Fluid Film VS. Lots of car washes

Hey all, I know that there's info all over about fluid film, but I'm worried about getting the 4R fluid filmed and then going offroading and doing river crossings. I got mine done in September, but then I did a few water crossings and went fast through some big puddles. I got really worried that I had compromised the coating and didn't want to spend $300 for another coating so I've just been running it through the car wash every other day.

What are your opinions on this? Would those water crossings and deep puddles have compromised the coating? Are constant car washes just as effective?

I live in Michigan personally and havent done the spray yet. However, in an attempt to keep corrosion to a minimum I got a car wash every day this winter as they have many unlimited memberships out here at least. I still did get surface rust on the frame but the body is still flawless and I'll be doing a full sand/ wire wheeling of the frame and coating with POR-15 and then doing a spray on the inside of the frame. I've also been told by another 3rd gen t4r owner that he sprays the inside of the frame with 3 parts ATF and 1 part Diesel every summer and the results hes had with it have been phenomenal. Hope that helps. Cheers from the rust belt.

Been using FF for a few years. I've noticed that the coating starts to come off when the hose is on the high pressure mode. Otherwise, on the normal stream mode, it doesn't wash off as easily.

In your case, I think you're fine. It didn't compromise the coating as the water just came into contact with the frame. No harm.

One other thing to mention with car wash bays: use the 'spot free' cycle for two reasons:
1. not high pressure so it won't strip away the FF coating
2. Fresh water is used in this cycle so less likelihood of salt being in the water compared to the normal rinse cycle, which does recycle the water.

I just recently thought of doing a fluid frame spray, then I read its only good for a year max
well that's ok if your gonna pressure wash the frame inside and out and want to then let it dry and do the frame spray every year
but hey...guess what.....I don't live in the rust belt
so guess what...im not doing it

Take this with a grain of salt, get it. Anyway. Being a old Bronco guy, there are studies that show just washing you car in winter may increase the chance of rust forming. The concept is the high pressure water forces the salt and d brine into places you can't get to and what needs to be done is neutralize the acidity of the salt. There are bases out there that do this and many commercial organizations use it, like the county salt truck for instance. Just food for thought, but makes sense to me.

Ever seen a greasy undercarriage? 0 rust ! Fluid film will work. Just need to re-spray it ever 6 months or so. Another good sticky product is Eastwood heavy duty grease. Very sticky !

fluid film is active correct? in places it get scraped off, it will recover that spot? it should also have some water repelancy?

I have had my truck in Michigan for 2 winters now, its from AZ. It gets Krown coated once a year, there is not a hint of rust underneath, not even on a bolt. I have washed the frame once since December.

I think you should be fine, but would recommend adding touch ups and prolly also have applied every year.

silver4est said:

fluid film is active correct? in places it get scraped off, it will recover that spot? it should also have some water repelancy?

I have had my truck in Michigan for 2 winters now, its from AZ. It gets Krown coated once a year, there is not a hint of rust underneath, not even on a bolt. I have washed the frame once since December.

I think you should be fine, but would recommend adding touch ups and prolly also have applied every year.

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Fluid film is sticky grease basically. So yes it does repel water. Any grease basically makes water sit on top or just run of.

Charlievee said:

Take this with a grain of salt, get it. Anyway. Being a old Bronco guy, there are studies that show just washing you car in winter may increase the chance of rust forming. The concept is the high pressure water forces the salt and d brine into places you can't get to and what needs to be done is neutralize the acidity of the salt. There are bases out there that do this and many commercial organizations use it, like the county salt truck for instance. Just food for thought, but makes sense to me.

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This. I'm starting to believe more truth to this, that washing your vehicle too often, and especially in my case, using the self-carwash and being much too compulsive about getting EVERYTHING underneath salt-free. I've had my runner for a year, and being underneath it 50+ times last year for meticulous maintenance, and crawling under it yesterday, I'll buy into the argument that washing too meticulously, and too often could be doing more harm than good. And what's worse (but better for our lakes & streams) carwashes in MN capture, clean, and reuse wash water, but the majority of the chloride remains in treated water for reuse in the carwash.

In my case, that's really not good if you have a pretty clean frame and body, for a northern vehicle, but still have spots where salt can infiltrate and spread. I've seen drastic body rot and even frame rot beginning from when I was under the truck yesterday, compared to what I had seen last year during the warm season. I was going to do fluid film last fall and wash it every few weeks. Boy, do I think I made a terrible mistake not following that plan.

Of course, the best way around all of this is to have a $2K winter beater 3rd gen :biggrin2:

Correction: There is no acidity in the salt (NaCl).

Salt acts as a good conductor of electrons between the anode (oxidation) and cathode (reduction).

During corrosion Fe (iron) gets oxidized to Fe2+ and releases 2 electrons. The electrons travel through the metal frame and reaches water+Oxygen to make OH- (hydroxyl ions), thus formed hydroxyl ions are basic and removes paint off the metal exposing fresh metal causing more and more corrosion. The process of transportation of electrons to water and oxygen is mush faster with dissolved salt (dissolved ions carry current).

Said that: I spray used motor oil + gear oil (like 80 to 20 ratio) even though I live in West TX and corrosion is unheard of. Once the sprayed oil collects dust, the surface is heavily hydrophobic and acts like a lotus leaf!

i painted down my frame with fresh 5w30 this past fall.
she looks okay underneath though ill prob do some work as things warm up here. im from MA and the roads/salt can be very bad. This is why i looked at 4 trucks before getting mine up here. brutal.

Ive been using Fluid Film for 10+ years on my Toyotas. Every October I spray the undercarriage in preparation for winter. I drive all winter and wash the exterior frequently but try to leave the Fluid Film underneath alone as it will slowly wash away with repetitive water pressure contact. But if you stay away from the underside until the spring, I find one coating a year keeps 95% of the rust on the undercarriage away (I live in Canada...) By the time spring arrives, I head to the car wash and usually have to give the underside a good rinse to wash all the FF away for the summer wheeling (wrenching lol) season. Obviously if there are a lot of melt/freeze cycles during the winter that cause a bunch of slush/water to be on the roads, your chances of needing a re-application mid-winter would increase.

Hope that helps, but FF is definitely the main reason I've been able to keep my Canadian Toyota's minty fresh!

I’ve been curious how salty the large puddles in the roads from snow melt and rain are, is it worse to run through them thinking your rinsing dried salt from the frame. It is fun blasting water all over the place

I don’t wash my cars if it’s below freezing outside unless it’s really sunny and melty, I figure a frozen frame is not going to oxidize and I like to keep that frozen layer until warm weather melts it and then it gets a wash. I leave the 4runner parked outside, it’s always an ice block

nissanh said:

Correction: There is no acidity in the salt (NaCl).

Salt acts as a good conductor of electrons between the anode (oxidation) and cathode (reduction).

During corrosion Fe (iron) gets oxidized to Fe2+ and releases 2 electrons. The electrons travel through the metal frame and reaches water+Oxygen to make OH- (hydroxyl ions), thus formed hydroxyl ions are basic and removes paint off the metal exposing fresh metal causing more and more corrosion. The process of transportation of electrons to water and oxygen is mush faster with dissolved salt (dissolved ions carry current).

Said that: I spray used motor oil + gear oil (like 80 to 20 ratio) even though I live in West TX and corrosion is unheard of. Once the sprayed oil collects dust, the surface is heavily hydrophobic and acts like a lotus leaf!

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I was wondering when someone was going to correct that statement :biggrin2:

Some people also have good lucky with WD40 and it already comes in an aerosal can. But it really comes down to the fact that anything oil-based is better than nothing at all.