Undercoating / Rustproofing - What components to avoid

[Phade]

First thread start here for me and it's a bummer.

Bought a new 19 ORP; living in the NE, I opted for the rustproofing and undercoating through the dealer with Ziebart. I plan to keep this vehicle until the "wheels fall off."

Ziebart picked it up from work and dropped it off on Friday. Immediate regret. It looks like Ray Charles was brought in to perform the work.

Rustproofing has oozed out of every panel (doors, liftgate, hood, fenders, etc.). Looks like melted butter just ran everywhere. Cleaning that up is "easy."

The undercoating was sprayed everywhere save for the differential and the exhaust. Even part of the engine was shot through the front right wheel well. The springs and shocks - coated black. KDSS - undercoated. Electrical around the left rear (I'm assuming at this point for the hitch)....coated.

Took it back to dealer Saturday and they reacted well - it definitely was not a job done right. They're dealing with Ziebart.

Questions - Should the entire springs and shocks be undercoated? Seems like to me that it shouldn't based on the moving components. Electrical seems idiotic as that will block in moisture and cause all kinds of electrical gremlins.

 

[nb rob]

I had all of my oem fender trim warp from poorly applied undercoating.
I wound up putting bushwackers on, but I really wish I had just shelled out the $$$ to replace all the oem pieces. There’s a lot of them..

Rubber and plastic does not do well with some undercoating oils. I’d get in there and clean up the grommets in the undercarriage, and clean that stuff off of anything rubber- exhaust hangers, bushings, etc.

If they really went to town in the wheel wells, you might be in for the same headache I had to deal with.

 

[llDemonll]

Took it back to dealer Saturday and they reacted well - it definitely was not a job done right. They're dealing with Ziebart.

Questions - Should the entire springs and shocks be undercoated? Seems like to me that it shouldn't based on the moving components. Electrical seems idiotic as that will block in moisture and cause all kinds of electrical gremlins.

No idea, but dealer owning up right away and working on it is good.

Honestly if they sprayed it everywhere you're never going to get it all off. It's a bit on the ridiculous side, but I'd almost brace to ask for a new car. I don't know much of anything about undercoat because I'm lucky and in the PNW where cars last forever, but that stuff will never be gone from the places it wasn't supposed to be. That would ALWAYS bother me, especially when the car was purchased brand new.

I'd almost compare it to ordering a car and having it get damaged in transit, and instead of replacing the car the dealership repaints the whole thing. Yea you might never notice, but it's always going to be a fact that you paid for a brand new car and had someone else muck it up with something that can't be "undone".

 

[Phade]

I had all of my oem fender trim warp from poorly applied undercoating.
I wound up putting bushwackers on, but I really wish I had just shelled out the $$$ to replace all the oem pieces. There’s a lot of them..

Rubber and plastic does not do well with some undercoating oils. I’d get in there and clean up the grommets in the undercarriage, and clean that stuff off of anything rubber- exhaust hangers, bushings, etc.

If they really went to town in the wheel wells, you might be in for the same headache I had to deal with.

Driver's side trim separated at bottom from this...irony!

 

[nb rob]

that sucks that your trim is already separating!

here's what all mine ended up doing (viewed from the top looking down)

I bought every expensive 3m tape known to man, used the adhesion promoter, removed and retaped the trim and stuck them back on a few times. I wound up buying a bunch of the orange and blue clips that are designed to break if you touch the fender trim. In the end, the L shaped profile of the pieces warped, and even the strongest 3m VHB tabe couldn't solve the fact that the oil had made a mess of the plastics, and they were no longer the same shape.

I had never heard of this happening before. As it turns out, I found out that the honda dealership in town specifically discourages the type of undercoating that I had because it is known to throw their plastics all out of whack too.

Very expensive lesson.

 

[jrandom]

Questions - Should the entire springs and shocks be undercoated? Seems like to me that it shouldn't based on the moving components. Electrical seems idiotic as that will block in moisture and cause all kinds of electrical gremlins.

