Undercoating anyone?

[apoyer]

Has any one used cans of spray undercoating on their Ravs....thinking about hitting the bottom of my 2012 with a thin coat. Any reason not too?

[vanib]

Isn't the under of the RAV already coated? Do you want more noise insulation?

You might still get some dripless oil sprayed around. Use a reputable shop, NOT the oil that creeps and creates large ugly spots at the bottom of the panels/doors after a few weeks

[apoyer]

Originally Posted by vanib

Isn't the under of the RAV already coated? Do you want more noise insulation?

You might still get some dripless oil sprayed around. Use a reputable shop, NOT the oil that creeps and creates large ugly spots at the bottom of the panels/doors after a few weeks

Naw..only undercoated in certain spots... would like to keep this one to 100,000 miles but the salt here in NW pa eats the crap out of the bottom

[pepepeter]

Originally Posted by apoyer

Naw..only undercoated in certain spots... would like to keep this one to 100,000 miles but the salt here in NW pa eats the crap out of the bottom

totally agree with you about protecting the rav4 from the salt. I lived in central PA and bought an 08. Lived there for 4.5 years, only put 40K miles on it and it is embarassingly rusted out on the bottom. I live in AZ now and the dealer immediately asked, you must have lived up northeast... I wish I would have paid more attention and take the necessary precautions: i did the monthly undercarriage washing, but obviously that was not enough.

Any ideas on how to treat the rust at this stage???
Thanks.

[vanib]

Anyone have a picture of the RAV from underneath to see which parts are not coated?

[kevcules]

Of course you should undercoat your vehicle, unless your not going to keep it very long.
I undercoat my own vehicles now and lots of people are asking me to do theirs also lately. I guess I'll have to buy some more stuff!
I shake my head when I hear people saying they don't like it when the undercoat creeps and makes dirty spots on their vehicle, mainly under the doors and at the fender joints. That's EXACTLY what you want to happen! The oil creeps into spots you can't see or get at. If you don't like it , clean it off, but rest assured that it will never rust there,especially if you leave it alone till spring!
If I had my car undercoated and a week later , I didn't see any creeping on the outside, I would never go back! I use a dripless oil similar to the green cans of rust check and it creeps real good. Dripless doesn't make as much mess when your aplying it.
Makes me smile when I see the underside of the doors get black!!

Oh.......forgot to add, my 08 Limited has very little areas covered with a black factory coating, so my baby will get a generous coating of undercoating very soon ! This is my first winter with it....

[BWC]

[QUOTE=kevcules;937897]Of course you should undercoat your vehicle, unless your not going to keep it very long.
I undercoat my own vehicles now and lots of people are asking me to do theirs also lately. I guess I'll have to buy some more stuff!
I shake my head when I hear people saying they don't like it when the undercoat creeps and makes dirty spots on their vehicle, mainly under the doors and at the fender joints. That's EXACTLY what you want to happen! The oil creeps into spots you can't see or get at. If you don't like it , clean it off, but rest assured that it will never rust there,especially if you leave it alone till spring!
If I had my car undercoated and a week later , I didn't see any creeping on the outside, I would never go back! I use a dripless oil similar to the green cans of rust check and it creeps real good. Dripless doesn't make as much mess when your aplying it.
Makes me smile when I see the underside of the doors get black!!

I couldn't agree more! My '93 Jeep Cherokee that is still running great was used for winters only but I used Krown for many years. Solid floors, rockers all original. I just applied Krown yesterday on our new RAV4. I don't care what Toyota, GM, Nissan etc say, you have to use a good rust proofing product where high salt is used on the highways and I don't care if it drips all day and night, it is doing it's job. If i was leasing then i wouldn't give a .... but since i am keeping this vehicle for a long time I want to protect it the best that I can. So to answer your question, yes do spray it but use a proper product that is applied to all areas and not just spraying with a can. Your not getting into all of the hidden areas where salt lives. Pay me now or pay me later

Brian

[RTexasF]

All this undercoating talk is amazing to me. I plead ignorance since I'm as far south as you can get in the USA without living in the Florida keys. I honestly had no idea that modern day cars would still rust out due to road salt, etc. Not too old to learn and learning I am. Where I live the only salt you would get on the car is from driving on the beach.

No doubt those up north think I'm kidding but things just aren't the same in the deep down south y'all. Where I have lived for approaching seven years we have only had freezing temperatures once. It lasted two days and nights and killed THOUSANDS of tress including many in our yard that were 75' tall. I feel for you but I'll stay down here.

I lived right on Narragansett bay (courtesy of the US Navy) and saw it frozen back in the late 60's so I know cold. The point is I thought automobile rust protection had come farther along since then.

[Shep426]

Untreated underchassis components take a beating here in the NE no matter what car/truck, on my recently wrecked by a deer and guardrail 2008, I bought with 30k, even the driveshaft was badly rusted!

[kevcules]

Automobile rust protection has come a long way ,but just not with the car manufacturers any more!

I can remember Hondas and Toyotas and some GM and Ford vehicles last a long time here in Canada without much rustproofing. I was told in 1991 when I bought a new Acura Integra (awesome car! ) Honda would "treat" the metal to prevent rust. These days , it costs more money to do that, so my hypothesis is they just aren't doing it anymore ! These days it's getting crazy how fast the cars are rusting badly , so the need to undercoat is important "IF" you want your vehicle to last......OR if you want your vehicle to have a descent resale value when you sell it.

Roughly 6-8 years is when you will REALLY start to notice a vehicles rust problems without rust prevention IMO. Vehicles fail our yearly inspections all the time because of rust. Normally it's the rocker panels, fenders, doors that get the worst but some even have their frames compromised by rust. It makes the metal so thin and weak with pinholes.....Shocks and brackets rust off, gas tanks rust and leak etc, complete underbody takes a beating like was said earlier.

We get a lot of vehicles here in Canada from the South. They sell like hotcakes, doesn't matter how old they are because everyone knows they are "solid" vehicles. We often buy "used" gas tanks from "down South" also because they are a lot cheaper and they look just like new. Hard to believe , but that's our reality in places like mine.

If I can get a vehicle new, or a few years old, it will not die because of RUST!