This might not belong here... but it's regarding body/frame care.

I live up in Upstate NY, and they love salt and there is not a thing I can do to avoid it... except not drive it (that's why my Dakota is for). Anyhow, I was wondering if I could rustoleum the entire frame work?

Right now there is no rust at all, and before I paint it, I am going to pressure wash the heck out of it.

I want to go with a gloss black rustoleum... the industrial grade. How does this sound? Will it last? Or is it something I will have to do every year?

Oh, and I don't want none of that sprayed on undercoating junk. I had that on my previous vehicle and my underbody looked like someone got black vomit and plastered it on the bottom. It also made it very difficult to work with.

 

With a Rustoleum rattle can, you'll probably have to do it every year, but its easy and inexpensive to do. I've done this with some of our trailers over the years to keep them looking nice.

If you're looking for a more permanent coating that's super tough, then look at products like POR15 (simply google POR15 for more info). It's expensive, but it works very well. I've used this on dozens of resto projects I've worked on throughout the years and I've use it on 2 of the many trailers we've owned, our own classic cars, sometimes on tooling, etc. You can actually brush it on with good results. As long as its not exposed to UV, it will stay looking nice. If it's going to be exposed to UV, then you'll need to top coat it to keep it looking nice and glossy if that's the look you want. There are other products that probably work as well as POR15, but I've used it for so many years and its worked so well that it's been my go to product for chassis work on the resto projects I've done / do.

 

x2.

 

The easiest thing to do is move down south lol, but do w/e it takes, dont get it go...

*sigh*

 

Arrrrrgghhhhhh, my eyes

We have salt here too but your truck should look like this underneath.
Clean it, paint it, wax it and in the winter, I spray on a clear wax that you can pressure wash off for the summer season.
It's the same stuff they coat cars in when they ship them.

 

What did you use to paint it? Looks great btw!

 

Englis Adam has it figured out. I believe 04 RedLariat does, too.

Get it ultra clean to start with (for this, a steam genie may be worth paying for/renting). Do several good coats of a Rust inhibitor (be it R/O orPOR15), then if it was me, I'd follow with an Underbody coating, but yes, it does look like crap (but it protects some). After that, make sure you are pressure washing the salt off once a week or so. And the clear spray wax sounds like a fantastic idea...

G'Luck

 

Thanks.

I just used regular satin chassis black for the axle/springs etc. It's not going to look great but it will look a lot better. I brush it on where I can and use a rattle can for the parts I can't reach.
It's not supposed to be show car clean as its my daily driver summer and winter but I just can't handle the rusty look.
I will be doing it all again at the end of next month when the weather gets a bit better over here.

Here's a before and after shot from last year. I think it makes a big difference and it makes me feel better anyway

Before



After

 

I don't use paint. The over spray worries me, plus I don't want to get black paint on things it does not belong on under there. I just take my wheels off and get on my back and spray the hell out of everything with some APC and steam jeanie then when it dries spray it down again with some tire dressing.