GM Undercarriage coating

[Grumpy Tooch]

Hello all, its been a while since been here but I need some advice.  I took the truck upstate this weekend with my son to Hunter for off-road expo.  We hit some trails and the mud pit! Was great, we had a lot of fun.  Was the first time taking the rig off-road and it did great.  Was nice to see what it really can do.  What i did not expect (or know) was the dirt is not dirt its red clay!  I just assumed power wash the truck when i got home and everything would be fine.  Well...not!  The body got cleaned just fine, but the undercarriage is another story.  I powerwashed it best i can but seems the red had adhered to the grease coating that GM puts all over the frame and parts under there.  I power washed it and where i got the red off, it took off the coating as well.  Some, or most I should say, still is on there and wont come off.  Looks like patchy rust, its terrible.

 

Any advice on what to do now?  Can i get it off without removing the rest of the undercoating or is it there for good now?  Can it be cleaned?  Can I go over the whole thing now with something else black...

[CamGTP]

All I can say is good luck. It's like the trucks that come down from the Iron range up north here in Minnesota. Everything is nice and red forever, though it may fade over a long period of time.

 

The wax frame coating basically becomes one with the red clay. You'd have to pressure wash or chemical wash the frame to strip it off and then re-coat it with something better.

[woychc]

Not sure how many miles or kms you have on your truck, but I just had my frame re-coated by GM under warranty as it was flaking and rusty. It was part if my bumper to bumper or corrosion warranty. Apparently there is a service bulletin for the frame coating issue


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[btj_z71]

9 hours ago, tooch420 said:

Hello all, its been a while since been here but I need some advice.  I took the truck upstate this weekend with my son to Hunter for off-road expo.  We hit some trails and the mud pit! Was great, we had a lot of fun.  Was the first time taking the rig off-road and it did great.  Was nice to see what it really can do.  What i did not expect (or know) was the dirt is not dirt its red clay!  I just assumed power wash the truck when i got home and everything would be fine.  Well...not!  The body got cleaned just fine, but the undercarriage is another story.  I powerwashed it best i can but seems the red had adhered to the grease coating that GM puts all over the frame and parts under there.  I power washed it and where i got the red off, it took off the coating as well.  Some, or most I should say, still is on there and wont come off.  Looks like patchy rust, its terrible.

 

Any advice on what to do now?  Can i get it off without removing the rest of the undercoating or is it there for good now?  Can it be cleaned?  Can I go over the whole thing now with something else black...

You can use several different products to fix this.  If its already rusting, you can use a product like rustoleum automotive undercoating, comes in a 32oz can or can get it in a spray-on form.  3M also has some frame undercoating products.  Last option would be to have Line-X applied to the frame if you got the $$$.

 

You can also use something like Amsoil Metal protector or Amsoil HD metal protector which is also a spray-on product. 

 

If you can find one that is asphalt-based, that is the strongest you buy.  Water-based and paraffin-based will be the entry level products but will get the job done.  Anything petroleum-based or rubber-based will be your middle grade products.

[Grumpy Tooch]

14 hours ago, woychc said:

Not sure how many miles or kms you have on your truck, but I just had my frame re-coated by GM under warranty as it was flaking and rusty. It was part if my bumper to bumper or corrosion warranty. Apparently there is a service bulletin for the frame coating issue


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crap! really?  It just ran up couple months ago...lol

[Grumpy Tooch]

14 hours ago, btj_z71 said:

You can use several different products to fix this.  If its already rusting, you can use a product like rustoleum automotive undercoating, comes in a 32oz can or can get it in a spray-on form.  3M also has some frame undercoating products.  Last option would be to have Line-X applied to the frame if you got the $$$.

 

You can also use something like Amsoil Metal protector or Amsoil HD metal protector which is also a spray-on product. 

 

If you can find one that is asphalt-based, that is the strongest you buy.  Water-based and paraffin-based will be the entry level products but will get the job done.  Anything petroleum-based or rubber-based will be your middle grade products.

So I can just spray right over the red colored grease coating?  I was actually thinking of linex.  It is coming off in few spots and is rusting little, but not much.

 

Do i have to remove all of the grease coating?, I kind of power washed most of it off.  I didnt use any cleaners or solvents.

 

I love Amsoil products, I am a distributor myself.  Can I apply this product over the rest of the frame that ddnt come clean?  Have you used it before?

 

Thanks for this info.

[btj_z71]

The spray coating from 3M or Rustoleum should do the trick, but I would double check their application steps before purchasing. 

 

I think the Amsoil metal protector and HD metal protector products are meant for bare metal but I'm not 100% sure.

 

If you take it to a Line-X dealer,  they will take care of the surface prep and application of their product.