The rust belt!

[fishguy1123]

Hi, as many of you know living in the rust belt we have alot of salt to deal with. My question for you is what product and or process do you use to help stop/prevent rust on your rides? I have some in the usual places that the po had been trying to keep at bay and I want to do the same. Thanks

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

I keep mine covered in mud so the salt cant get through...

 

[Busterbrown]

Most of the miles on my 06 Rainier have been generated on SE Michigan roads with the rest coming from transcontinental travel (many on wintery days). Absolutely no rust on the frame or body panels and minimal on some undercarriage hardware. Frequent high pressure soak downs in the self serve car wash has been the ticket for me. Turtle wax products ever other month has been a regular routine as well.

 

[Busterbrown]

I keep mine covered in mud so the salt cant get through...

....simple, easy, and most importantly, FREE! I like it! :wootwoot:

 

[fishguy1123]

I hear a good mud bath has it's perks... It's mostly the bottom of the doors, hood lip, tail gate under the handle.... etc.

 

[verbeers]

I just use the warranty. I just had both Rear doors replaced on my 07 envoy, under the Corrosion Limited Warranty. Dealer covered everything except the rental car.

 

[fishguy1123]

I just use the warranty. I just had both Rear doors replaced on my 07 envoy, under the Corrosion Limited Warranty. Dealer covered everything except the rental car.

I wish... 02 w/145k is just a bit outside the warranty period.

 

[Jkust]

You can't stop a 360 from rusting here in MN. I've seen 30,000 mile 2009's with rust so bad, it is already starting to show up on the outside of the doors not just underneath. The biggest killer I think is lack of use and lack of basic washing in my experience. All cars seem to have their one spot where no matter what you do it is unstopable. The 360's like to rust on the seem welds. My wife's 07 Rainier had all four doors fixed at under 50,000 miles while everywhere else is rust free. It is now at 50,700 miles. Here the issue is that it will be -20 for weeks on end and so all the car washes close or are simply broken so you can't wash it even when you want to. Then when it warms up above 0 or the car washes finally get fixed, the lines are too long to wait in. Now add to that that I will only use the rare touchless washes and getting a car wash in the winter becomes a project. Now add to that that in the town where I live, the don't allow self car washes (or auto parts stores) at all and things get even more difficult.

 

[07Blazerman]

Warranty is 6 years/100,000 miles. I have an appointment monday with the body shop and GM is covering all 4 doors, rear hatch and underhood. It is a manufacturing flaw on this truck. But at least I caught it before the warranty runs out. I currently have been using the PoorBoy's World products from Detailed Image.

 

[fishguy1123]

Warranty is 6 years/100,000 miles. I have an appointment monday with the body shop and GM is covering all 4 doors, rear hatch and underhood. It is a manufacturing flaw on this truck. But at least I caught it before the warranty runs out. I currently have been using the PoorBoy's World products from Detailed Image.

Do you think it has helped? I can check them out. Nice catch on the warranty btw! Good luck.

 

[Busterbrown]

You can't stop a 360 from rusting here in MN. I've seen 30,000 mile 2009's with rust so bad, it is already starting to show up on the outside of the doors not just underneath. The biggest killer I think is lack of use and lack of basic washing in my experience. All cars seem to have their one spot where no matter what you do it is unstopable. The 360's like to rust on the seem welds. My wife's 07 Rainier had all four doors fixed at under 50,000 miles while everywhere else is rust free. It is now at 50,700 miles. Here the issue is that it will be -20 for weeks on end and so all the car washes close or are simply broken so you can't wash it even when you want to. Then when it warms up above 0 or the car washes finally get fixed, the lines are too long to wait in. Now add to that that I will only use the rare touchless washes and getting a car wash in the winter becomes a project. Now add to that that in the town where I live, the don't allow self car washes (or auto parts stores) at all and things get even more difficult.

I think I'm a bit lucky. Here in the Detroit area, self serve car washes are as abundant as your corner 7-11 convenient store. I know in some metropolis's, washing your car will either cost you part of your retirement fund or you'll spend the day driving and waiting in lines. Take the DC area for example, had a 3 month work contract there several years ago and realized there was only 1 self serve car wash within 15 miles of my apartment. And at about $8 a pop, frequency was an issue. Here in Detroit, it's about $1.25 for 2 minutes of wash time. We love clean cars.

