Vehicle Undercoating

[Coda]

I just sprayed the underside of my 34 year old Jeep with a mixture of used motor oil and diesel.

It makes a mess but I have a dirt driveway and live on a dirt road and @ 280K the Jeep isn't exactly clean.

For my newer vehicles it is Fluid Film once a year.

 

[Woodsloafer]

In salt?

The big issue tin boats have in salt water is galvanic corrosion.

Shit will start eating holes in the hull in no time if it's not protected by a good coating, sacrificial zincs, or both.

I have no doubt that the aluminum body vehicles should be more rust resistant. Not impervious to damage though. Not at all.

Speed limit and pretty much all other highway/street signs are made of aluminum and subject to salt/salt spray for decades and you will not see any corrosion on them, even the backsides that are not protected. The posts that they are mounted on are typically galvanized steel and you will see those completely corroded (there are a couple signs/posts on my street that are 20-30 years old, sign is faded but fine whereas the post is completely rusted), even on the back of a speed limit sign, but the sign itself will be fine, just faded.

My 2015 F150 (100K on it) that I traded in this past spring had absolutely no corrosion in any areas where the paint/coating was gone. I know that is only 7 years but there was absolutely no signs of any issues with the aluminum in any area.

Here is an interesting fact (at least to me), 75% of all aluminum that has ever been produced is still in use today (i.e., the product is still in use or the aluminum has been recycled into new products).

 

[teamRR]

I’d own one in a split second. You ain’t seen a tougher boat. Fished plenty in a 23 footer on Jeffries Ledge.
You have fenders on the boat to protect the dock. The hull is 1/4 plate marine grade.

No polishing or waxing. True hard core dont GAF boat.

Yeah they are nice, been on a 23 ft as well, downside is they are a mild V and ride like crap, but are seaworthy - every boat is a compromise. I've got an older starcraft 17 ft, my "skiff" I may replace with a 22 in the coming years.

Glass hulls are just as tough really and a whole lot easier to repair and modify, to make into complex shapes etc etc. Where aluminum is king is strength to weight and puncture resistance - hit a rock and all you likely got to show is a dent. However a welded aluminum hull, the welds are the weakness - it's just how the stuff works. And when they fail its cracks or rivets coming loose. Fiberglass on the other hand is essentially one piece, even after repairs. Steel welds stronger than the rest of the panel but rots, however welds easier. Everything is a compromise basically.

 

[Asaltweapon]

Due to zero hull flex if I didn’t have gell inserts in my boots I was in pure pain.
My old Mako no issues in the same waters.

Like I said... I’d own one in a second. I met the owner Jay of Black Lab Marine years back. I know I still have the tee shirt.

 

[KBCraig]

Even with the best undercoating, I feel like the most important is power washing the undercarriage weekly during the winter.

After the 2nd or 3rd power washing, you no longer have undercoating.

I get Fluid Film every year (a local friend does it for friends, and he is meticulous about getting it into every crack and crevice).

I'll use the undercarriage wash at the car wash 2-3 times a year, because that's not really high pressure, and doesn't wash away the coating.

 

[Asaltweapon]

My truck saw weekly truck washing thru a tunnel. The only area needing touch up was the exposed frame area in the wheel Wells from the guys pressure washing with the wand.
The rest of it is still greasy.

 

[snubnose]

The big issue tin boats have in salt water is galvanic corrosion.

Shit will start eating holes in the hull in no time if it's not protected by a good coating, sacrificial zincs, or both.

I have no doubt that the aluminum body vehicles should be more rust resistant. Not impervious to damage though. Not at all.

Ford apparently relies on coatings for the galvanic action countermeasure (isolation of the aluminum body to the frame and other steel stuff) sure seems like the weak spot in my view- for what they charge it should be an all aluminum vehicle. If I were going to spend now nearly twice the amount we paid for our house on a truck it would be one with a steel body with rustproofing-tried-true and less denty ?.

 

[Asaltweapon]

Ford apparently relies on coatings for the galvanic action countermeasure (isolation of the aluminum body to the frame and other steel stuff) sure seems like the weak spot in my view- for what they charge it should be an all aluminum vehicle. If I were going to spend now nearly twice the amount we paid for our house on a truck it would be one with a steel body with rustproofing-tried-true and less denty ?.

