Hello
I am a first time chevy owner. ( 02 silverado ext cab 4x4) I live on the east coast and as anyone who lives here knows, rust starts while the car is still sitting new on the lot. So I was wondering if anyone has done anything to prevent this from happening. Mytruckonly has 50,000 miles on it and the frame has surface rust all over. I can't live with that. I have used the undercoating spray on other vehicles and it seems to work. I also have used POR-15 and I like that aswell. I just want to know if anyone has recoated their frame with anything and what you think of it. Rust is a cancer and I don't want it to get any worse. I don't want my truck to look like swiss cheese after a few years. THAN KS!!!

 

Any of the spray on underliners will work. If you want to go cheap, Walmart sells some spray can stuff that works.

 

Man the really best thing to do is to move.....lol...j/k. I think you'll just have to spend some time to recoat the frame. But im sure you already know is that can be expensive. Smoke has a good plan but be sure to prep the metal surface properly and I dont see why that wouldn't work.

 

Any bed liner product will also work. It will hold up and there is not as much prep work.

 

With the bedliner products you need to get the loose material and the majority of the rust off to ensure a great bond to the metal surface. Then apply the product.

 

If you want to do a really messy trick, try undercoating with used engine oil. I learned it from a friend and have been doing it for years. I recoat at least every 2 years and sometimes each year. The used motor oil penetrates into and under any rust that`s already there and pretty well stops the rusting process. Obviously you`ll want to be able to park on gravel for awhile until the excess oil drips out. I made my oiler from an old propane tank thatI run a pressurized loop onand sihpon the oil out of the bottom of the tank. I use a regulator to cut the pressure back to 60-70 psi. Just an idea and it works.

 

How do you keep the excess oil from soaking in the ground?

 

same way I do when I'm changing the oil... a plastic tarp and cat litter

 

Sorry, I`ve been gone for awhile. Anyways...when I started doing this practice...I farmed and we always had a good spot outside our shop that I parked on. The gravel was over the top of clay that was truly impenatrable. When the gravel got pretty soaked we scooped it out and put it in the dumpster. Now I don`t farm anymore but I still have a shop...and I park over plastic till it quits running to badly...then up to my garage that gets cleaned up with oil dry.

 

Around here we have an island that we go out to and alot of people have vheicles out there now. No roads or bridges to get there so everything is hauled out there by boat or a small barge that will haul a vehicle. Well needless to say driving on the beach causes alot of rust. We will do one of two things to our old junkers out there to help them last a little longer. Either coat the underside in used oil or gear oil. Or we will just slap alot of grease on there that usually holds up the best but you find yourself scraping the grease off and replacing it every 2 yrs or so. Just another example a customer of ours has a boat trailer that he coated with grease the day he got and does it again every 2 yrears. The trailer is 17 yrs old the boat has had to be redone twice but the trailer is still as strong as the day he got it. Now that they are comming out with aluminum trailers they will hold up better to the salt water but the galvanizing now days is poor quality and doesnt last.