Undercarriage coating

[Arkangel]

Hey folks,

 

This is my first truck, just had the leveling kit put on as well as new wheels/tires, took a look underneath and it appears the undercarriage coating is not permanent, it just comes off like its caked on grease, is this normal? 

 

[MY164X4]

I was thinking of undercoating my Sierra
I have a 2016 with a lot of rust underneath it.

Not sure why I hv rust in 2 years, I am the second owner, 50k miles.

Sent from my SM-J727V using Tapatalk

[adamj2121]

17 hours ago, Arkangel said:

Hey folks,

 

This is my first truck, just had the leveling kit put on as well as new wheels/tires, took a look underneath and it appears the undercarriage coating is not permanent, it just comes off like its caked on grease, is this normal? 

 

Yep it's normal. GM applies wax to their truck frames instead of painting them or using a more robust/permanent coating solution. If you are in an area that uses a lot of brine or liquid salt the coating will not hold up well at all during the winter and you will have tuns of rust.

 

Some people touch up the frame with fluid film, others report that fluid film causes the coating to fall off. I believe GM uses Not-Rust https://www.daubertchemical.com/store/product-list/corrosion-prevention/nox-rust-x-121b

[Dr Awesome]

There are some who have gotten rust covered under warranty because of the crappy coating, but if you are having large areas like that I would look into something you can touch it up with.  I have noticed rust on my 2018 in small spots where dings in the coating have occurred due to road debris.  Not even through a salty winter yet!

[Doublebase]

19 minutes ago, Dr Awesome said:

There are some who have gotten rust covered under warranty because of the crappy coating, but if you are having large areas like that I would look into something you can touch it up with.  I have noticed rust on my 2018 in small spots where dings in the coating have occurred due to road debris.  Not even through a salty winter yet!

I have similar issues. Haven't even gone through a winter yet and had to cover up plenty of spots that the coating came off of. Real curious to see what happens when the brime and salt get dumped on the roads in the winters of New England. I fluid filmed the entire underbody this week, plan on doing another application in November. I tested the fluid film out on a few spots before I went and undercoated the entire thing. So far so good.

[Jchoi]

I had mine Krown undercoated. 

[Doublebase]

7 hours ago, Jchoi said:

I had mine Krown undercoated. 

Krown isn't available in my area, but I've heard great things about it. From what I've seen from these "Krown 6 months later" reviews, is that it appears Krown stays on there pretty well. 

[Jchoi]

12 hours ago, Doublebase said:

Krown isn't available in my area, but I've heard great things about it. From what I've seen from these "Krown 6 months later" reviews, is that it appears Krown stays on there pretty well. 

I’m hoping it helps. I know a guy that uses it for all his work trucks and swears by it. Time will tell. 

[EDL]

Undercoatings are like arguing over which is the best manufacturer of cars and trucks.  Everyone has their opinions.  One thing that most agree is a definite no-no:  do not use any kind of hardening material, like truck bed liner.  It will chip, or separate from the metal and then moisture ingress occurs and causes rust.

 

With that said, you have a lot of choices from fluid film, to dripless oils, to "aerospace" miracle rust preventers, and wax based solutions, but regardless of which you use, they all share one similarity:  they aren't permanent and need to be reapplied at some point.  If you want to spend a fair chunk to have a shop do it, that's up to you, or you can buy a few rattle cans or use an airless sprayer, or a "schutz" gun and apply your own for a lot less.  The bottom line though is that you have to apply it when it is needed, otherwise you're wasting your time and money.

 

 

[EnviroGreensolutions]

GM uses Kryptonite Metal Treatment for the repair of the Corrosion, it is the only authorized product they use. If you want to do the work yourselves or if its not under warranty, we sell the Pure Prep and the Kryptonite Metal Treatment as a bundle package on our website or on Amazon.

 

Authorized Dealer

EnviroGreenSolutions.com

[ExFordGuy77]

Any time your truck gets put on a lift, you'll need to touch up the wax coating afterwards.

 

The wax sucks but at the same time, paint and e-coatings aren't much better. Look at the frame rot lawsuit Toyota lost 2 years ago. Their Tacoma and Tundra frames were rotting away in under 6 years, and those frames were painted. Paint scratches and chips, same with e-coatings.

[EDL]

Yeah, unfortunately no one has come up with a perfect rust prevention coating that stands up to abuse and time.  Even with regular applications of fluid films, the vehicle is still going to get rust, especially for those of us that live in the north with salty roads.  At best, these coatings slow it down. 

 

The only way to to significantly reduce corrosion in the long term would be to replace all the steel with stainless, but oh boy, you'd be paying $150,000 (or more) for a vehicle then.  Aluminum might be possible, but with dings and scratches it would still build up the oxide and get cruddy.  Carbon fiber or any other of the "miracle" fiber materials won't stand shock abuse well (they all crack too bad). 

[Doublebase]

18 hours ago, EDL said:

Yeah, unfortunately no one has come up with a perfect rust prevention coating that stands up to abuse and time.  Even with regular applications of fluid films, the vehicle is still going to get rust, especially for those of us that live in the north with salty roads.  At best, these coatings slow it down. 

 

The only way to to significantly reduce corrosion in the long term would be to replace all the steel with stainless, but oh boy, you'd be paying $150,000 (or more) for a vehicle then.  Aluminum might be possible, but with dings and scratches it would still build up the oxide and get cruddy.  Carbon fiber or any other of the "miracle" fiber materials won't stand shock abuse well (they all crack too bad). 

Carbon fiber has come a longnway, but even though it's cheaper than it used to be it's still really expensive. There's no way right now they could make a carbon fiber frame affordable, it'd probably run you $200,000 or more. The truck frame would only weigh 100 pounds though, lol.

 

But I'll tell you, take a look at what they're doing with carbon fiber nowadays. I mountain bike, they're making the rims out of carbon fiber now and they can take the pounding better than the aluminum. We used to worry about carbon fiber bike frames, that doesn't even cross anyone's mind anymore. I've never seen one break. Rode one for two years...I'm 240 pounds, I put that bike through hell...crashes, hitting rocks, going off drops, things hitting the frame every two seconds, constant stress. Zero issues.

[Black02Silverado]

To touch up the under coating the other option is AMSOIL's HD Metal Protector.  It works really well and is not sticky or tacky once dry so it will not attract dirt or dust. 

AMSOIL HD Metal Protector

[Doublebase]

On 6/24/2018 at 1:49 AM, EDL said:

Undercoatings are like arguing over which is the best manufacturer of cars and trucks.  Everyone has their opinions.  One thing that most agree is a definite no-no:  do not use any kind of hardening material, like truck bed liner.  It will chip, or separate from the metal and then moisture ingress occurs and causes rust.

 

With that said, you have a lot of choices from fluid film, to dripless oils, to "aerospace" miracle rust preventers, and wax based solutions, but regardless of which you use, they all share one similarity:  they aren't permanent and need to be reapplied at some point.  If you want to spend a fair chunk to have a shop do it, that's up to you, or you can buy a few rattle cans or use an airless sprayer, or a "schutz" gun and apply your own for a lot less.  The bottom line though is that you have to apply it when it is needed, otherwise you're wasting your time and money.

 

 

You're absolutely correct, these rust treatments are not permanent, they usually wash away within six months. It's  a constant battle. For the people who pay to have their trucks fluid filmed or Krowned, that can run you $200-$250 per application. It'll be effective for maybe six months (if you're lucky). I think the best option is to buy the five gallon drum and a spray gun, and just do it yourself a couple times a year. Maybe early summer and late fall. Save yourself a fortune.