Uh no. Well at least not out here. I would never spray electrical or moving components with undercoating, that is just ridiculous.

Well, as I understand, undercoating should only be applied to the underside of body panels, primed metal only (ie basically just the floor pan and the backs of the wheel wells). Which is exactly how mine was done, with very little over-spray. The body seams hadn't ever cured, so I brought it back and they "cleaned" that bit off.

 

[Phade]

that sucks that your trim is already separating!

here's what all mine ended up doing (viewed from the top looking down)

I bought every expensive 3m tape known to man, used the adhesion promoter, removed and retaped the trim and stuck them back on a few times. I wound up buying a bunch of the orange and blue clips that are designed to break if you touch the fender trim. In the end, the L shaped profile of the pieces warped, and even the strongest 3m VHB tabe couldn't solve the fact that the oil had made a mess of the plastics, and they were no longer the same shape.

I had never heard of this happening before. As it turns out, I found out that the honda dealership in town specifically discourages the type of undercoating that I had because it is known to throw their plastics all out of whack too.

Very expensive lesson.

Mine looks like just that on the lower portion on the driver's side. This is going to be a headache. Passenger side looked fine.

 

[Phade]

Uh no. Well at least not out here. I would never spray electrical or moving components with undercoating, that is just ridiculous.

Well, as I understand, undercoating should only be applied to the underside of body panels, primed metal only (ie basically just the floor pan and the backs of the wheel wells). Which is exactly how mine was done, with very little over-spray. The body seams hadn't ever cured, so I brought it back and they "cleaned" that bit off.

I'm going to see what the dealer/Ziebart does with this, but I'm not super excited at having the shocks coated including the parts that expand/contract based on the spring compression/driving.

Electrical seems like it'll cause more problems 5 years from now that next week.

Not much positive going on with this experience, but have to see what the dealer is going to do here.

I can't find ANYTHING on the internet that shows a clear video or image of what is truly undercoated.

 

[jrandom]

Here are a couple quick pics of my truck, I is six years old so don't mind the rusty frame weld bits... When it was done they removed heatshields, l;ower the spare, pulled the rubber splash guards. They did an acceptable job on my truck in my opinion.

 

[Phade]

Here are a couple quick pics of my truck, I is six years old so don't mind the rusty frame weld bits... When it was done they removed heatshields, l;ower the spare, pulled the rubber splash guards. They did an acceptable job on my truck in my opinion.

Where your springs/shocks done? I mean mine are solidly coated black. And thank you for posting!

 

[jrandom]

No, nothing was undercoated except the underside of the body. In the pics any where you see wavy brownish-black that is undercoating. For example in the second pic of the front fender well, notice the rough brownish material? That is UC. The plastic fender liner next to it, on the left, is smooth black plastic. The shock hoops those are factory black paint.

 

[Phade]

Here is the lower trim piece already showing the adhesive tape, plus some of the rustproof junk dripping down.

Also poor pic, but you can see the top of the suspension coated. Whole spring and shock assembly is like that.

 

[17KT4R]

In these parts the top two applicators are RustCheck and Krown Rust. The RustCheck base product is a highly viscous blend which does a lot of dripping the first few days, it is dyed red, sprayed inside panels and frame typically. Their other product which they apply to coat the underside, axles etc is more of a Fluid Film type of product, looks more like a gel coating but they also apply it with a black dye as many customers prefer that.

The Krown Rust product here is more like the Fluid Film colour I don't know if they have the black dye option. In either case you can easily blast this stuff off with a pressure washer. After a winter of driving it is unlikely you will see much of it anymore anyway - certainly not the shine part. I doubt they use any kind of asphalt based stuff most applicators nowadays understand that is not good anymore. Personally I have never had these seal or swell issues that people talk about with bushings or other rubber. I had a Jeep TJ for 17 years sprayed annually and the door rubber started to go bad after a decade but that was an easy fix.

