Took delivery 12 days ago. '23 Tremor, built 10/31/22. 210 miles in, I finally had some time to crawl under the thing today. Pretty disappointed with how much rust I already see. It's literally 2 months old from being built. In my hands for less than 2 weeks and it already looks like ****.

 

When you get A chance get under there and scrub where you see rust with A wire brush and then paint everything.

 

I would actually recommend against this. That layer of rust is a protective layer and will will not continue to rust deeper into the black iron. But if you clean it off and it rusts again, another layer is gone.

without some really stout coating, liner line x or something, eventually the area that gets repainted is going to get hit by a rock or something and start rusting again anyways. Eventually we will all have rusty axles, that’s just the nature of untreated black iron. And a base layer of flat black paint is not “treatment” it’s literally a band aid that put on in hopes of making sure the axle isn’t rusted upon delivery to the customer

 

Last F150 was off lease so it already had rusted but I was shocked to see that this thing has (probably) had rust since it was first exposed to the elements. So you're saying don't paint it, would you recommend doing a linex treatment? I always thought those undercoating services do more harm than good, but what do I know..

 

I wouldn’t do anything but let it rust further. That exterior layer of rust is ugly but it’s actually a protective layer. Surface rust on black iron is self limiting and will prevent further, deeper rust

 

What you're showing is so incredibly minimal and a non issue.
Drive it for a few weeks, the road debris will clean it off.

 

Spray it with amsoil hd metal protector, it will darken the rust and stop it from spreading. I did my truck almost 5 years ago and it still looks brand new.

 

I would keep an eye on the rust, but otherwise don’t fixate on it. It stinks that it happens so early, but keep in mind that it’s surface rust and has no impact on the overall function of the truck.

I personally would not apply paint or LineX. LineX adds weight quickly and, unless you’re willing to spray all painted steel parts, you’ll be chasing this forever. Also, if the rust isn’t 100% removed prior to coating (paint or otherwise), all you will have done is mask the rust and limit your ability to inspect.

 

Ford thinks this is normal and just cosmetic. Those claiming rust is protecting your truck…
don’t buy that. While this may not do
any harm over the first 5 years, would you really want to take a chance on it if you were to keep it for 10? I had a friend with a Tacoma that had it up north when they have all the frame rust issues, that thing was a train wreck with rust, not safe to drive, that started with this BS surface “protective” rust.

Shame on you Ford for skimping on coating these areas and claiming it’s only cosmetic. There’s areas are visible, while not as much as fender flares or other body parts, should be looked at in the same light.

On a positive note yours looks way better than many on the lots when I picked mine up… mine looked bad enough they agreed to do the undercoating for free. It’s been 17 months and still looks good from the coating.

 

there’s a huge difference in frame rust and axle rust and you’re conflating the two. The frame has been intentionally coated with anti corrosive chemicals and electro coated. The axle of black iron. It is not the same. Frame rust should be dealt with differently than axle rust