Under side of a vehicle; winter prep question

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Daven75

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Hey guys, I searched a bit but couldn't find a specific answer.

My vehicle is a well taken care of 2009 Nissan Xterra and living in the Midwest I've come across that rust is inevitable. How do you guys go about sealing the rust and putting a protective coating on the bottom side of your vehicle?

I was thinking about using a rust reformer spray can to take care of any little surface rust spots then seal it all with an rubber undercoating. Would this be a bad idea?

Any ideas would be helpful!
 
I live not far from you and my approach is to simply keep the underside as clean as possible, rather than applying a product.

I've found a couple touchless washes in my area that have an undercarriage spray. When the temperatures are above freezing, I'll take our vehicles through one of them and drive REALLY slowly over those jets to blast all the salt away. If I can't do that for some reason, I'll go to a coin-op wash bay and wash out all the wheel wells and undercarriage with the pressure washer.
 
On my Xterra I just rinse the underside before each wash. You are really at the mercy of brutal PA winters.
 
I have a spray bottle filled with Marvel Mystery Oil and I keep all bolts and moving parts coated. obviously after washing. keeps moisture away and rust from forming
 
Desertnate said:
I live not far from you and my approach is to simply keep the underside as clean as possible, rather than applying a product.

I've found a couple touchless washes in my area that have an undercarriage spray. When the temperatures are above freezing, I'll take our vehicles through one of them and drive REALLY slowly over those jets to blast all the salt away. If I can't do that for some reason, I'll go to a coin-op wash bay and wash out all the wheel wells and undercarriage with the pressure washer.
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That has been my go to up until this point. I found a touchless wash that has a good underbody wash. I just figured coating it might help. but yea, hey, I've actually moved to the Fairview Heights Area and work in STL! Glad to see a local!

pro 4x said:
On my Xterra I just rinse the underside before each wash. You are really at the mercy of brutal PA winters.
Click to expand...

Yup, thats what I have been doing!

'03 Ram 5.9 said:
I have a spray bottle filled with Marvel Mystery Oil and I keep all bolts and moving parts coated. obviously after washing. keeps moisture away and rust from forming
Click to expand...

Hmmm not a bad idea...
 
here in the rust belt we use products like Krown Rust control or Rust Check.
 
I have seen some posts on other parts of this forum where the guys have talked about Fluid Film. It is available at Lowe's in a spray can form. I just bought three cans of it and plan to use it before the New England winter hits my area.
 
I’m trying cosmoline spray on our 17 Accord probably do it Saturday (tomorrow ) in the shop


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MattPersman said:
I’m trying cosmoline spray on our 17 Accord probably do it Saturday (tomorrow ) in the shop


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Has the product changed much over time?

In '99 I bought a new BMW and it was sprayed all over the underside and wheel wells at the factory to protect the car during it's boat ride from Germany. Dealerships removed it during the prep. I remember it being a nasty goo similar to vaseline which created a really bad odor when burning off hot car parts like the exhaust, transmission, and oil pan. It was hard to remove and got into everything.
 
Desertnate said:
Has the product changed much over time?

In '99 I bought a new BMW and it was sprayed all over the underside and wheel wells at the factory to protect the car during it's boat ride from Germany. Dealerships removed it during the prep. I remember it being a nasty goo similar to vaseline which created a really bad odor when burning off hot car parts like the exhaust, transmission, and oil pan. It was hard to remove and got into everything.
Click to expand...

It’s sort of like a wax you spray on. You can get standard which is kind of brown tinted. Or black now a days.

Here is a pic I found on a forum for Porsche’s from Cooper911SC top coated bottom removed

ef5ccf98876cf3a6a6114c3c7b18a1e9.jpg





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I’ll second fluid film. It is great stuff. I used it on my Jeep in Florida. After off roading, the mud and dirt would rinse off easy as can be. Keeps surface rust away and won’t harm rubber parts which is the problem with most oil based stuff. Rubber coatings just make stuff rust better because you can’t wash the encapsulated rust off


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I get my car treated by Krown each fall. I also take my car through touchless washes during the winter which have the underbody spray.

Am I working against myself? Is the underbody spray just washing away the Krown treatment?
 
I would ask Krown. Definitely would be good to have the under carriage done at the end of winter ❄️


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The cosmoline spray worked a treat ! Happy I did it. Stinky but not a terrible smell. Similar smell to fluid film actually. I’m seeing some vehicles randomly come in that had cosmoline applied as part of a rust proofing package but under the hood on fender areas and strut towers to compliment the under coating

Still there and kicking obviously a slight light coating of dust and dirt on it

I had gotten the idea to use it after seeing a sprinter recently that was an 04 that had it applied underneath from the factory and it still looked great. Figured it was easy enough for me to try on our 17 Accord

Probably do our Odyssey in a couple weeks. Maybe with the winter tire switch over


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