I hope they are smarter than the guys at Aston Martin. All aluminum body on a Volante had major corrosion issues where the windshield trim clips were attached to the body. It was the sole reason the car needed to be repainted
Salt water and aluminum with a little stainless steel sure makes a hot mess fast even when using Teflon paste.

 

[teamRR]

Due to zero hull flex if I didn’t have gell inserts in my boots I was in pure pain.
My old Mako no issues in the same waters.

Like I said... I’d own one in a second. I met the owner Jay of Black Lab Marine years back. I know I still have the tee shirt.

Yeah partly that's just the weight (light) and suck ass ride.

I've met Jay too, but that's about 3 jobs back for that guy. Was w/ FPT diesels after, then mack boring (a marine engine dealer), now in some industrial sales is what I heard.

 

[mac1911]

There's plenty of aluminum boats/canoes, planes, etc. decades old that says otherwise. Including boats used in salt water and sitting in dirt, etc. in people's yards. Aluminum will last much, much longer than any steel without having to protect it at all.

Yes you are correct , but aluminum on cars does rot and oxidize. Not ad quick but it does. Especially where dissimilar metals come into play.

 

[pastera]

Aluminum “rots” , trust me.

Aluminum is HIGHLY active - if anything disrupts the oxide film (natural anodize) it very quickly disintegrates

Builder Blames Navy as Brand-New Warship Disintegrates

The Navy’s newest warship is slowly disappearing, one molecule at a time. This isn’t a sequel to the 1984 sci-fi flick The Philadelphia Experiment, in which a Navy destroyer-escort vanishes through a time portal in Pennsylvania only to reappear in Nevada, 40 years later. No, this time the...

www.wired.com

 

[Hikes]

OK enough about boats!

Has anyone used the cosmoline undercoat product that I mentioned? It is supposed to dry to a soft wax and hold up to power washing well. It seems like it won’t “creep” as well as the lanolin stuff, but I look forward to less sticky mess.

I hope I made a good choice, I’ll update everyone after I spray it on. I kind of like the thought of my truck smelling like a milsurp rifle

 

[Woodsloafer]

Yes you are correct , but aluminum on cars does rot and oxidize. Not ad quick but it does. Especially where dissimilar metals come into play.

Aluminum is HIGHLY active - if anything disrupts the oxide film (natural anodize) it very quickly disintegrates

Builder Blames Navy as Brand-New Warship Disintegrates

The Navy’s newest warship is slowly disappearing, one molecule at a time. This isn’t a sequel to the 1984 sci-fi flick The Philadelphia Experiment, in which a Navy destroyer-escort vanishes through a time portal in Pennsylvania only to reappear in Nevada, 40 years later. No, this time the...

www.wired.com

My all aluminum snowmobile trailer (10 years old) has been on many trips up north in the worst of conditions (salt spray) and I never wash the frame/underside and it has no corrosion issues. The frame has no coating on it. My friends aluminum trailer is almost 20 years old, same thing. So these are the exception and should have dissolved by now?

 

[pastera]

My all aluminum snowmobile trailer (10 years old) has been on many trips up north in the worst of conditions (salt spray) and I never wash the frame/underside and it has no corrosion issues. The frame has no coating on it. My friends aluminum trailer is almost 20 years old, same thing. So these are the exception and should have dissolved by now?

No, you likely don't have incompatible metals in contact.

 

[Woodsloafer]

No, you likely don't have incompatible metals in contact.

I have steel bolts, jack, chains, axles, etc. all attached/in contact, they show some corrosion but aluminum looks fine at contact points.

There's a reason why the post office had Grumman make the bodies on their vehicles, I've never seen one "rusted" out, maybe the frames but not the bodies. The last ones were built in 1994 and they are still using them in my town. I don't see any issues with the bodies, still have the original paint, and I doubt they ever get washed.

Long Life Vehicle

Until the 1980s, when postal officials looked to buy new vehicles for the service, they combed through existing models for...

postalmuseum.si.edu

 

[ronrob]

Has anybody here used POR 15 I bought a can of it to paint my frame with but never ended up doing it myself as planned .. seem like a Good Undercoating Product from what I have read

 

[teamRR]

The reason they don't like using aluminum, stainless, etc has gotta be 90% cost. I feel like it's a shrinking & negligible percentage of a nearly $100k vehicle, especially considering the feature bloat in today's trucks (ie they rival luxury vehicles)...

