Hi fellow ford pu owners..
Thinking of replacing my 93 F150 4x4 with new Ford this summer/early fall. I live here in michigan lots of snow and road salt. The 93 ive owned since new and had a 82 f100 prior to that i bought new at that time. Ive always taken them to Ziebart for rustproofing and returned them once a year for there touchup/redo...My question is...Should i aftermarket rustproof the new 04 when i get it? is it worth it? As you can see i hang on to my trucks for 10 years or more. Rustproofing seems to help for the first 5 to 7 years, but after that the wheel well/door panel rust starts up (mostly surface stuff)..Ive heard the new metals dont need it? The folks who tell me i dont need to rustproof are always the ones who never hang on to a vehicle for more then 3to 5 years anyway!!! What is everyones thoughts about aftermarket rustproofing? Or should i just go with what the dealer offers?(extra cost of course)...thanks for any advice!!

 

Typically aftermarket or dealer "rustproofing" is crap and usually makes the situation worse. The actual worker doesn't care and doesn't prep the truck correctly. 9 times out of 10 they do a shotty job, in which the paint peels and water gets under the paint. This causes it to rust even more. It's really not that hard to paint the undercarrage yourself. Take the bed off and sandblast the frame, axles, parts...and then prep/paint it. It's not easy to prevent rust on the fender wheels or small crevises, but when it rusts you can cut out the section and weld in a new piece of sheet metal. It's all fixable.

 

My thoughts are that rust proofing is a huge rip off. The areas they paint already have a factory baked on finish - I don't see how applying another coat from an aerosol can is going to help. Typical dealer application consists of pulling the tires off and spraying some black Rustoleum in the fender wells and on the frame - usually getting a little overspray on the bottem edges of the paint. Their cost - $3.00 can of paint and 20 minutes of the car washer's time. They charge you a couple hundred. Ask any reputable body shop what they think of "rust proofing".

Now if the vehicle where five years old and they where going to sand off any rust and apply a painted finish that might do some good. But then you're looking at several hours of work to do the sanding.

 

i would definitely rustproof anywhere that uses road salt. in quebec we get a lot of snow and the road crews spread salt and it does a lot of damage to the cars. if you don't rustproof you're sure to see rust in 3 or 4 years. go out west there's snow but it's much too cold for salt to be effective. the city of calgary spreads hot sand instead and cars get much less rust than areas that use salt.

but i'm not that impressed with the dealer rustproofing. factory is supposed to do the job. why pay them 200$ to do the same thing you can get at any lube shop for 40$. better to take it to a local place with a good reputation

but do take it in every year. they'll wash the bottom of the vehicle with a pressure washer and let it dry out a bit in a warm space. then they spray the product on. apparently the best time to do this is in summer. metal expands when its warm and will absorb the rustproofing product. snow, salt, gravel and all that other stuff will still freeze to the bottom of your vehicle but shouldn't penetrate into the metal as much as if you had no protection.

on a flip note, if you're worried about rust it's better to leave your vehicle outside in winter and my friend will even try to convince you it's not good to even wash your vehicle in winter. as long as it stays cold the ice and snow will have a harder time penetrating the metal than if you you raise the temperature and park it in a garage

 

I live in new england, we see plenty of salt/sand. I chose to "rustproof" it myself with some miracle paint from hirsch automotve. Por 15 is also a good one, but with this kind of project, prep is everything.

 

New trucks have better metal in them than the old ones. That's probably about it. Rust proofing is thick and doesn't always sink in where it needs to,even if someone knows what they are doing. I'm partial to oil spraying.If you are going to touch up rustproofing every year why not oil spray it. It sinks in everywhere and repels water.

 

I think if you thoroughly clean the undercarriage in the spring and touch up the undercoating you will easily get 10+ rust-free years out of that new truck. My only complaints with ziebart are the complications with bodywork/welding. More than one car has burned after welding ignited the coatings.