That evil salt cancer trying to kill our babies
 

With winter coming I'm doing some preventive rust prep. I plan to do the whole underbody and frame in Monstaliner Chassis saver, but won't have time to do the whole thing before winter with my 7 day work schedule. My 3rd gen DD is pretty rust free and I want to keep it that way. My last 3rd gen was eaten by rust, it was like losing a pet.
Last year I sprayed the whole underneath with big ass cans of wd-40, even inside the frame thru the holes. I hit every drain hole I could like the rockers, doors, hood. But that stuff is thin and doesn't last long. But it does help, my brother had his F-250 with typical bed wheel well rot, and he said he sprayed it regularly with wd-40 and it prevented the rust, so I tried it too.
If we hit rust preventive measures with a vengeance, we can prevent it, otherwise its creeping death.
I've heard about this wax based product Fluid Film and will explore that option, but first I want to do all the chassis saver undercoating coating of everything I can. For now, I'll just spray the crap out of my undercarriage, access holes, and drain holes often with wd-40.
Here's a video of guy with his 3rd gen tr4 on using Fluid film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJSnBJDHT74

This is another reason why I love Texas... they use sand over salt since the ice/snow doesn't usually stick around for more than a day or two. Keeps our under bodies nice 'n happy.

Paint makes it look pretty, it'll chip and rust at some point. And don't even bother painting the inside of the frame. Want something that actually blocks the salt? Oil, grease, and wax. You need to lube that biotch up every winter. Used motor oil, Fluid Film, and the cheapo tubes of grease. It isn't a fire hazard if you aren't stupid with applying it.

That sucks! Yeah we only use sand here in the state of Washington. Salt is bad for our lakes and streams. So is oil and WD-40, WTF? Isn't there a thing called undercoating?

Undercoating is only for visible spots, in the rust belt we need to get inside the frame, rockers and panels where undercoating won't go into tiny crevasses, on small parts. Better a regular maintenance thing that a one shot deal. The Fluid Film is a nature safe wax alternative. I hate salt, I prefer pepper.

The only rustproofing solution that works is a winter beater.

Or moving away

Just not to Texas unless you love red meat, guns and money. We've had enough folks from California and NY move here that our political base (red) is now polluted with enough blue that people are saying we might switch over to the dark side this election.

I heard Oklahoma is nice in winters.. maybe folks should move there?

I went the other way, Ohio -> California. I'm working on making this place more conservative.

Good luck! Your sacrifice will be watched with keen interest.

LOL, I'm sure I will be a martyr to the cause...

Should have stopped at Illinois first and help us out! Southern and Western Illinois wants to make Chicago it's own state. Chicago pretty much controls IL's political status and a lot of residents there love their free handouts.

:ballchain:

The east and west coast crowd loves our low cost of living but if they turn TX blue they'll just create the problems that made them leave their states in the first place. As for ice, snow when we do get it nobody drives anyway heh heh

fluid film gives us a fighting chance.

WD40 really isn't a very good rust inhibitor.

Krown and fluidfilm are great for chassis work, but hell on plastics and rubber. I had all 4 OEM fender flares warp horribly from krown.

Boeshield T-9 is a very good product for corrosion protection. Unlike most, it's very water resistant and does not wash off easily without a solvent. It does, however, clean up very will with more T-9. I've been using it on collectable, old fishing reels for about 15 years. For that purpose, it's a perfect application. For vehicle corrosion resistance, its excellent for coilovers, coils, shocks, shock mounting locations, etc. It won't distort your rubber or plastic, it dries to a waxy film (it will get a bit dirty) and the adherence to things like threads on aftermarket coilovers is very good. Extremely resistant to washing off-- which is excellent. First line of defence is judicious washing throughout the winter.

Last weekend I took several photos of my typical winter prep (after the ceremonial last wheeling trip of season "2" in Canada). I even put the icon coilover wraps on to my freshly T-9'd fronts. Everything else underneath is jet-black from my thrice-annual inspections and spot touch-ups.

My suspension wasn't designed for my environment. I chose it anyway, and take the onus of corrosion protection as my own. The shock wraps are a bit of an experiment for me.

As for chassis (and not suspension-centric rustproofing)... that's easy. Fluid film, rust check rust paint and a wire brush. The rest is ambition. All of my vehicles have always been prepared in the fall, and touched up in the spring. My 10-year-old nissan had less rust underneath than anything new you could find on a GMC lot in my neck of the woods.

It's worth your time and preparation.