I don't know - I get mine sprayed annually, I don't mind the black dyed stuff it only stays shiny for the first little while, once it gets dirty or half way through the winter its well gone. With what they drop and spray on the roads around here it is an unfortunate necessity I gotta shell out for. See if they have the clear option next year or find a place who does, Fluid Film is basically like that I would say.

 

[Phade]

In these parts the top two applicators are RustCheck and Krown Rust. The RustCheck base product is a highly viscous blend which does a lot of dripping the first few days, it is dyed red, sprayed inside panels and frame typically. Their other product which they apply to coat the underside, axles etc is more of a Fluid Film type of product, looks more like a gel coating but they also apply it with a black dye as many customers prefer that.

The Krown Rust product here is more like the Fluid Film colour I don't know if they have the black dye option. In either case you can easily blast this stuff off with a pressure washer. After a winter of driving it is unlikely you will see much of it anymore anyway - certainly not the shine part. I doubt they use any kind of asphalt based stuff most applicators nowadays understand that is not good anymore. Personally I have never had these seal or swell issues that people talk about with bushings or other rubber. I had a Jeep TJ for 17 years sprayed annually and the door rubber started to go bad after a decade but that was an easy fix.

I don't know - I get mine sprayed annually, I don't mind the black dyed stuff it only stays shiny for the first little while, once it gets dirty or half way through the winter its well gone. With what they drop and spray on the roads around here it is an unfortunate necessity I gotta shell out for. See if they have the clear option next year or find a place who does, Fluid Film is basically like that I would say.

Was your electrical or shocks covered?

 

[jrandom]

I cant really tell from your pics, but it looks like your fender wells were undercoated like they should be and the also like they applied a fluid film on other components, which is what I would expect. It is fine to have that on most everything, I personally still would not want that on wire bundles or electronics. Friction from grit (from grime attracted by wet coatings) will wear through wire sheathing over time, it will take a few years but it will happen.


The wet looking stuff stuff is different. An oil or wax based film. You have to apply it every year as it washes off. I would prefer a wax type coating verses oil, here any wet coating is a dust magnate and couple days after a snow storm there is dry salt dust everywhere.

What I have is an undercoating, it is a rubberized application and it is permanent. Mine just covers expose sheet metal, the fluid/film coatings are for the entirety of the undercarriage.

 

[Phade]

Update in progress.

Took vehicle to dealer on Sat, told to pick up on Monday. Nothing was done by the third party. I let dealer have it - they didn't even inspect.

Reached out to Toyota Corporate, opened a complaint, and also reached out to Third Party corporate - which confirmed that shocks, springs, moving components, and electrical are not coated in the service. Since they were all very much coated, it cannot be undone.

Dealer is trying to resolve and is exploring potential to put me in a new 4Runner as a result. We will see. The current one has been in my driveway less than 14 days.

 

[T4R2014]

ZIEBART? You just paid to get your vehicle ruined. Take it as a lesson learned.

YouTube

Stick with liquid undercoatings.

 

[llDemonll]

Update in progress.

Took vehicle to dealer on Sat, told to pick up on Monday. Nothing was done by the third party. I let dealer have it - they didn't even inspect.

Reached out to Toyota Corporate, opened a complaint, and also reached out to Third Party corporate - which confirmed that shocks, springs, moving components, and electrical are not coated in the service. Since they were all very much coated, it cannot be undone.

Dealer is trying to resolve and is exploring potential to put me in a new 4Runner as a result. We will see. The current one has been in my driveway less than 14 days.

So far sounds like you have a pretty good dealer on your side that's working to make it right. Let's hope they keep it up if push comes to shove!

 

[Phade]

Update on this - Dealer ended up replacing the vehicle. I'm in another new midnight black 19 ORP w/KDSS.

Crazy, but it's done with!

 

[Ykket]

That's crazy, at least all over now. Good on the dealer for making it right, but sounds like a nuisance to had to of dealt with on a new truck