rust treatment

Hi all,
have had my 2012 Tacoma since new and would like to keep it for the long haul. Rust on the undercarriage is getting significant and I would like to slow it down as much as possible. Have read many threads on possible solutions.

My plan is to wire brush the rust and then spray on something like fluid film or rust cure formula 3000.

My question is whether I should paint with something (eastwood rust encapsulator and extreme chassis black, for example), before applying the fluid film/RC3K.

I don't mind the work applying the paint and I would follow the directions to a T, but I don't love the idea of covering things up with my non-professional painting skills, then not being able to see what's going on underneath the paint.

so for those of you that have been through this, what would you recommend:
wire brush and coating with fluid film/RC3K, OR
wire brush, then paint touch up, then fluid film/RC3K.

Thanks in advance, any advice greatly appreciated

 

Take a pic, it's probably not as bad as you think.

Good on you for being proactive though.

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I would clean as much of the loose rust off, neutralize what's left then treat with fluid film or similar. I like the idea of being able to see how the frame and monitor how the rust is progressing. After all paint is as much a cosmetic thing as it is a rust preventative, once it's seal is compromised then it's open to oxidization without any further protection. If you Fluid film (or similar) you can easily see and treat local rust areas and re apply as needs be. This is the route I'm going to take.

 

Here's some pics, these are the worst spots. Not sure if this is typical or not, either way I'd like to get on it while I can.

 

On my first generation I had rust, so I wired wheel it, primed it and then painted it. After a yr or so, rust started coming back in spots and some rust under the paint would bubble the paint. Even though I thought I did a good job, I didn’t. You will never get it all.

When I bought my 2015, I sprayed it with FF the day I brought it home from the dealer, and I continue to do it every fall. No rust.

My recommendation is don’t paint it. Just spray it with a compressor and FF. The FF will stop the rust.
But you do need too do it every yr. After your 1st yr of FF, you will see the areas that get abused by road spray. But a good percentage of the frame is still good from your first application.

FF creeps into the tight areas you could never paint or get rid of the rust to paint.

It usually takes me a 1 1/4 qts. now to reapply with a compressor. Rattle cans of FF work, but no where close to what you can do with a compressor and undercoating gun.

 

Well getting on it while you can is getting on it the day it comes off the lot, not after its already rusted up.

You can film it but I’m of the mind that You can’t film the inside well and its already started to rust so its pretty much a futile effort.

You can spend days wire brushing, rust converting, and filming... still can’t reach the inside.

 

I have taken a different approach with mine, scraped off the loose rust flakes and used an air compressor to blow out the dust. I applied Por-15 directly on all the rust and Fluid Film every year after that.
Por-15 is pretty amazing, creates a hard as nails coating. Not seen the first hint of bubbling as you would with just paint. BTW, I live in salt happy Ohio too.

 

I use the Fluid Film extension wand to treat the inside of the frame rails. Sprays in 4 directions at once for complete coverage.

 

My 1st gen frame was a box channel frame, very difficult to get in side. My 2015 frame is pretty open compared to gen 1. Almost like a C channel. It actually pretty easy to get in side with a compressor. I also have a 12” flexible hose I can stick on the end of my undercoating gun, slide it in some frame holes at a angle that goes down the inside frame and blast it with 80 psi of FF and see FF fog coming out other holes.

 

That's actually pretty significant. The thing about rust is there is always more than you can see. I the case of our frames they tend to rust from the inside out. If you look from underneath, can you see delamination of the metal? It looks sort of like what should be nice and tight metal is now in layers like sedimentary rock.

If you put an oil based coating or rubberized undercoating or rust sealer/encapsulator over existing rust it will slow it down, possibly a lot depending on your prep work and stuff.

Rust doesn't really stop. At best you can slow it down a lot, and how much depends on how much work you put in. The best option is to remove, as much as possible, any rust already there and get down to bare metal before doing anything else.

1) mechanical:
Wire brush, sandpaper, sand blasting, wire wheel or cup on an angle grinder, etc.
2) chemical:
Acids, "rust converters" like naval jelly, evaporust, etc.

Not sure what category some fall into, like elctolytic rust removal (probably chemical), but you get the idea, get rid of as much of the rust as possible.

THEN, start thinking about top-coats. The stuff you can see can be hit with a wire brush, but what about what is INSIDE the frame, up in the cross members, between the frame and the cab/bed? That's the stuff that's hard to deal with. So, you do what you can!

If it were my truck, and in fact I actually did this with my truck when I found rust, I hit what I could with a wire brush and treated with a rust sealing primer (masterseries). For areas where I couldn't get the wire brush in I cleaned up what i could then I used a rust converter like naval jelly that "turns the rust into a black primer", then treated with a rust sealing primer.

Guess what, my truck is at the dealership right now to have the rusty frame replaced! Maybe I bought myself some time until the warranty enhancement came out. What I did NOT do was follow that up with a fluid film or oil based treatment. If I had done so, I bet it would still be good enough for Toyota to spray the magical gorilla snot CRC stuff on it, so perhaps it's for the best that I didn't.

On my new frame, assuming I get one, I'll be treating with an oil based coating every fall.

Best of luck.

 

Yep, I have that also that attaches to the rattle cans. I use that up inside the back bumper, inside trailer hitch and other areas. It works good.

 

Thanks everyone for the quick responses. I didn't realize this when I was posting the pics, but looking at them now I see that they are all from the same area, just different angles. Most of the frame is not nearly this bad, so maybe it's not a lost cause. Of course, as several of you have noted, I cant see what may be going on inside the frame.

 

Your frame is pretty rough.
But typical for a frame that has NOT been maintained.
Not a lost cause, but you have your work cut out for you.

1) Wire brush EVERY LITTLE BIT OF RUST. You don't have to remove it all the way down to shiny metal, but you MUST remove all loose/flakey chunks.
2) Paint it with this stuff; https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-rust-encapsulator-platinum.html (I needed a quart for reworking my '11 this year, but I maintained it previously. You probably need a gallon)
** And I mean really hose it down. But be very careful not to get any on you, the stuff *does not* come off. You want full hazmat suit, and if you're working in a garage, door open and a BIG FAN BLOWING. Make sure to put down a tarp under the truck before you paint that stuff, and note that regular paint thinner / mineral spirits *does not* wash that stuff -- they say to use XYLENE.
3) Next you'll want some of THIS stuff: https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-internal-frame-coating-14oz-aerosol.html (probably 4 cans)
4) And then finally, hose the whole thing down with this stuff (or similar): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002HOG2A4 (probably 8 cans)

Now the FINAL step to this frame restoration that you need to do....
Look how your front wheels will spray road crap right up into your front cab mounts. You can't see it without looking really carefully, but the cab mounts are open right up to the inside of the frame. If you want that frame to last a while, then you want to keep that road crap from spraying up into there. Take a couple of old CD's and cut them down to the same size as the big holes in the bottom side of the cab mounts, and glue them in there really well.

 

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4331816

 

Interesting link, thank you

 

how is this looking what you did after almost 2 years down the road
and where the heck do you ever pick up winter salt in CA!?

 

I spray regularly with fluid film, when it dries or a new spot appears, spray again, treat all through winter if needed. It isn’t magic, but living in the northeast I would say my truck has fared well