 

[fishguy1123]

I think I'm a bit lucky. Here in the Detroit area, self serve car washes are as abundant as your corner 7-11 convenient store. I know in some metropolis's, washing your car will either cost you part of your retirement fund or you'll spend the day driving and waiting in lines. Take the DC area for example, had a 3 month work contract there several years ago and realized there was only 1 self serve car wash within 15 miles of my apartment. And at about $8 a pop, frequency was an issue. Here in Detroit, it's about $1.25 for 2 minutes of wash time. We love clean cars.

With your luck I vote you wash mine!

 

[Busterbrown]

With your luck I vote you wash mine!

With my luck, you'd have deep swirl marks on your truck's body panels since the idiot before me washed the gravel out of his pickup's truck bed with the soft brush.

 

[fishguy1123]

With my luck, you'd have deep swirl marks on your truck's body panels since the idiot before me washed the gravel out of his pickup's truck bed with the soft brush.

OH NO! I usually only use those for the rims.... Maybe just rub it for luck then.

 

[TB2k4]

I keep mine covered in mud so the salt cant get through...

it works surprisingly well. i actually went, got a car wash on a rainy day, purposely drove down dirt roads, got a nice base layer, then didnt think about the salt buildup because i knew it was on top!

 

[Jkust]

I think I'm a bit lucky. Here in the Detroit area, self serve car washes are as abundant as your corner 7-11 convenient store. I know in some metropolis's, washing your car will either cost you part of your retirement fund or you'll spend the day driving and waiting in lines. Take the DC area for example, had a 3 month work contract there several years ago and realized there was only 1 self serve car wash within 15 miles of my apartment. And at about $8 a pop, frequency was an issue. Here in Detroit, it's about $1.25 for 2 minutes of wash time. We love clean cars.

I live in a very uppidy town so much so that there are even only a handful of gas stations. It is somewhat of a dining & shopping metropolis on one end and complete country/farms on the other. It was developed carefully with a certain ambiance in mind. I'm 2 minutes from a buffalo farm and 2 -5 minutes to every big box and specialty store you can dream of. The touchless carwash is I think about $8 and the touch wash premium wash is somewhere around $10. Most of the time it is nice living there but to get a basic auto part of any kind requires a drive into the ghetto a town over.

 

[Mooseman]

We have so much rust here that even Walmart does rustproofing! We have rustproofing places on almost every corner.

 

[groundshock]

Most rustproofing processes are essentially useless after even a few months.

Best thing you can do- keep it clean. Wash at least once a week when the salt is out. I never let mine sit. Clean inside the door jambs. Get the underbody flush.

 

[Guenther]

Going to sand, apply POR-15 (3 step process) and cover with Duplicolor factory color spray paint. You can get the POR-15 kit on eBay for about $25 and the paint was $7 but I used a 50% off coupon from Advance Auto. I'll have less than $30 in the repair and already have some etching primer for between the POR-15 and color as well as clear coat. It's surface rust on my son's '04 Envoy so hopefully I'll never have to worry about it again.

 

[Jkust]

Most rustproofing processes are essentially useless after even a few months.

Best thing you can do- keep it clean. Wash at least once a week when the salt is out. I never let mine sit. Clean inside the door jambs. Get the underbody flush.

Back in the 80's you used to her about rustproofing all the time. I recall my dad had his truck underbody rustproofed which I recall was a thick rubbery substance sprayed on the frame. Now days I haven't so much as heard the word 'rustproof' for many years nor have I even heard of it being offered. I wouldn't mind having the old school rust proof on my trucks.

 

[Mooseman]

Here, it's mostly the thick oil type that's used but I think there is still the tar based ones like you were describing but those have to be applied to new vehicles. Spraying oil on the underbody is useless after it washes off in a month or two but it's during that time that you need it the most. And when it's sprayed on the inside of panels and doors, it stays pretty much forever since it's not exposed but some water and moisture gets in and causes rust from the inside.

 

[djthumper]

Actually a lot of the better ones were a wax & oil based under coating. To properly put it on to a vehicle that has been driven for a while is to thoroughly clean it and in some cases blast the surface. take care of any corrosion before applying it or it does no good. There is stuff out there that will chemically convert rust to help slow down the corrosion.

