I am told Ford is doing well with the frame treatment coatings. Do many of you get any Rust Proofing? I now have a 06 F350 that has done well, but I have given it exceptional care.

 

I'm interested in this as well, especially with the box frame. I know you can buy aftermarket coatings with special spray applicators, spray in near 360 degrees laterally out of the nozzle, to stick up in there. It seems when it is brand new is the best time to do so, so there are less contaminants in the mix.

 

 

^^^^^^ Is there a more permanent solution? Not sure if I'm dedicated to do it once a year every year.

 

I'm curious in undercoatings as well. A friend of mine made a good point that people will spend $1k+ on ceramic coatings and/or paint sealant and wax jobs, but spend zero to protect the bottom of the truck because they don't ever see it.

 

^^^^ I hear 'ya. When people buy used all they look at is the paint job and the tires......

First thing I do is crawl up under and have a look see.

 

I had my truck undercoated within 500 miles. Best to do it before driving it in the rain, amazing how much crap gets thrown up off the tires. The shop didn't coat the inside of box frames so I followed that up with 8 cans of SEM cavity wax. Really. Its a thing...

I plan to keep this truck a long time. Wish I had done this to my 1999 with the 7.3...

 

 

 

Can't help myself... reminds me of the Fords I bought way back when.



Am interested in this topic as well - never heard of Fluid Film and not such a big issue now that I'm inland in the South.
However... we do have tons of that 'salt' spray every time it threatens to drop a flake or two.....

 

Yeah, I live in NH and the salt situation is the same as Maine...terrible. I've used Fluid Film on all 6 of my Super Duty trucks for years. Keep in mind the only thing that is going to rust on a 2017+ Super Duty is the frame, axles, suspension, etc. The cab, rockers, bed, fenders, etc are aluminum and are impervious to salt. I previously coated the entire underside with Fluid Film; frame, floor pans, rockers, in the bottoms of the doors, etc. Doing that is now a waste of time since it won't rust to begin with. Now I only fluid film the steel frame and other steel parts underneath.

With Fluid Film, it's important to re-coat the "high-traffic" areas annually; maybe even more frequently than annually. The film will wear off over time as it gets hit with road spray, sand, etc.

$200 is pretty steep. I was paying a shop to do my Super Duty for $150. They really went overkill, doing the radiator supports, inside the fuel door, into the door bottoms, inside trailer hitch, everywhere. But once they get inside an area, the original coating will stay there forever and doesn't need such frequent re-application. In the end, I bought the same Fluid Film kit the shop is using for about $150...it comes with the special gun, the extension wands, different nozzles, etc. I just buy the fluid film from the local parts store by the gallon. And as I said, now I just do the steel parts, including inside the frame as much as possible. It's much cheaper to do it yourself and you can do it exactly the way you want to. Yeah, you have to crawl around under the truck. It takes me about an hour.

 

I agree with everything but the aluminum being impervious to salt, it wont' corrode as quickly as steel but it will corrode. I would still fluid film the aluminum parts just to be safe.

I fluid film our trucks twice a year for the areas that see direct spray and once a year for inside the doors and rockers. Actually the inside of the doors and rockers probably don't need a reapplication because they don't see anything other than water seepage or condensation.

I do it myself and go through about two gallons of the bulk($40/can)and maybe 6 cans of the aerosol($10/can). I go overboard and spray it thick but it works.

 

Maybe if it was exposed to salt all the time, but frankly my experience says otherwise. We owned a 1999 Audi A8 4.2L Quattro which we sold in 2014. The car was in NH it's entire life, driven all year round. This entire car was constructed of aluminum, and there wasn't a spec of rust on it anywhere.

 

 

It is overall easier to reduce corrosion on aluminum because it is not self-spreading the way rust is. Rust is like mold, once you have it, you have to completely remove it or it will continue to spread. Aluminum corrosion is a contact issue so all those months it's not exposed to salt, especially if you are good about rinsing the undercarriage, the undercarriage is not corroding.

However aluminum corrosion is harder to detect than rust and if you do get pits or damage, harder to repair. Tradeoffs for everything.