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Wife shopping at the local mall today - I get dragged along to suffer. Waiting in the courtyard I see a new GMC Canyon on display. So crawl under - no goop/wax/slop covered frame - looks like some kind of powder coated black enamel. Liked what I saw. No, not going to go from a Silverado to a Colorado/Canyon, but just wonder why they couldn't have give the same frame treatment to the Silverado/Sierra. We don't have snow/ice down here at the southern tip of Texas, but beach running is the same as salt on the roads up north. If I spray/clean the salt/sand it will remove the wax to be replaced by prepping/primer/painting. I intend to keep this vehicle for a long time so in the end it will be a painted frame, albeit bit by bit.

Bare metal on frame exposed by some kind of scratch. Sanded, primed, painted with flat glass, then clear-coated. Sounds like a bigger project than it was - took all of 15 minutes. Just don't frame exposed to the elements. Still can't get over the fact that a bare-metal frame is wax dipped and not powder painted.

2016 regular cab, purchased new 3 months ago (10/1/2016). So I stumbled on to this thread last night and read it start to finish. I live in extreme South Texas - it snows here about once every 100 years. Rust no problem, right? Wrong - extreme high temps and humidity and lots of salt air. No problem - keep the truck in the garage overnight and a good carnauba wax job. Never thought to worry about the frame. So I crawled under last night, after reading all these threads, and yep, some bare spots, with metal exposed. Probably the result of rocks/pebbles on caliche roads. I was surprised at just how thin the wax coating is. No, I'm not taking it to Chevrolet - as someone suggested the only way to do this is sand, prime, and some black enamel paint in the affected areas. But this changes everything - no underneath power hose sprays like a used to to with my Jeep after beach running. I'd crawl under the thing and scrub/wash the frame. That will pull the wax off. This changes everything - I'm 71 and continually sanding/painting the frame is going to get old very fast. I'm not new to Chevrolet - been driving their pickups and old style Blazers since the 1960's. Had to deal with the surface rust on the body, but never frame rust until a 2004 which I had purchased used, sight-unseen, from PA. My sister, who lives up there, had checked it out, said the body was perfect. I guess she never crawled underneath it. When it got down here - large chunks of frame rust started to peel off. Spent a lot of time scarping the thing, then undercoating it. I attributed that to the PA climate. Never dreamed that the frame wax was over bare metal, so never thought that was an issue when I bought my 2016. It doesn't take a Ph. D. in automotive design to realize that wax over a bare metal steel frame isn't the greatest for long term longevity. When did GM start this process - I'm thinking with the 1999 or 2000 models. Most owners don't crawl under their vehicles and check things out like we fanatics on these forum do. I was really happy with my new 2016 (no vibrations or any other problems) until this. It's going to be continual long term maintenance - much more involved than the twice a year clay bar and waxing I do to the body.

Sharp looking ride!

Brand new 2016 Silverado 1500 WT. Will be adding an in bed spare tire carrier later this week. For me a pickup truck is 2 doors, rubber floor mat, side mounted spare tire carrier, and a stick shift. Don't have the last one on this one 'cause it's no longer offered. Will be thinking about a long travel coil over for the front some time in the future. Tires are high profile - 255/75x17 BFG KO2's.

Hi! Great looking truck and build. I'm 71 and also think pickups should be manual transmission. Just took delivery of a vehicle similar to yours - 2016 2wd WT standard cab Silverado, about the lightest and least expensive full size pickup GM makes. Will be following your build thread and probably will start one of my own. Thanks for giving me ideas.

4 days into owning 2016 2wd reg cab SWB. Now mind you, this is the lightest full size GM pickup they make. The 4.3 blows some pretty good smoke! Lots of pick up and go. At least if not better than the V-8's I owned during the 1990's. Hard to believe I am driving a six. I wanted a stick shift so I test drove the 4 cyl Colorado. No way! It felt like a four. So I went with the Silverado. This truck really does deserve a manual trans. YMMV but for me the stick would really extract the full potential of power from the 4.3.

Actually, it's pretty inexpensive. The price is in pesos - I think the exchange rate right now is 15:1 which would make it about $19,000. Sounds too good to be true and it is - U.S. customs would slap at least a 25% tax then there is the little problem making it DOT/EPA compliant. Then trying to register it another hassle. Maybe a total of $40,000 to make it U.S. legal.

This is the link for the 2015 5 spd Mexico Silverado SWB. If you click on the "Especificaciones" it will show the 4.11 rear end, 5 spd and C-rated tires: http://www.chevrolet.com.mx/silverado-1500.html Gene

I saw this post while browsing and decided to join the forum. I'm definitely a stick shift Chevy/GMC guy, having owned a number of SWB stick shift models 1973-2004. First, a 2015 5 spd SWB Silverado is still produced by Chevrolet, Mexico. It comes well equipped for serious stuff - 265/70x17 load range C tires, a 4.10 rear end, but is 2wd only. I'm in Brownsville, Texas - they are sold right across the Rio Grande in Matamoros and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. No way I'm going over there to buy one! Even if one could import it, there is the little problem with warranty. It would have to be serviced in Mexico and shiny new pickups attract a lot of attention. OK, it's made in Mexico in the same plant that the ones for delivery to the U.S. I don't know why GM can't distribute the model here, as they already produce it. Second, my car bio. Currently I drive a 2015 4 door Wrangler auto, but I'm very seriously buying some kind of used 1993 to 1998 Chevy/GMC SWB 5 spd. for daily driver and save the Jeep for off-road. But I'm a little intimidated by all the things that can go wrong on an older vehicle. FWIW I'm 70 years old, retired, and can't invest a lot of time into fixing things. But I do miss my stick shift Chevies. I hate driving the automatics, and I'm talking about highways and city traffic. I want to control the engine, not the other way around!