Guys I've been doing my search on undercoating and rust prevention on Expys and it seems there is different thought to it. Some believe washing the underside with water from a hose frequently is all that's needed while others add some form of rust preventive themselves. A few weeks ago I had a nice day so I decided to get under my 97 and wash it down after dropping the spare. I was amazed at the surface rust I saw. Previous owner had applied some form of spray rubberized coating on the metal in the past but now its dried out and flaking off allowing the metal to be exposed. I got a wire brush and did a small area and it's all coming off nicely but this is going to take forever if I do it by hand. Any suggestions to a faster method say with a power drill with some sort of sanding attachment? I'm open for anything. Secondly, after getting down to the metal, what would you recommend protecting it with? Prime and paint? Eastwood products? Etc?

Next, the rest of the undercarriage looks good. The body is clean underneath but the frame rails are starting to show small spots of real light surface rust. It looks as if the frame rails came from Ford with some type of coating on it? I've looked at mine and my girlfriends 01 F-150 and they seem to have the same thing: a rubber type/looking coating on them. So with that, should I try to apply a rust killer and recoat it with something or should I just continue to rinse down the underside like I've been doing and let it go?

If I lived out west I wouldn't be concerned but since I'm in salt-loving IL, I need to do something because I'm going to have this vehicle for years and I don't want to pay for bodywork later.

 

Washing the underside is the best thing that can be done. As for paint I have had good luck with Eastwood products. Use a paint type product not one of the undercoat products. You want to kill the rust that is there then coat it to seal the steel.

 

Since it's already in the dried out flake off stage, have you tried just using a scraper?

 

No but that's a good thought. I will give that a try this weekend.

 

Heres a photo of what I am talking about. You can see where I wire brushed it to get an idea of the amount of rust. Not bad but time consuming.

 

After wire brushing, I like painting on a rust converter and then covering everything with Rustoleum semi-gloss black.

(But to tell the truth, I talked to the Ziebart store when they touched up my wife's Sable, and they agreed to spray the underside of my used Navi with that black gooey stuff for $59 !! I imagine they are not very busy with the sale of new vehicles almost non-existant and are begging for work.)