Rust: newer Dodge trucks vs. old

[Todd Wilson]

Rust starts BEHIND the panel Todd, It's not in how you wash the vehicle... 

There's no behind the panel on the rear wheel wells on the bed................there's no excuse for those areas rusting on a truck that's not old other then  owners not taking care of their trucks. The lower rockers and cab corners can be washed from underneath and kept clean. The fact of the matter is sooner or later they all are going to rust but if you take care of things you will get a lot of life out of the vehicle.


Todd

[Todd Wilson]

It's how you take care of the truck. How many will research/come up with ways to undercoat/protect Charger inside rockers for a car. That will never see rain/salt/snow???

Yet, when it comes to that $40k truck that's gonna be in it everyday, they do nothing???

Up north, a vehicle typically lasts 5-8 years and everything under it has scaly rust. NOTHING can be removed as bolts, etc. Just break off. No inside fenderwells being undercoated? No rust proofing being done at all?
Nothing? No four hour wash. Jobs that require blowing off ALL hidden areas with compressed air???
Nothing???

Yet, those classic Chargers get it and only driven rarely???

Yup! I agree!


Todd

[Back N Black]

Electronic corrosion protection for cars, does it work? or is it just another snake oil product.

[GPULLER]

There's no behind the panel on the rear wheel wells on the bed................


Todd

Yes there is an inner wheel house on all the newer trucks.  Sweptlines had nothing, that's why you never see one with rust over the wheels on the boxes.

Check out #17 in the attached link.  

http://www.wermopar.com/auto-parts/2009/dodge/ram-1500/body/truck-box/?trim=laramie&engine=5-7l-v8-gas&assembly=tm097905

I agree with Brian, you have to go inner panel to stop the rust.  Just spraying on some undercoat isn't going to stop the rust on the rockers, or box sides

[Cooter]

I've sprayed underscoring after replacing a northern left front fender the bodyshop installed used, after Dan hit a deer. The rest of the truck is in Good condition. I'm in the process of repainting it now BEFORE it rusted to the ground.

I poured black paint into the rear besides until it ran out..undercoated up inside both front fenders.
whoever the engineer was that decided to spot weld the front inner fenders shoulda been beat profusely about the head and shoulders region.

It CAN be done, just nobody does it.

[stripedelete]

My 01 Silverado is dissolving like 01 rust-belt Silverados do.   So when I ran into a guy with a clean 00, I had to ask.
He had drilled access holes into all the voids; doors, cab corners etc.  With a homemade wand he spray waste oil into the void and capped them with small body plugs ( ziebart).  He also sprayed the under carriage with waste oil. 

Couldn't argue with the results.

[MaximRecoil]

Electronic corrosion protection for cars, does it work? or is it just another snake oil product.

Are you talking about cathodic protection? I don't see why it wouldn't work on cars, if designed/implemented correctly. It has a long and proven history (100 years or so) of being used on ships/boats, pipelines, oil platforms, and other things. Galvanized steel works on the same principle, though it is passive (rather than using an electrical current), i.e., the zinc is sacrificial, like the zinc sacrificial anode in an electrical cathodic protection system.

[Indygenerallee]

There's no behind the panel on the rear wheel wells on the bed................there's no excuse for those areas rusting on a truck that's not old other then  owners not taking care of their trucks. The lower rockers and cab corners can be washed from underneath and kept clean. The fact of the matter is sooner or later they all are going to rust but if you take care of things you will get a lot of life out of the vehicle.

Todd, All your info there is plain out wrong... first off these 2002 Dodge Rams have steel inner wheel wells!!! WELDED TO THE BEDSIDE! (How you gonna clean that??) Also the horizontal pinch weld rockers have a inner rocker as well. Main problem is the salted roads driving in the slush, once that saltwater permiates all the welded panel joints and then when it get's nice hot and humid in the summer you have a rust factory. I have seen plenty of undercoated vehicles here in Indiana over my life and it just does not help.

