# Rust buckets



## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

I'm needing to look for a daily driver. Being tied down to the farm I don't put a lot of miles on it and it's pretty much for me only pickup or SUV would do .I usually start looking for Somethin 10 years old or a bit older to suit my cheaper price range. I am surprised when looking under some of these vehicles the amount of rust I'm seeing. Are Vehicles rusting easier these days or is it just the way they treat the roads for freezing in the winter. Is the material harder on the car's??


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

endrow said:


> I'm needing to look for a daily driver. Being tied down to the farm I don't put a lot of miles on it and it's pretty much for me only pickup or SUV would do .I usually start looking for Somethin 10 years old or a bit older to suit my cheaper price range. I am surprised when looking under some of these vehicles the amount of rust I'm seeing. Are Vehicles rusting easier these days or is it just the way they treat the roads for freezing in the winter. Is the material harder on the car's??


Mostly, I think it's the way they treat the roads. I have a buddy who works at the local township and they have told me they find it easier, faster and lasts longer to brine or salt roads than plow them.
Ive also had the great displeasure of having to buy 2 used vehicles and I'm pretty disgusted at most sellers who advertise "rust free", thinking you won't look underneath. Crawl under and there's plenty of rust on most used vehicles over 5yrs old.
A long time ago I began the practice of washing the bottoms of my vehicles-even more so than the parts that show. Now I have 4 vehicles over 12 years old, all driven in salt, but they have very little rust. 
My technique is to use one of those long reach watering wands and reach under the vehicle to rinse inside the fenders, under truck beds, behind bumpers, etc.
It works


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

I've used spray in bed liner on the wheel wells of my trucks too.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

It's really shameful that truck manufacturers can't use better rust protection/prevention techniques 
Ford took a step in the right direction with the aluminum bodies, but aluminum has issues (unrelated to rust), too.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

We place a sprinkler in the drive come spring and park our vehicles over it, every 10-15 minutes move it forward a few feet.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

JD3430 said:


> It's really shameful that truck manufacturers can't use better rust protection/prevention techniques
> Ford took a step in the right direction with the aluminum bodies, but aluminum has issues (unrelated to rust), too.


Rusty trucks get replaced with new trucks.

I have a 2005 F150 with 166,000 miles on it now but it has very little rust. The rear wheel wells are bubbling (I put stock style fender flares on but the bubbling has grown beyond those), and there's just a little bit of rust at the very bottom of the drivers side fender. Every year, about Oct or Nov I put a synthetic wax on our vehicles, and then I take the truck through an automatic wash pretty regularly with an undercarriage wash. Those washes have a wax it sprays on, and those waxes don't last a long time but does help to protect the clear coat. The undercarriage wash cleans out the stuff that REALLY make panels rust, because most rust comes from behind and eats through the panel. Which is why all these guys with bed liner on their rockers have it completely backwards.

There's no such thing as 'surface' rust unless there's a scratch or the paint is physically missing, sanded or faded away. If you see bubbles it's rusted through from behind and the metal needs replaced.

My plan is just to replace my truck bed and fender and repaint to match whenever it gets bad enough.


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## HayMike (Mar 22, 2011)

I have hay customers w/ 25 year old trucks w/ no rust. They oil spray spring and fall. Only $50 at a local farm, cheap protection.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

HayMike said:


> I have hay customers w/ 25 year old trucks w/ no rust. They oil spray spring and fall. Only $50 at a local farm, cheap protection.


I do this to some equipment with fluid film, but dirt/dust sticks to it, too.
My 08 Tahoe has no rust- garaged
My 08 F550 has no rust- garaged
My 08 F350 has just a little rust underneath where the running boards were mounted-not garaged
My 08 F250 has a bubbled rough area about the size of a hockey puck behind the rear door on the cab quarter panel-not garaged

About 25 years ago, I was looking at a 1990 F-350. It only had about 10,000 miles on it and was in great running condition. 
Underneath, the frame had significant rust and the sheet metal was rusted.
I found out from another guy the truck was constantly parked on a damp patch of lawn.


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## Draft Horse Hay (May 15, 2014)

In our area they spray deicer down ahead of a cold snap to stop/slow ice formation on the roads. The stuff is corrosive like salt and, since it lowers the freezing point, it makes a nice spray to coat your rig. And don't even get me started about getting near them while they're applying the stuff.


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## Farmineer95 (Aug 11, 2014)

The brine can be magnesium chloride. That stuff is nasty, but as a bonus it sticks to the road better, bottom of the cars too. Very corrosive, they are using stainless dumps for salters here now too, but the brine tank hangs on the tailgate.
I spoke with a guy from profleet, I think that's the name, they actually spray the inside of all the doors, fenders, hood, anywhere the road dust can get in. The cars are rusting from the inside out and all we see a some paint bubbles. They use some petroleum based oil at a high pressure mist to get it to seep into all the folds and spot welds. On my to do list this fall. $180 per vehicle I believe, yearly application.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Went with Fluid Film on my new truck and trailers, stuff is used by the Navy (IIRC).

Pros - never dries out like petroleum based undercoating.

Cons - never dries out.

You need to apply and leave vehicle / trailer outside for weeks, until stuff quits dripping off (if you don't want to spend time cleaning your floors that is). Second thing you need to do is drive some dusty dirt roads, the surface will finally become non-tacky (absorbing dust). I prefer driving on non-chloride roads for the dusting purpose. I did my trailers, because every used trailer I looked at was a rust bucket on the underside, within one or two years, in MY area. Even some of the new trailers seem to have pretty poor underside factory paint jobs, was my observation. Maybe on purpose to create the need for a new trailer purchase, (planned replacement customer, can't have trailer last forever ).

Strongly considering doing my new car with Fluid Film, but I just don't like driving dirt roads so much anymore, being I live on black top. That dust get's everywhere inside the vehicle for a long time it seems. The truck and trailers see dirt roads, doing hay deliveries and driving down my farm lane, making spraying them a easier decision.

If you look at older vehicles with factory or after market undercoating, you might notice where it dry's out, cracks trapping moisture (road salt) underneath. Creating the same situation that HayJosh mentions, about those loose truck bed liners (might look pretty on the surface, remove it and see the corrosion that maybe the even the bed liner created or helped create ).

Larry


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