I know this topic has been beaten to death but I couldn't find the answer I'm looking for.

Just picked up my truck and wondering if I need undercoating. I took a look underneath and all visible components have been painted black so I'm not too concerned about those. The underbody and wheel wells are my concern. Seems like they would get chipped easy from debris and rocks.

I live in vancouver canada. I go snowboarding twice a week and have to drive up and down salted/sanded roads. Any input would be appreciated, thanks

 

In conditions like those, it would be wise to put some sort of coating. Salt will tear up all the metal quick.

 

It wouldnt hurt. It is real easy and cheep to do

 

I've heard that undercoating does more harm than good because it traps salt and dirt. Any truth to this? I would be getting rubberized asphalt (diamond kote). Can't seem to find anyone that does oil undercoat

 

I used to live in Pittsburgh, PA. I bought my last truck there brand new and did not undercoat it.

I believe the policy Pittsburgh's road dept. has if the forecast even remotely calls for snow, they salt the crap out of the roads.

So, for about 6 or 7 winters, my truck had a rough winter life. Couple that with about 4 of those winters it was parked in a heated garage (salt+snow+heat=rust!).

The underneath of my truck was beyond disgusting, it literally was rusting away. The mounts for the factory running boards completely rusted through.

You get the point, it was bad. Im sure youre area gets a lot more snow/salt than where I lived did.

IMO, if you plan on keeping the truck more than 5 years, id do it. If you changes vehicles a lot,id say its a waste of money for you.

Here are a few pics of my old truck and the carnage:

 

I dont see how, unless you undercoat it after youve driven through the salt and dirt and coat over the top of it, lol!

 

for the rear wheel well rugged liner now makes fender inserts. you can find them on ebay with free shipping for 125 bucks.

 

Hey man, Im in Squamish... you must drive by alot

There's a bodyshop in town (Duncan Autobody) that does Krown rustproofing. It's over $100 per visit (recommended once a year), but it's a great product.

http://www.krown.com/#default


As far as the wheelwells, just go to Lordco and find the body section. Look for a spraycan of rubberized undercoating made by Proform, black and unpaintable. Do that ASAP while the truck is still clean. Even wipe it down and dry the wells before you do it. The bodyshop could do this for you as well.

After that, you just gotta be vigilant and pressure wash the undercarriage at least once a week during the winter.

 

Got that diamond kote stuff put on in 97 when my tacoma was new, brought it home crawled under there to see and they missed a bunch of spots took it right back, and literally watched as they sprayed the missed spots with the stuff from canadian tire in a bottle. That said lots of the 97 tacomas in the states have rusted frames, mine still looks have decent, just hose often in the winter and you'll be good. Brought it in for the yearly inspections, got a new guy and he said it needed to be redone as it was drying out and had to get the sealent in the doors and hood redone, was interesting all of a sudden the dealer didn't do that them, had to go up the ladder aways and all was done at their cost in the end.

 

Get Krown - works real good.