Rust/corrosion

[Winston81]

My 2002 4Runner is originally from Pennsylvania, which i should have paid more attention to the amount of rust beneath it, but i was so stoked on it... Anyway, maybe a dumb question but what is the best way to clean it up and protect it from worse damage? Thanks- Jon

 

[MikesToy]

Talk to the professionals. Take it to a shop who does undercoating. If you wanna do-it-yourself, that's a lotta work and time to include the proper materials you need to buy.

 

[Winston81]

thanks.. will check into it!

 

[JohnsD90]

thanks.. will check into it!

ok, dont waste your time at at shop unless the chassis has holes in it. I doubt you have more rust then me and mine is 5 years older and in the heavyest part of the salt belt (NY-CT), and had no protection. Mine is regular surface rust which can be solved with a little work on your part. I would suggest you pressure wash the underside of the runner, then once you get it as clean as you can from pressure washing, go get some POR-15 and a paint brush and begin to coat the steel parts (Chassis, the back sides of the Bumpers, Skidplates,) until your satified with the coating. POR-15 will absorb surface rust and prevent them from rusting again. It wont be that bad to apply the POR-15 either, although mindless and time consuming it is way less expensive and it is no different than painting except that it doesnt matter how bad it looks.
Hope this helps.

P.S. i like the color of your 4runner.

 

[JeremyH]

Phosphoric Acid will easily get rid of surface rust and allow you to paint the surface. It is fairly cheap and can be found at most hardware stores (~$15/gal).

 

[Winston81]

someone else told me to pressure wash it and just get a can of undercoat spray and coat it.. After being under there though I reallize it's not as bad as i thought it was... thanks for the help though.

 

[dreadog]

Spraying undercoating over it is just putting a band-aid over it! Undercoating will NOT stop rust, it will keep speading and get worse even under the undercoating! You need to use a rust neutalizer like por-15, that's you best and easiest solution if really want to take care of it!

 

[Uneek]

Spraying undercoating over it is just putting a band-aid over it! Undercoating will NOT stop rust, it will keep speading and get worse even under the undercoating! You need to use a rust neutalizer like por-15, that's you best and easiest solution if really want to take care of it!

:iagree: POR-15, the best thing out there to combat rust.

 

[FJ This]

Rust Bullet works like a champ too. It's a little pricey but you get what you pay for.

 

[Sporin]

Wirebrush, then POR-15 paint.

I need to do this to mine in the spring. I didn't get to it early enough so now I'm just painting on some thick bar & chain oil to protect the rust spots over the salty winter.