Just wanted to let you know that I have completed operation "Fluid Film". I bought a gallon of Fluid Film and an undercoat gun (Astro Pneumatic Tool Company, www.astrotools.com, model 4538) and proceeded to hit EVERYTHING that will or might rust.

Here are my observations:

Ford has done a pretty good job of either painting or electro treating any areas that might rust. I found a few bolts that appear to have dissimilar metals in play (steel bolts with aluminum washers) but all in all not bad. The rear pumpkin was not completely painted and was showing a bit of rust formation on the front of it.

The undercoat gun is compressed air driven. The instructions did not provide any pressure recommendations, so I called them. They told me 45 psi to 90 psi was the operating pressure. Unless you have a metal dispensing container, I would stay on the lower end of this. I found 45 psi not enough to properly generate a spray pattern. Running it at 60 was much better. Since I had a plastic draw tank, I stayed on the lower pressure, but I have to believe you can probably get it much closer to a spray can pattern running it in the 70 to 80 psi area. Not being a regular spray painter, I don't know all the dynamics of what pressure the tank sees.

The good news is that I caught everything early enough and should have minimized any potential rusting. This is the first time I have used it as an undercoating to this level. It is used pretty regularly by the snowplowing community to prevent rusting on the snowplow mold boards and attachment hardware. I will let you know how it does this winter.

 

Can you posts some pictures? I know it will be hard to see everthing under the truck, but it would cool to see your hard work. Thank you.

 

Nice work Marauder... did you get some into the little cavities under the doors? i found the little straw on the spray cans good for these areas. Also, there are some rubber plugs at floor level that you can see when you open the doors... pull those and spray some n there too. Can't be too careful and since this stuff doesn't run too much it is good to spray in all possible cavities near the bottom of the cab.

 

I sprayed my truck shortly after getting it. The problem is that we had a few really hard down pours and I know some of it washed away in the wheel wells etc. Does this stuff bond and still have any saving effect if it is washed off?

 

You can read more about it over in THIS THREAD.

I sprayed my new brake drums 5 months ago on my Contour, and they have yet to show any rust. This stuff doesn't like to wash off easily...

 

I think I hit everything pretty well. I did not hit much of the frame since it was painted but anything that looked like bare metal got a coating.

For the nooks and crannies, I used this:

 

It holds up fairly well on metals. Using it on snow plow blades the painted areas wore off faster but the bare metal areas still looked coated.

 

I will try to get some pictures if I can get under it during the daylight.

 

I used about a gallon on my rig, I hope it works well (praying). Thanks for the extra links/words all

 

Marauder92V and Sgt93,

How's the Fluid Film holding up on your trucks? A Friend is picking up his new 2011 F-350 6.7 this week & plans to undercoat it with fluid film as well.

 

I have yet to look under my truck in an inspection manner however; from what I see while washing her, she looks great.

 

Here are a few pictures after a northeast winter. The rust you see in the picture was there when I picked up the truck. It has arrested any further rusting on those components. Any components that hadn't rusted yet, are rust free. I will try to get some more pictures this weekend.





I happy with what I am seeing. I have seen a few of these trucks that were untreated and I am not a big fan of that rust patina.

 

Maruader, that is pretty much how mine looked off the lot with the exception of that rod on yours that is beginning to rust, mine was covered with rust. That is my only complaint about that truck, most of the other tie rods/steering linkage/etc is painted black, why not paint/protect everything under there? I'm sure it doesn't make a bit of difference in performance or the lifespan of the truck, but taking a few extra minutes to spray a couple of pieces would show a higher level of attention to detail that one would expect on a truck like that.
Its a minor gripe compared to what some of you are going through, but it is an easy and cheap fix.

 

I agree with what you are saying. It was clear that they didn't paint everything they could and did a lousy job of painting things they did. The rear pumpkin on my truck is a good example. It looks half painted. I sprayed it with the FF to stop the rusting (will post a picture this weekend of it), but why couldn't they have sprayed it completely.