Potentially 10% its a matter of them being concerned those materials aren't tested in a truck frame and could fail in unexpected ways (also cost). It is conceivable that 10-15 years down the road, a frame of such materials could fail in new and exciting ways (ie stuff like the steel motor mounts become a sacrificial anode). And maybe there is sentiment that you need the trucks to eventually fail even.

Aluminum in a bed to me never made much sense - it ain't a problem to be solved. Or put it this way - I'd happily replace the bed on a 15 year old pickup if the frame & rest of the truck was in good shape. In my mind it's all about the frame - if those stayed relatively clean this thread and such products wouldn't exist.

 

[Grendizer138]

Has anybody here used POR 15 I bought a can of it to paint my frame with but never ended up doing it myself as planned .. seem like a Good Undercoating Product from what I have read

When POR15 was all the rage for motorcycle tanks and frames a couple of decades ago it’d eventually flake off if prep wasn’t perfect. I think there are better products on the market now, but I wouldn’t write it off either.

 

[PaulR]

Has anybody here used POR 15 I bought a can of it to paint my frame with but never ended up doing it myself as planned .. seem like a Good Undercoating Product from what I have read

POR 15 is still an excellent product. As above it was big in the Jeep world 20+ years ago. I think it suffered from a lot of poor application prep jobs. Testament to how good it is come look at my CJ-5 in my profile pic I did 23 years ago. Still good as new in most spots, yes where it rusted from the inside it did flake off, hard to prevent that.

I did try Chassis Black on my 46 Willys, seems to be similar great stuff, not done with that project yet though.

Be careful when you use POR 15 or Chassis Black, it will not come off your skin for at least a week, no matter what, trust me, lol.

This stuff I think is more of a paint than an undercoating imho, thin, goes on like paint.

Todays vehicles: I'm sold on Fluid Film, I do my wifes 2013 Traverse every year in the fall and it is literally like new underneath. You have to re-apply every year, but whatever, it works awesome.

 

[Asaltweapon]

Has anybody here used POR 15 I bought a can of it to paint my frame with but never ended up doing it myself as planned .. seem like a Good Undercoating Product from what I have read

My old landscaper painted all his frames with it. He likes the product.

 

[Hikes]

In case anyone wants to try the cosmoline stuff, they just sent me a discount code.

Save 15% off Undercoating Products* Must enter promo code: "ROADSALT-22" at checkout. Online orders only. Offer expires Saturday, September 24th. Terms & Conditions Apply.​

​

RP-342™ Can Protect For Years!*​ ​

​

 

[Malodave]

I drove past Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago and the place was packed with 10's of Thousands of new Cars and Trucks.

Malodave

 

[mitch28]

Do the places that do the Fluid Film treatment throughly clean the underside before application? What is a typical cost for this service?

 

[Lennypeters]

Do the places that do the Fluid Film treatment throughly clean the underside before application? What is a typical cost for this service?

The place I use offers 3 levels of service from just oil coating what is there to mechanical rust removal first. Their website gives prices. Cape Cod Rhino Linings in Bourne. Rhino Linings | NH Oil Undercoating | Cape Cod

 

[teamRR]

Help ..

I'm searching through this thread, have a truck with 80 miles sitting here - anyone know much about NHOU Boss Wax?

After my initial read was kinda set on either getting myself enough fluid film or woolwax (in clear/translucent), maybe the cans, maybe a gun/setup, and just going at it. Then someone got in my ear (who runs a higher end used truck business, definitely has seen thousands of them) and says do nothing other than NHOU Boss Wax on a new vehicle (and my plans came to a halt).

I priced it out - $1250 is what they say online (holy f%#!$).. Was prepared to hear something like $800, hell maybe $1000, still I may just do it, but that's a lot of $$ for something that essentially is a flexible & less permanent paint job over existing perfectly clean paint. On one hand I bought a work truck model Colorado that had all the essentials under 35K (cheap today) and came in about 10K under budget so I got room to spend, on the other hand that's getting close to 5% of the cost of the truck and I'm wondering how good it really is?

I notice looking around here is also this waxoyl product/service out there that has places local to me, sounds kinda similar to the Boss Wax treatment (cures dry, a longer term protection). Anyone know if that's kinda the same shit and just more convenient for me due to location? Sounds similar, a wax versus a goo.

