Jump to content

Frame Wax/Undercoating

eric.warner.549
 Share

Recommended Posts

eric.warner.549 Enthusiast

eric.warner.549

Posted
Posted

Hi All,

 

I'll start off by saying that I know that there are other postings about this, but none seem to be clear as to what I am looking for. I noticed like many other that the coating on my frame can be scrapped off rather easy with my finger nail and I live in Michigan so I am slightly worried about this being a future rust problem. Can everyone else scratch there coating off with their finger nail? I called the dealer to inquire about this and about TSB's on this issue, I got the good old "frames usually rust on the lot anyways" while he was questioning me about whether or not I knew what I was talking about when I said frame, mind you that I am a automotive designer. He told me to stop up there tomorrow and talk to the service manager, so if anyone can give me any information that may help me such as if you have this same issue, if this issue is not really an issue and just normal and any TSB information.

Thanks!

  • Replies 305
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

Silverado-Hareek
Silverado-Hareek

Most likely. I swear this is the last first edition vehicle I ever buy from any manufacturer. If it hasn't been out for at least a model year or 2, I'm walking away.

Graphic
Graphic

My 2014 Silverado z71 ltz was a lemon. The frame rust was the final straw. I fixed mine by trading it in on a new ram. After 25 years of GM trucks, I have to say that it was like losing an old frien

Graphic
Graphic

2015 Ram Sport Crew Cab 1500 4x4. Love it. My Silverado started showing problems after day one, little things, then bigger, then frame rust and that was enough for me. Took a loss, but I walso

Posted Images

chuckl1218 Senior Enthusiast

chuckl1218

Posted
Posted

In another thread, they discussed the coating as a "soft", waxy coating as opposed to the hard undercoating of older vehicles. It will rub off. However, there is a TSB about it not being applied correctly from the factory where it peeled, I think. In this case, dealer service can reapply it. For details, you would need to search the other threads.

sourdough44 Enthusiast

sourdough44

Posted
Posted

I plan on letting the factory protection go a while(year or 2), then doing something myself. I may just use some black POR-15, or other preventative. I think you are better giving it a touch up every few years than thinking there is one best type of long term protection.

 

The factory rubbery stuff is at least a step in the right direction.

  • Like 1
Silverado-Hareek Senior Enthusiast

Silverado-Hareek

Posted
Posted

I bought my 2014 silverado back in February and I too am having issues with the wax coating peeling off and the frame rusting. Needless to say I am not happy at all. I have an appointment to take it into the dealer this coming Tuesday 4/29/2014 to get it repaired and they're telling me it's covered under warranty. Still I'm worried that after they fix the problem areas it will just continue to peel and rust in other spots as time goes on. I bought this truck because my 2007 Silverado had a considerable amount of problems that were beginning to cost me an arm and a leg to fix. At this point I'm pretty upset with myself for buying another Chevy. I've always loved silverados but a $43k truck shouldn't be rusting after 2 months and so far I've had nothing but problems with every silverado I've owned.

 

Why not galvanize or powder coat the frames and charge the customer for it? I would gladly pay a little more to know I have something that will last. It pisses me off how they cut corners on stuff like this to save a few bucks. Now ill always have to worry about this thing rusting and having structural issues because of it.

  • Like 1
eric.warner.549 Enthusiast

eric.warner.549

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi Guys, I went to the dealer today and looked at the lot. It seems like the problem I had wasn't really a problem. I am surprised seeing that it scratches of so easily when the last generation didn't. I think for my truck I will just touch it up every spring and fall, to prep and recover from these nasty Michigan road slat winters. I agree though that galvanizing or something more to prevent rust would be nice. Thanks everyone for your input and best of luck to all of us with fighting off rust!

Silverado-Hareek Senior Enthusiast

Silverado-Hareek

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hi Guys, I went to the dealer today and looked at the lot. It seems like the problem I had wasn't really a problem. I am surprised seeing that it scratches of so easily when the last generation didn't. I think for my truck I will just touch it up every spring and fall, to prep and recover from these nasty Michigan road slat winters. I agree though that galvanizing or something more to prevent rust would be nice. Thanks everyone for your input and best of luck to all of us with fighting off rust!

In my opinion/experience the last generation didn't have the wax scratch off so easily because it was installed properly. There is an issue with the 2014's and the adhesion of the wax. Thinking back to my 2007, I had owned it for 4 or 5 years before I ever saw any wax peeling and rust forming, and even then there was barely any rust. 2 months into owning my 2014 and it already looks like ten times worse than my 2007 ever did. There's clearly a manufacturing flaw here this time around. It may not affect all 2014 silverados but doing some Google searches and the fact that there's a TSB out on it confirms that a lot of people have the problem...enough to be concerned anyway. On my 2007 I would have to really scratch hard to get any wax to come off. Tonight I was inspecting my 2014 and just lightly pressing my finger on it pulled the wax off. There's an adhesion issue for some reason.

Edited by Silverado-Hareek
pm26 Senior Enthusiast

pm26

Posted
Posted

In my opinion/experience the last generation didn't have the wax scratch off so easily because it was installed properly. There is an issue with the 2014's and the adhesion of the wax. Thinking back to my 2007, I had owned it for 4 or 5 years before I ever saw any wax peeling and rust forming, and even then there was barely any rust. 2 months into owning my 2014 and it already looks like ten times worse than my 2007 ever did. There's clearly a manufacturing flaw here this time around. It may not affect all 2014 silverados but doing some Google searches and the fact that there's a TSB out on it confirms that a lot of people have the problem...enough to be concerned anyway. On my 2007 I would have to really scratch hard to get any wax to come off. Tonight I was inspecting my 2014 and just lightly pressing my finger on it pulled the wax off. There's an adhesion issue for some reason.

