3th gen Tacoma Rust Prevention & Chassis care

I was looking for rust prevention threads but couldn't find any. I got 2023 SR5 V6, its brand new basically and planning to keep it forever ( I had used 2003 4runner which died to rust )


Is underbody wash good idea for it? should I trust the car wash for it or should I just get one of those underbody wash things that rolls under car? I live in NJ so winter gets pretty harsh here and road salt yes , definitely yes. I already see cracks in paint, will work on that to fill those paint cracks as of now.

 

Fluid film 2x a year. Soak everything steel then go bomb down a dirt road to seal in the goodness

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...f-the-truck-in-the-snow.306136/#post-28454998

Chassis Krown'd for 7 years now in Canadian winters (snow/salt )
Never washed since i want the oil film to stay on it.



And this is the bottom of the door seams on my 13 year old Honda Odyssey I sold that was also the victim of Toronto's salt and Brine. Was also krown'd once a year

 

Search posts on Cosmoline.

Just did mine myself. Easy application. Impressed with coating afterwards. Get underneath and go to town. Easy. It’s not real tacky like I expected and smooths itself out nice. Other folks are saying one good coat lasts several years in these northern environments. Occasional touch ups. No coating regularly like fluid film.

 

Welcome to the forum

Another vote for Cosmoline, do a good job on the initial application now when the weather is good. Every fall do an inspection & touch up any damaged areas. There won't be many, the product is very durable.

https://www.cosmolinedirect.com/cosmoline-rp-342-heavy-spray-military-grade-rust-preventive/

 

Another vote for cosmoline as long as the chassis is made very clean like new. This rp-342 stuff is great, it seeps into all crevices well before setting up, plus no need to keep reapplying it every 6 months, or year like fluid flim. I live in connecticut, right in the middle of the salt belt. Did my truck over 3 years ago, with 2 good coats of cosmoline. It's still holding up great with minor touchups in the high abrasion areas around the rear wheel wells.
As far as the cracks in the op's paint, not sure what is meant by that.

 

I did a coat of cosmoline when I first got mine in 2019, then did Krown yearly after that to save my lungs lol. Nothing other that some surface rust on the leaf springs after 4 years of southern Ontario salt.

 

Like the idea of cosmoline for the underside but would prefer Krown for the interior panels since its sprayed in as a mist and gets into all the parts in the doors (locks, window tracks , electrical connections etc). Never had a power window failure or door lock freeze.

 

I don't think door, and rocker panels are a big rust issue with these newer tacoma's. I haven't seen issues with really any in the last 20 years. Its other parts of the truck, like the rear bumper inside sections that get pretty rusty, or around the hitch.

 

I used crc a marine rust prevention product. Each has several long discussions on here. Pick one and good luck

 

Every year I buy 10,000 gallons of olive oil and rent a crane. I dunk the truck in the olive oil to make sure it covers everything. Getting some rust. I think I'll switch to coconut oil next year.

 

If you are lucky enough to live where water never freezes and they dont need to use salt then yes

Up here in Toronto when that water freezes in your door seams etc is the beginning of the end. It can exert
30,000 psi when it freezes and will open up that seam , crack the primer/paint and in some cases even break spot welds.

Add in a little salt spray and its just a matter of time...

 

I live in the northeast where we have plenty of wet roads, freezing temps, and most all no shortage of salt, and brine on our roads. In 19 years I never once had an issue with my tundra's door, and rocker panels. I never fluid filmed them either. All I did was fluid flim the chassis itself every fall which turned out to be a royal messy pita. I really don't expect this tacoma to be much different, although I did spray some cosmoline in those areas.

 

Make sure you use the robust extra virgin type.

 

Krown rustproofing for the Win. Not sure if its just a Canadian thing or not. I pay ca$h deal $120 a year.

 

Just stay away from the the black tarry undercoat. It really more of a sound deadener than anything else. And once it dries and cracks you can get salt up between it and the body.

 

Not a great data point since my Taco is not my DD, but I have been using Wool Wax for a few years and any time it goes into a shop I get comments on how the frame looks new. You can buy it in a kit with an air gun if you have a big enough compressor, or in spray cans. Pretty easy to apply and should migrate into cracks and crevices.

 

For the frame and underbody all the mentioned products are very good.

But for things like inside doors you want a very thin (misty) WD (water displacing) lubricant. Think WD40

Things like Krown and Rust check displace the water and get into the seams forcing the water up and out. And as mentioned it does a great job of lubricating all the interior mechanical bits.

I would not use things like wool wax, fluid film etc for that. It will just sit on top and trap any water that is in the seams and maybe even block the drain holes.

I think Rust Check actually uses a thin product for interior panels and a thicker one for the underbody/frame.

My first car had Superior (ziebart) style rustproofing which resembled a thick waxy product. Over time this dried out , cracks formed and the salt and water became trapped underneath.

I had an 1982 monte carlo that had that style rustproofing. In six year there was already terminal rust in the lower door seams. A friend who also lives in toronto had a 1976 monte carlo (6 years older) that was rust checked and was totally rust free. From that point on (40+) years i only used rust check/Krown and never looked back.

And with everything of course its the quality of the application that counts the most. You can use the best products but if no applied in a consistent and complete fashion its not much good. Not having a hoist I wouldnt trust myself to be able to apply any product well to the underbody. That why i let the guys at krown do that for me.

If i lived in some place like Nevada I would probably only do it every two years just for the lubricating properties. An additional benefit is that nuts and bolts are much easier to remove for repairs since they have a regular does of a penetrating type or lubricant.

 

I've had fluid film and wool wax dripping out of the drain holes on my tailgate and on to my bumper on hot days since I applied it back in 2016 so in my experience it ain't trapping water or blocking drain holes. The bottom corners of the tailgate were the first places to rust through on my last truck so I apply it pretty heavy inside the tailgate. Supposedly the bottom corners of the hood are rust prone on this generation.