I'm someone who does some serious fiberglass work, ie buy tyvek suits by the case, gloves 500 at a time, have access to a lift if needed (although given I can crawl around under there wasn't going to), have good respirators, air compressors, pressure washer, kinda all the stuff, not one bit scared about some smell and mess, and it is awfully tempting to spend $300 and just go at it w/ say Fluid Film or Woolwax yearly - but wondering if those other non-DIY treatments are that much better?

Thanks in advance guys

 

[mac1911]

My all aluminum snowmobile trailer (10 years old) has been on many trips up north in the worst of conditions (salt spray) and I never wash the frame/underside and it has no corrosion issues. The frame has no coating on it. My friends aluminum trailer is almost 20 years old, same thing. So these are the exception and should have dissolved by now?

No just means theres good alloy and build practices. No dissimilar metals and such. But Im sure if you look you have corrosion somewhere
Thing with aluminum is you dont see it well and it seems to creep in deep and starts to resemble the pot metal cheap chinese alloys.

 

[Asaltweapon]

Help ..

I'm searching through this thread, have a truck with 80 miles sitting here - anyone know much about NHOU Boss Wax?

After my initial read was kinda set on either getting myself enough fluid film or woolwax (in clear/translucent), maybe the cans, maybe a gun/setup, and just going at it. Then someone got in my ear (who runs a higher end used truck business, definitely has seen thousands of them) and says do nothing other than NHOU Boss Wax on a new vehicle (and my plans came to a halt).

I priced it out - $1250 is what they say online (holy f%#!$).. Was prepared to hear something like $800, hell maybe $1000, still I may just do it, but that's a lot of $$ for something that essentially is a flexible & less permanent paint job over existing perfectly clean paint. On one hand I bought a work truck model Colorado that had all the essentials under 35K (cheap today) and came in about 10K under budget so I got room to spend, on the other hand that's getting close to 5% of the cost of the truck and I'm wondering how good it really is?

I notice looking around here is also this waxoyl product/service out there that has places local to me, sounds kinda similar to the Boss Wax treatment (cures dry, a longer term protection). Anyone know if that's kinda the same shit and just more convenient for me due to location? Sounds similar, a wax versus a goo.

I'm someone who does some serious fiberglass work, ie buy tyvek suits by the case, gloves 500 at a time, have access to a lift if needed (although given I can crawl around under there wasn't going to), have good respirators, air compressors, pressure washer, kinda all the stuff, not one bit scared about some smell and mess, and it is awfully tempting to spend $300 and just go at it w/ say Fluid Film or Woolwax yearly - but wondering if those other non-DIY treatments are that much better?

Thanks in advance guys

If I had the lift I could tie up for a full day between washing the underside, getting it dry then properly applying Woolwax I’d go for it.
I’m not crawling around the floor like a reptile. F That!!

At only 80 miles it’s a no brainer having the lift.

 

[teamRR]

If I had the lift I could tie up for a full day between washing the underside, getting it dry then properly applying Woolwax I’d go for it.
I’m not crawling around the floor like a reptile. F That!!

At only 80 miles it’s a no brainer having the lift.

Yeah except I'm starting to believe the 1st application on a super clean vehicle ought to be a dry curing product (a wax like waxoyl is what Im thinking). Then down the road when your surfaces are no longer so clean, use a lanolin version like woolwax or fluid film.

 

[Asaltweapon]

Yeah except I'm starting to believe the 1st application on a super clean vehicle ought to be a dry curing product (a wax like waxoyl is what Im thinking). Then down the road when your surfaces are no longer so clean, use a lanolin version like woolwax or fluid film.

Waxoyl or Woolwax. IMO both would work with excellent results long term IF you are keeping it.
If your plan is roll it over for something else in 3-5 years then why bother.

 

[alpineboard]

Tried this today, 5 cans used for a Yukon, that was showing signs of early rust. It spays well, good coverage, instant penetration, very low odor.
The youtube tests done, states that for a lanolin, it does not wash off the car as easily as the fluid film does. I tried fluid film a few years ago, and it washed off quickly.
Time will tell, but I had some over spray on my bare arms, hair, and hands. After taking a hot shower, with multiple scrub soap washings, I could feel the stuff was still on my hands and arms.
Application, wise, I have tried many over the years, and this is the best stuff yet, for ease of operation.