And I bet that the reason is that the frames are wax coated over improperly prepared surface, possibly even surface rust. Apparently they either do not paint the frames at all when they make them, or paint them poorly so some surface rust sets in before they are wax coated.

 

My 1985 Mercedes 300D still has perfect looking chassis with factory applied RTV that is still not peeling after almost 30 years!

  • Like 1
Blade3562 Enthusiast

Blade3562

Posted
Posted

This issue really peeves me. Not wanting to spend this much money on a vehicle and it already having rust. Noticed it when i installed step rails.

2strokesmoke Enthusiast

2strokesmoke

Posted
Posted (edited)

Truck frames are formed and rolled from the manufacturing plant and lightly oiled for shipping purposes.

The steps being cut out must be the proper degreasing of the frames before they are treated with the wax dip, any other type of treatment would just fall off before it left the plant I would assume.

Huge cost savings for GMC I would assume, and if they do not have to handle the frames 2 times.

We have been taken advantage off I feel, so we need to follow through with the tsb that has been issued for this problem, or live with an early frame rot through.

The choice is ours.

Edited by 2strokesmoke
  • Like 1
Silverado-Hareek Senior Enthusiast

Silverado-Hareek

Posted
Posted

I'm following through with the TSB for sure. It may not make much of a difference to GM but it's the principle of it that they pay for the fix under warranty.

pm26 Senior Enthusiast

pm26

Posted
Posted (edited)

Truck frames are formed and rolled from the manufacturing plant and lightly oiled for shipping purposes.

The step being cut out is the proper degreasing of the frames before they are treated with the wax dip, any other type of treatment would fall off before it left the plant I would assume.

Huge cost savings for GMC if they do not have to handle the frames for another process.

We have been taken advantage off I feel, so we need to follow through with the tsb that has been issued for this problem, or live with an early frame rot through.

The choice is ours.

You know what the most irritating thing about this is? That someone at GM who suggested this "cost saving measure" most likely got a fat check as a reward. Instead of employing an Army of people to improve quality, GM chooses to employ one to cut costs and to maximize profits. And richly rewards the suggestions that are implemented.

Edited by pm26
wawy Enthusiast

wawy

Posted
Posted

This bugs me! My SLT All Terrain has supposedly just arrived. I'll have to make sure I check everything out underneath..

Silverado-Hareek Senior Enthusiast

Silverado-Hareek

Posted
Posted

I had mine redone in my 14. It was coming off in large chunks

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How is it holding up now? Did they do a good job?

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Forum Statistics

    250.5k
    Total Topics
    2.7m
    Total Posts

  • Member Statistics

    342,965
    Total Members
    8,960
    Most Online
    DaleB
    Newest Member
    DaleB
    Joined

  • Who's Online   1 Member, 0 Anonymous, 1,343 Guests (See full list)

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • jgaudet99
      Tire psi

      By jgaudet99 · Posted

      My truck is a ¾ ton but my placard also says 80 for the rear tires, I think I might have the upgraded suspension to the 3500 series maybe.   I put my air down to 60 and the light was still on, and there was no way I was putting over 60 psi in the rear empty and not towing because I knew the actual number Toyo gave me and I didn't wanna ruin the center of my tires!   And you actually can change it in the settings from metric or is and it will show kph or mph then when you go into your tire settings it will be either psi or kpa, but it would be nice to just change it directly on the tire psi page 
    • Grumpy Bear
      Some Assembly is Required

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      Common Sense Assembly   Your driveline is forgiving of the occasional mistake. It will even often forgive the random serious blunder. But it will not forgive a continuous bad habit.      What? Not everything needs to be a five thousand word essay.       
    • Grumpy Bear
      Gas Prices

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      We drove about 15 minute east today to visit a friend and saw a steep increase in price in the same county. About 50 cents a gallon steepper. 
    • Grumpy Bear
      Wow I'm in a pickle. (Broke down truck) and a story.

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      Sure about that? A degree wheel and a dial indicator would lower your degree of assurance in that statement. 😉    It why we have offset keys and dialable timing sprockets. Just say'n.... I've built a few and have never seen one "On the money". 
    • Chuck FB
      Tire psi

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I will admit I haven't experimented much with pressure drops beyond the numbers I put in and part of that is that the numbers I used are fairly low and then found out it would trigger regardless at that 35 psi. Having said that I had tried before had changed the placard pressures and being that I have a 1 ton set to 80 on the placard for the rear I believe it triggered close to 60, the front I don't recall now for sure but thought maybe it could get close to 45 from that factory 60 placard pressure. So I never did figure out if it was a number of psi from placard pressure to the alarm or a percentage of the total placard number as some figured it was like a 25% drop from placard pressure would trigger it. So as to try and answer your question, I believe I set the placard pressure on the front to 47 or so and while I run the front tires at 40, they have dipped below that some if its colder and I haven't put "winter air" in yet and never once have had the front alarm go off. I would say that the answer your looking for is no, that if you set your placard pressure to 45, you have a certain amount of room to drop below that pressure before the alarm will go off.    The pressures you decide to run in your truck, that ends up being what makes sense to you based on what your carrying in your truck or if towing, then have to bump them back up to something that will carry the load in the rear and the fronts typically left at the same pressure. It all comes down to that chart I put the link to and using an accurate roadside scale to be your guide, both unloaded and then loaded to know your minimum safe pressures.    I just wish GM would allow a person to change the readings for the tire pressures to the English system of pounds as I have to look at that goofy metric reading that will never ever jive in my head and will go over and change it just to figure out what they are if need be and then change it back. 

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...