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Any of you all living up north driving older vehicles you have managed to keep rust-free? How did you do it?

A good chance I will move back up north.

(My folks are at the point they need help to stay in their home. And not too long until they will need to either go into a nursing home or live with us. The former option is grotesque and the latter option is un-doable, given our present small home in the southern latitudes. Helping out parents from nigh on 1000 miles away is rough.)

Anyways, having spent nearly all my adult life in the south, rust has not been much of a problem. When I have visited up north, I see vehicle and trucks with few years on them all eaten up with rust. I see youtube videos of guys p north working on cars that have rust-crusted bolts & such. I want to prevent that with my current vehicles and any I might buy and use up north.

We seek a more rural home & land with a garage shop in which I will install a serious hydraulic lift, so access to the underside of my vehicles will not be so hard.

TAR
I thought maybe one of those spray-on tar deals was the way to go, but some folks seem to think this is a good way to kill a car, as it screws up access to electrical bits and hides rust that gets under it.

OIL
Annual pro or DIY application of what looks like motor oil to the underbits and some other places is another option I see.

KEEP IT CLEAN
Some folks indicate that washing the salt and crusted snow/ice/dirt off is the way to go.

Other options?
I live in WI - outside of the Navy, always lived here or MI.

I've never had a vehicle rust. Including 2 Toyota's. We really don't use salt too much anymore. Some blue crap and a liquid de-icer these days. Raises hell on chrome more than anything but not much chrome these days. Not real chrome.

I just wash the car a lot - underbody flush etc.
Fluid Film.
I used rustoleum on mine. I do it every couple of years. Due this summer.
Originally Posted by thumbcocker
I used rustoleum on mine. I do it every couple of years. Due this summer.

How do you use the rustoleum? Paint the frame or exposed metal?
My 05 is a rust bucket. My 06 is surprisingly clean and body just starting to rust. 05 no treatment. 06 was under coated. Whatever they used it's like a thick rubber.
Garage or aluminum body lol


earlier this year.......I looked at a Lexus LX...(Toyota Land Cruiser)

Small used car lot...some tar type substance was sprayed on under carriage

Asked the owner for car fax...sure as schidt...truck came from MA & CT

Looked awful...........I ran......later bought one from AZ
Originally Posted by tikkanut


earlier this year.......I looked at a Lexus LX...(Toyota Land Cruiser)

Small used car lot...some tar type substance was sprayed on under carriage

Asked the owner for car fax...sure as schidt...truck came from MA & CT

Looked awful...........I ran......later bought one from AZ


Sounds like they rhino lined it or something similar. I know my dad buys only new vehicles (I'm to cheap) and has the dealer undercoat it and it doesn't look bad and seems to work.
Originally Posted by jfruser
Originally Posted by thumbcocker
I used rustoleum on mine. I do it every couple of years. Due this summer.

How do you use the rustoleum? Paint the frame or exposed metal?

Yes all the exposed metal and frame. I made a straw for my spray can to get the edge in the fenders at the wheel openings. Seems to be working so far, 5 years in pennsylvania
Current vehicle is an '11 F250. No rust was poking through yet but there were a few bubbles under the paint on the driver's rear wheel-well. Found a place that would take it down to bare metal then applied Rhino lining to the rockers and wheel-wells. I had it done a week ago and nothing has rusted through yet. (grin)

Truck has 186K and my plan when I bought it was to drive it to 250K, so, I thought $2K into trying to make sure it won't rust through while I own it was a good plan.
I have an '08 Dodge 2500 that's been in so. Idaho all of it's life. It has almost no rust at all. My nephew in NY had one of those Tacomas with the rusting frame problem. He took it in on the recall and they put it on a hoist for a better look. When they lifted it, the frame broke. When the negotiating was done, he drove out with another Tacoma a couple years younger and with 100k less miles. No money out of his pocket.
Different brands rust more than others. I've found the best fix is a monthly car wash in a unit that does undercarriage spray......ours local car wash is a no brush unit.

Minnesota seems to be especially bad for salt caused rust. A friend that drives little had to replace aluminum rims when he replaced tires.
Originally Posted by VernAK
Different brands rust more than others. I've found the best fix is a monthly car wash in a unit that does undercarriage spray......ours local car wash is a no brush unit.