[MaximRecoil]

My 01 Silverado is dissolving like 01 rust-belt Silverados do.   So when I ran into a guy with a clean 00, I had to ask.
He had drilled access holes into all the voids; doors, cab corners etc.  With a homemade wand he spray waste oil into the void and capped them with small body plugs ( ziebart).  He also sprayed the under carriage with waste oil. 

Couldn't argue with the results.

My mechanic friend has done that sort of thing, i.e., spraying used motor oil into a rusted-through rocker panel before patching it.

I still say the factories should parkerize the undercarriage. That results in an actual chemical change to the surface of the steel, rather than just being a sprayed-on coating. I used an ignition coil and its mounting bracket from a '92 Ford van in my friend's junkyard when I did the HEI conversion on my Charger last year, and that bracket was pristine; it looked brand new. Why? It was parkerized:



Not a spot of rust on that coil bracket, in stark contrast to my car, where everything in the engine compartment is rusty, as you can see.

Parkerizing is commonly used on firearms as a more effective alternative to bluing, which is another electrochemical conversion coating that was developed earlier. It is also used extensively on automobiles to protect unfinished metal parts from corrosion.

Yeah, well, it is not used extensively enough, obviously.

[bill440rt]

There's no behind the panel on the rear wheel wells on the bed................there's no excuse for those areas rusting on a truck that's not old other then  owners not taking care of their trucks. The lower rockers and cab corners can be washed from underneath and kept clean. The fact of the matter is sooner or later they all are going to rust but if you take care of things you will get a lot of life out of the vehicle.

Todd, All your info there is plain out wrong... first off these 2002 Dodge Rams have steel inner wheel wells!!! WELDED TO THE BEDSIDE! (How you gonna clean that??) Also the horizontal pinch weld rockers have a inner rocker as well. Main problem is the salted roads driving in the slush, once that saltwater permiates all the welded panel joints and then when it get's nice hot and humid in the summer you have a rust factory. I have seen plenty of undercoated vehicles here in Indiana over my life and it just does not help.

I remember when I bought my '07 the rear wheelwell plastic liners were OPTIONAL!     I couldn't believe it!
They were even standard on my '98. I had zero rust issues with that truck, owned it for nearly 10 years. My '11 has them. I always make sure to hose down the underside when washing it. So far, so good.

[Cooter]

My 01 Silverado is dissolving like 01 rust-belt Silverados do.   So when I ran into a guy with a clean 00, I had to ask.
He had drilled access holes into all the voids; doors, cab corners etc.  With a homemade wand he spray waste oil into the void and capped them with small body plugs ( ziebart).  He also sprayed the under carriage with waste oil. 

Couldn't argue with the results.

The factories aren't gonna add any more price tag to their trucks by helping with this, so it's cheap and works.

[bill440rt]

Something else to note...
The factory rust proofing methods used today are light years ahead vs yesteryear technology. Zinc coated metals, galvanizing, e-coats, epoxies, cavity waxes, catalyzed seam sealers, etc etc. Thick heavy undercoat as a form of rust proofing is almost a thing of the past, and is used more as a sound insulator these days.
However... the metals used today are thinner. So once rust starts forming it eats away quicker. Best bet is to prevent it in the first place.

[hatersaurusrex]

Electronic corrosion protection for cars, does it work? or is it just another snake oil product.

Are you talking about cathodic protection? I don't see why it wouldn't work on cars, if designed/implemented correctly. It has a long and proven history (100 years or so) of being used on ships/boats, pipelines, oil platforms, and other things. Galvanized steel works on the same principle, though it is passive (rather than using an electrical current), i.e., the zinc is sacrificial, like the zinc sacrificial anode in an electrical cathodic protection system.

I looked into it when I lived close to the ocean and the general consensus is that its snake oil.  Something about the area being protected needing to be submerged in a conductor - which is why it would work on a boat or pipeline but not on a car.