Have you rustproofed your RAV4 yet?
Not yet. Oregon has just started to use salt on the interstates, so for now I'm avoiding driving on the freeways whenever there's snow or ice forecast, which is rare in the Willamette Valley anyway. Besides, around here, a lot of people haven't driven in the snow and ice and they're usually the worse road hazards to avoid than any salt when driving in inclement weather. The usual rain we get hasn't caused any issues on my Rav4 that I've noticed so far, other than the brake calipers which have a little corrosion on their bottoms. I'm going to paint those this summer anyway. What I wonder is, how much will that full length plastic shield under the car protect or aggravate the collection road water and salt? The wheel well metal areas can easily be sprayed with Fluid Film, as well as along the undersides of the rocker panels and under back end avoiding the sensors. But it was up to Toyota to dip the body with some sort of rust proofing and seal the weld joints before it was painted and no amount of self-spray on product is going to get into those nooks and crannies if Toyota's manufacturing was lax. Those weld area nooks and crannies are where rust usually starts going anyway. I can only hope Toyota got the message when they were sued for their rusting truck frames and overcompensated with there current manufacturing practices.
On my FJ, I just have a small can of FF with a dauber and put a coat of the stuff on wherever the paint has peeled off the frame in spots. Internal parts of the frame may be an issue, but I can't get in there with anything, so I don't worry about it. The body hasn't had an issue so far as I can tell.
FYI, the Fluid Film is clear if you don't want the black look on a light colored underbody.
