the saltwater .....

hayduke

Observer
Any of tyou guys do any anti-corrosion measures to your tacomas? I moved from MT to ak and now am by the ocean and have noticed some surface rust that was not there before. My research leads to some products that take rust off than painting, or products that simply say to apply over the rust. Most of the rust seems to be appearing on bolts and small peices on the frame and the weld areas. Sould I attack it with some anti-rust and than paint it with a spray can or simply paint over it. dang saltwater...thanks for the info great site. :confused:
 

taco chaser

Supporting Sponsor
I would wait for summer to come around or if you have a dry heated shop or garage to work in and clean off as much of the rust as you can with sand paper, brillo pads, or cleaning disc for various tools like angle die grinders etc.... Repaint all the suspension components and spray rubberized under spray on the inside of the fender wells , the gas tank , under the bed and even the frame if you want, it just makes for a little more clean up if you plan on welding to the frame, but the truck will have to be parked for probably 2 day's for the under coating to dry through and it needs to be apllied in at least 40 degree temps or the ice will tend to peel it off in spots of heavy build up. It's some work but once you clean it up all you have to do is get in the habit of touching the paint up every summer, the under coat should last a few winters before having to be touched up if at all. If you paint over the rust it will still eat away the metal but it will look good. I've just made it a yearly maintenance. Rust never sleeps.:Mechanic:
 

hayduke

Observer
thanks tacochaser, sweet blackie ya got there, I got a little brother version with asirations to be a little bigger but some serious lack of supplies and shipping is pretty outrageous, good thing these tacomas do well stock...all in time, now to protect my investment so its big dreams can come true. Thanks for the info.
 

7wt

Expedition Leader
When I moved to Corpus I found out if you wanted to keep your truck you pretty much had to have it undercoated. I took mine to Zeibart and they did the underside and the cab. The only thing that can get poopy now is my Deavers and Donahoes. The only thing I would do differently is add some sliders before I had it undercoated. That way the welds can be good and covered up when the frame is done. If I wanted sliders now I would have to grind off the undercoating or get bolt ons but alot of the bolt ons have a U channel mounting bracket that won't slide over the coated frame. Oh well, I don't really need them anyway.
 

UK4X4

Expedition Leader
For a quick stop.......get a plant sprayer..fill with diesel...and cover the rusty areas, some of the oil will evaporate.....the rest will stay and stop the rust...


re-apply as necessary......
 

tamangel

Adventurer
Daily wash

I used to live near on the California Coast north of Bodega Bay. There was an old rancher that had a 1 ton GMC flatbed he used in his daily work and parked it outside within 1/2 miles of the beach. It was in pristine shape. He told me, he just religiously hosed it down every day including the undercarriage and never had to worry about rust. Just part of the daily routine, I guess..

Mike
 

Ursidae69

Traveller
7wt said:
When I moved to Corpus I found out if you wanted to keep your truck you pretty much had to have it undercoated. I took mine to Zeibart and they did the underside and the cab. The only thing that can get poopy now is my Deavers and Donahoes. The only thing I would do differently is add some sliders before I had it undercoated. That way the welds can be good and covered up when the frame is done. If I wanted sliders now I would have to grind off the undercoating or get bolt ons but alot of the bolt ons have a U channel mounting bracket that won't slide over the coated frame. Oh well, I don't really need them anyway.


Is that Zeibart a brand name of undercoat or a company ou used? I was going to look into undercoating my rig this summer. They are using salt in places here in northern NM and my frame and sliders have a few rust spots I need to clean up.

Cool thread.
 
7wt said:
When I moved to Corpus I found out if you wanted to keep your truck you pretty much had to have it undercoated. I took mine to Zeibart and they did the underside and the cab. The only thing that can get poopy now is my Deavers and Donahoes. The only thing I would do differently is add some sliders before I had it undercoated. That way the welds can be good and covered up when the frame is done. If I wanted sliders now I would have to grind off the undercoating or get bolt ons but alot of the bolt ons have a U channel mounting bracket that won't slide over the coated frame. Oh well, I don't really need them anyway.

Looks like I might have to do an undercoating before I get back to the salty air of the CT coast. You really do not see too many vintage cars in the area do to the rust problems.

How much did it cost you?
 

7wt

Expedition Leader
Ursidae69 said:
Is that Zeibart a brand name of undercoat or a company ou used? I was going to look into undercoating my rig this summer. They are using salt in places here in northern NM and my frame and sliders have a few rust spots I need to clean up.

Cool thread.
Whoops, I didn't spell it correctly. It is Ziebart, it's a company that sprays the stuff on. It is kinda like Rhino linning but it doesn't get brittle. They spray EVERYTHING under your truck, shocks leafs, motor mounts, you name it. I had it done before I got my suspension done but the original shocks were coated along with the frame. They do two services. One just coats the frame and the other the drill you cab around the door frame, the doors, the fire well and other places I am forgetting and squirt some sort of rust preventing expanding foamy stuff in there to keep the cab from going south. I would totally do it again but I would remove the doodads that you don't want covered with flexible black rubberish stuff. http://www.ziebart.com/

Oh, the cost, I got both treatments on sale for about $200 four years ago and there is NO rust on anything but my new leafs. I think both treatments generally go for $400ish if I remember right.
 
7wt said:
Whoops, I didn't spell it correctly. It is Ziebart, it's a company that sprays the stuff on. It is kinda like Rhino linning but it doesn't get brittle. They spray EVERYTHING under your truck, shocks leafs, motor mounts, you name it. I had it done before I got my suspension done but the original shocks were coated along with the frame. They do two services. One just coats the frame and the other the drill you cab around the door frame, the doors, the fire well and other places I am forgetting and squirt some sort of rust preventing expanding foamy stuff in there to keep the cab from going south. I would totally do it again but I would remove the doodads that you don't want covered with flexible black rubberish stuff. http://www.ziebart.com/

Oh, the cost, I got both treatments on sale for about $200 four years ago and there is NO rust on anything but my new leafs. I think both treatments generally go for $400ish if I remember right.

Thanks man,

$400 is well worth it in the long run if you live in salty conditions. Unfortunately there are no locations near me, but this will help me find similar services in Oregon.
 
Last edited:

7wt

Expedition Leader
I just checked and I couldn't get their store locator to work. So you may want to call them.
 

snipecatcher

Adventurer
hey

I live in Corpus now, but have always lived on the coast. My parking lot is within a couple hundred yards from the bay, so I get 24 hour salt air. Anything exposed gets a healthy coating of rust overnight. When I first got the truck, before ever taking it to the beach, I thoroughly coated everything with this:

http://www.panteraplace.com/Mikes Pantera/Mikes clean 041402 4.JPG
(stole the picture from another website, but this is the stuff I use)

It never really dries to a hard finish, but is more like road tar than anything. It sticks to everything, so surface prep isn't a big concern, but it will stick to your skin for a good week or so. Very nasty to deal with, and should be reapplied to high wear areas (rear axle, anywhere that gets bombarded with rocks) yearly. I've also mixed used motor oil with diesel and sprayed everything with it a couple times, which stops rust in its tracks, but the oil evaporates after only a couple of months, so it's really not worth the trouble. I plan on going the Mar-hyde route again soon, as my truck is really starting to get rusty. The most important thing is to thoroughly soak everything with fresh water after you go to the beach or anywhere salty, regardless of what you are using for undercoating.
-Dan
 

Forum statistics

Threads
189,930
Messages
2,922,364
Members
233,156
Latest member
iStan814
Top