 

[Mooseman]

Yep, it is a constant battle here against rust. We use so much salt, it's not even funny. But car makers are getting better at making stuff rust resistant. I remember cars with holes in the floor were common and having to pop-rivet sheet metal to block them. Before, anything over 10 years old was a rarity. Now it's about 15 to 20 years. My '02 TB is showing some surface rust on the lower edge of the doors and below the rear hatch handle.

 

[07Blazerman]

Back in the 80's you used to her about rustproofing all the time. I recall my dad had his truck underbody rustproofed which I recall was a thick rubbery substance sprayed on the frame. Now days I haven't so much as heard the word 'rustproof' for many years nor have I even heard of it being offered. I wouldn't mind having the old school rust proof on my trucks.

I had mine undercoated from the dealer, but they don't call it rustproofing they call it soundproofing now.

 

[bore_pig]

I sanded, primed, and herculined the bottoms of my doors. Cheap and effective.

 

[fishguy1123]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Hopefully I can keep it washed well enough this winter and when the weather warms up try some of the rust stop products.

 

[CruzinQueen]

The underdoor seams on my 07 have some rust appearing (Canadian truck). I plan to sand it down really well, prep, and then hit it with some black POR 15 this spring. I think having a black truck will be to my benefit given that it can easily be matched and patched. I just bought it in August but I tend to keep my cars waxed and washed regularly.

 

[Guenther]

The underdoor seams on my 07 have some rust appearing (Canadian truck). I plan to sand it down really well, prep, and then hit it with some black POR 15 this spring. I think having a black truck will be to my benefit given that it can easily be matched and patched. I just bought it in August but I tend to keep my cars waxed and washed regularly.

I did mine with POR-15 a few weeks ago but haven't painted it silver yet.

 

[Sparky]

We had some snow last weekend, and I think Ohio used half their salt reserves on the roads

All my doors have rust, some are worse than others (rear driver is the worst). My fix (short of replacing all the doors) has to be basically cuting out the rot and put in new metal on the lower parts of my doors and my rear wheel well lips (driver side is pretty bad). Hatch, well, that rusts because of the retarded license plate piece design - the seal sucks in, then water gets in there and rusts the lower edge of the liftgate from the inside out. I'm looking to get a rust-free liftgate (or as close to it as possible), redoing the liftgate drains, then coating the inside with a few layers of POR-15 or something so the water cannot get through to the metal and can only drain out. The body guy said he could rebuild the bottom of my liftgate, which would be cheaper than a whole entire liftgate, but my rear window defroster is shot and needs a new piece of glass as well, so I might as well do the whole thing I guess...

All this will be done this summer, money permitting. It'll cost me around $2000 by the time it is said and done, but all that crap will be taken care of. Oh, I'm also going to be pulling the bumpers, using a wire wheel on the entire frame, and using POR-15 on the frame and maybe even the entire underbody if I can. I plan on keeping this thing for a long time, so if I can afford to do something now to stop the rust (or greatly slow it down) then I will.

 

[TB2k4]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Hopefully I can keep it washed well enough this winter and when the weather warms up try some of the rust stop products.

we've had a pretty good year for that. i washed mine once after some slush and its still looking good- other than the nice layer of dirt i put on it this weekend.

 

[TB2k4]

anyone have any recommended rust stop products. just sand it down, resurface and repaint it? (noob question but where can i get the original paint color)

 

[Guenther]

anyone have any recommended rust stop products. just sand it down, resurface and repaint it? (noob question but where can i get the original paint color)

See here, it worked very well:

Going to sand, apply POR-15 (3 step process) and cover with Duplicolor factory color spray paint. You can get the POR-15 kit on eBay for about $25 and the paint was $7 but I used a 50% off coupon from Advance Auto. I'll have less than $30 in the repair and already have some etching primer for between the POR-15 and color as well as clear coat. It's surface rust on my son's '04 Envoy so hopefully I'll never have to worry about it again.

 

[Wooluf1952]

anyone have any recommended rust stop products. just sand it down, resurface and repaint it? (noob question but where can i get the original paint color)

The paint codes are on the glove box door.

bc/cc = base coat/clear coat

 

[TB2k4]

The paint codes are on the glove box door.

bc/cc = base coat/clear coat

yeah havent gotten out there to read the code but i know its silver green metallic (just looking right now anyways- dont have the time to address it this weekend and it is in the beginning stages). just wondering where they sell it. the op said ebay, i found a website that looks legit, but im just wondering if autoparts do colors at all.