Minnesota seems to be especially bad for salt caused rust. A friend that drives little had to replace aluminum rims when he replaced tires.



My in-laws live in central MN and they've had trouble w/AL wheels on multiple vehicles corroding such that they'd experience slow leaks. Sometimes a dis-mount of the tire and then polishing of the bead-mating surface of the wheel would suffice. A couple of times they just bought new AL wheels.
Get a new car ever 3 years!!!! Or don’t drive in the winter!!!
Fluid Film here but as you probably already suspect, there are no real ‘older’ cars in New England or many of the northern states now that most states are running their annual inspections.
Just keep it clean of salts and crap. Having it under coated and thinking that’s all you need will leave you disappointed.

There simply is no magical cure, some stuff can help but in the end you take care of stuff or you don’t. If you don’t you get rust.

for U guys in the rust belt


I currently have my hunting rig sprayed with Fluid Film, the only thing I don't like about it is, FF collects dust, crud and whatever else will stick to it.

I would avoid the rubberized undercoating like it was the plague.

From my research and if there was one close, I'd go with Krown Rust Control. passport makes a valid point above about keeping the under-carriage flushed, but bare metal still tends to rust. My 3 year old Tahoe is proof of that. I plan on undercoating it with a mixture of diesel and oil.

Best of luck.
Originally Posted by tikkanut

for U guys in the rust belt






Interesting.

Tedious work for sure. It would be a good first step prior to coating the clean, bare metal with a rust preventative.
Krown.. grin Have it on all 3 of my vehicles ..Lower Michigan is a rust belt.No rust spotted on my oldest truck 2016 Ram..
Originally Posted by coobie
Krown.. grin Have it on all 3 of my vehicles ..Lower Michigan is a rust belt.No rust spotted on my oldest truck 2016 Ram..


Wow, a 5 yo dodge and no rust. Your doing something right👍
Originally Posted by Joel/AK
Originally Posted by coobie
Krown.. grin Have it on all 3 of my vehicles ..Lower Michigan is a rust belt.No rust spotted on my oldest truck 2016 Ram..


Wow, a 5 yo dodge and no rust. Your doing something right👍
My chevy is doing good to
whistle
$5 worth of quarters at the car wash after snowy roads, or lots of mud and I've never had issues with rusty truck bodies/other parts.

See lots of fairly new pickups with rust bubbles starting on the bed above the rear wheel openings. Figure those are people too dumb, cheap or lazy, to keep stuff from accumulating there and eventually causing problems?
Seems like leasing might be a better option in the rust belt.
'They' spread an idiotic mixture of pea gravel and salt on our roads up here. The gravel is for chipping windshields and paint. The paint chips provide the perfect opening for the salt to work.

We've had good success over the years with annual applications of Rust Check, Fluid Film or Wool Wax, and regular washing until the road salt season ends. Any of the fore mentioned are a messy pain, but really extend the life of frames and panels. IME.

Stay far away from hard undercoatings. They will eventually trap the salt and moisture against the frame, and the resulting rot is impressive to behold.
Clean your frame with a pressure washer and use a few cans of this in rust prone areas(ie inside frame rails and hard to get suspension components)


https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-internal-frame-coating-14oz-aerosol.html
When you buy a truck new have a professional place coat it right away.
Originally Posted by Teal
I live in WI - outside of the Navy, always lived here or MI.

I've never had a vehicle rust. Including 2 Toyota's. We really don't use salt too much anymore. Some blue crap and a liquid de-icer these days. Raises hell on chrome more than anything but not much chrome these days. Not real chrome.

I just wash the car a lot - underbody flush etc.

The Greenbay area has pretty mild weather.
US41 in marquette county is the most highly salted piece of highway in the state of MI. Untreated cars will not make it 5 years without rust.
Thankfully I moved to a dryer, salt free climate.
Originally Posted by Oldelkhunter
Clean your frame with a pressure washer and use a few cans of this in rust prone areas(ie inside frame rails and hard to get suspension components)


https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-internal-frame-coating-14oz-aerosol.html


I've used this stuff and many of Eastwood's products, with success! (OHIO) I love their Encapsulator!
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