08 Tacomas, or 00-03 Tundra, there is a recall due to all the rusted out frames. Depending on the year and damage, Toyota will replace your frame for free or buy your truck back. Toyotas are well known to rust. Google Toyota rust recalls and read for days.

As far as rust proofing your vehicle, what warranty exactly do you think it will void? The only thing it would apply to is if your frame rusted and they said what you applied caused it. If you do it correctly, it won't rust and there wont be any rust issues.

Living in Houston you probably won't have any problems with rusted frame, especially if you aren't planning to keep it 10-15 years or more. My 2012 Tacoma already has a few surface rust spots from being in Arkansas. I have started using POR-15 brushed on it very thin. I'll see how that holds up.

I had a 94 Toyota Tacoma, 275 K miles. Now have a 2004 with 130K miles. Neither had a touch of rust. Must be a local thing.

I also have a 98 Dodge, 2500 ,sans undercoating. No rust on it either.

Undercoating is about like having the dealer Scotch Guard your upholstering. Mucho more profit for the dealwer

I would say that the mountain states where humidity is low and salt isn't often used on roads will have far less rusting problems than anyplace in the east. My nephew in NY had one of those recalled Tacomas with the rusting frames. He took it in for an inspection and they could see lots of rust above the rear tires. When they lifted it for a better look, the frame broke.

Scotchguard works but they'll charge $75 to 100 to do a sofa. You can do the same thing with 2 $8 cans from Walmart. They just buy it in bulk and apply it with a garden sprayer.

I noticed being in the rust belt under coating just seems to hold the salt in better. I use the old used motor oil mixed with diesel fuel sprayed underneath every fall.