I found an 05 F250XLTcc 4x4 5.4 that has lived a very pampered life. It is rust free and the underside is in perfect condition. Since I will be moving it to the rusty northeast and have had a few Super Dutys rust out on me I am planning on LineX undercoating and Fluid Film in the hard to reach places annually. I would like to drill an access hole above the wheel well in the bed to gain access to the body foam area around the wheel arch to treat that. I will then put a rubber plug over the hole. Has anyone attempted this or presently doing this? Anyone have an any idea how to remove the foam so it doesn't act like a sponge?

 

Take a ride north and have this service done.....
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=www.krown.com&ia=web

 

 

Mine has been in salty pittsburgh for 20 years, barely any rust. Fluid film in the fall and meticulous washing and maintenance. You'd think it lived its life in Texas.

 

Hopefully you have a garage to keep it in. Spend a lot of time on a creeper checking things out and cleaning and painting. It takes effort but you can make it last. Keeps those wheel wells clean!

 

Another vote for fluid film, it works wonders.

 

Get the underside clean and dry, apply fluid film, forget about it until next fall. If you're really concerned, do it twice a year - can practically guarantee no rust in the treated areas.

If you've got access to a lift, the job only takes about 20-30 minutes once the underbody is dry, it gets kinda/sorta cramped and takes an hour or more using ramps, plus it seems to me that I tended to use a bit more. Even if you have to pay to use a lift, I'd go that route.

 

cars and truck rust in south Texas.. just slower..

near the coast its just like up north.. but the salt is 12 months a year. just less of it.

If you find a way. let the U.S. Navy know.. they have real rust issues.

I have lost several very good cars and trucks to N.E. Ohio Rust.. reason its called the RUST BELT...
if you drive it in the snow/salt .. it WILL RUST.

 

I'm on my 6th New England winter.
I park on gravel.
I have 69,000 miles on the OD.
I run it through the car wash when needed or wait until temps allow.
I have ZERO rust.
Krown when new, once a year thereafter.

 

I picked up an '06 in great shape too, from down south and want to preserve it. But living in New England is the new rust belt, considering the witches brew of road salt treatments that are being used.

There are oil spray measures that you can do. I had my truck shot on the underside with Fluid Film. There's also New Hampshire Oil Undercoating, and others. Do some simple searching, you'll find a local shop that will handle one of the oil spray products. Stay vigilant. Keep up on manual car washes, spray behind body panels. Wipe out door sills inside and out, regularly.

Good luck. ,Noel.

 

 

Don't know what happened but the stuff I wrote in the last post was deleted when I added pictures. Anyway, these pictures are from last spring when I did my spring wash and fluid film treatment. The truck had been through five winters. The dark spots you see are leftover grime I didn't get washed off, I don't do a spotless wash but get most of it.
Like mentioned above I wash and apply FF twice a year, spring and fall and dont' really touch the underside outside of those times and so fat I've been pleased with the results. If I drive through some manure(it's everywhere here) or really heavy water I'll wash and touch up the FF but that's about it. I did notice last week the ends of the rear sway bars have some surface rust but it looks like the FF was rubbed off, probably from driving through the grass during hunting season. Also noticed the bands around the rear spring packs are rusty, not sure why because they have been kept coated but they do catch a lot of debris from the tires. Other than that I do have some surface rust on the axles, tie rod ends, and steering gear but those parts were rusted from the factory and the axles I didn't coat the first year because it's hard to catch leaks if the part is always grimy but started coating when the rust showed up.
I don't have a lift but drive the rear end up on some ramps and that gives me enough clearance to do a fairly good job cleaning.

ETA. For the foam above the wheel wells I just soak it down really good with FF and am hoping for the best. It's pretty hard to get up there to do a good cleaning and I really dont' want to introduce more moisture up there then I have to since it doesn't dry fast. I usually touch the foam and if it's still damp with fluid film I add a little more for good measure and call it good. This area I only hit once a year in the spring. Inside the doors, rockers, and any other hard to reach area that doesn't get direct water spray only gets done once a year and I dont' introduce water into these areas, I only add more fluid film. So far the inside of the rockers are spotless from what I can see through the access holes.