Need input from Rust belt Tundras

(Read in Troy McClure voice)
Afternoon! Some of you know me from such popular films as "Stole a Texas Tundra," and "My plans have grenaded" and "crime doesn't pay."

My current rides are a first gen taco and a TJ jeep. I am intimately familiar with the ravages of rust on our precious Toyotas so I coat and maintain the undercarriage annually and double up on washes to get rid of salt brine. Problem is you typically have to start the coating and maintenance process before rust takes hold. Once it does it's much harder to keep up.

Seeing as I am SOL in regards to making another trip down south to buy a Tundra, it looks like I have to buy one around me, in a salt state. So here is the obvious question. How long into ownership do you guys start seeing surface rust or sugaring at the welds? Are we talking about 3-5 years before the original frame coating starts to chip or is it more in terms of mileage (50k)?

I understand that experiences vary and some of you coat your frames and are meticulous about maintenance but I have to presume that most people aren't when choosing to drive a hundred miles or more to look at a truck.

Anything helps. Thanks.

 

“It Depends” is the only answer here.

You have a 2014 SR DC in your profile, how does it look?

 

Tremendous. I just bought it and brought it up from Texas but due to some unreconcilable issues the dealer is taking it back. Since I have a kid on the way I don't have another opportunity to travel south for a second time so I'm asking for rust belt owners' input.

 

I don't have much to go off of since mine is a 2020 (purchased in Oct. 2019) and it's still spotless underneath. I live in Northeast Ohio so we see plenty of salt and shitty roads. I think a good option you can do, head to some dealerships and look around underneath some used tundras and see what you observe. Take notes on what year you're looking at and the condition. Hell, these are tall enough trucks, you could even take a look at some in parking lots to see how they look. You should be able to identify roughly the year or year range on them.

 

That a decent idea for dealership lots. Considering the widespread cat theft across the nation I probably will forego crawling underneath cars in public lots for fear of getting stomped out.

Not a bad idea though. I’ll go check what years are in the lot near the house. Kudos.

 

Search and search,

Last year when we were searching for a new ride for the wife, we were shopping GX460 vs 4runner, (in the end wife went with a 4runner TRD Pro), we saw this one, a 2018 GX460 with 12k km on the odo, the car was like new on the in and out, but this was the chassis:






Then we saw a 2016 GX460 that was Krown coated annually that looked like brand new underneath, but it was sold within the same day.

 

Maybe look for some that are parked in wide open areas so you don't look suspicious. Just odd lol. But you could easily just lean down and look at the frame from the side or through the wheel wells. Won't be comprehensive but might give you a quick look. I think dealers would be your best bet though since you'll know what year they are.

good luck.

 

Where???

 

Canada, I'm in Toronto area.

 

Had mine sprayed with Krown the second day I had it. It's due again later this spring. Krown is a yearly application.

 

You can keep most rust at bay with regular undercarriage high pressure washes if it was just typical road salt.

Once they start using brine, then it becomes a nightmare trying to get the salt off that’s stuck to your frame. Even manually washing with a high pressure wand won’t do it without multiple passes and there’s still leftover residual salt.

Using fluid film, Krown treatment, or coating your frame with POR-15 with occasional undercarriage washings becomes the next level of protection.

After 20 years my frame still looks great on the outside but is rotting from the inside out and causing holes in the lowest points in the boxes frame rails. I’ve also found the skid plate does a good job keeping rust out of the frame rails in the engine bay area.

Good luck.

 

I wouldn’t let surface rust scare you off, as long as it’s just surfAce rust on the welds and mounts, it’s still easily fixed. Very few people properly treat them from the new purchase. Just hit them with a wire brush and spray them with rust converter. After that has dried, then hit it with Krown or Fluid Film. Check it every fall and retreat as necessary, but it’ll look like new if you just do that. I’ve done that (less the Krown or FF that I just recently started) with every vehicle I’ve ever owned and never had rust issues.

I do rinse the underbody regularly, so I’ll need to keep up the FF every fall. It doesn’t take too much work after the first treatments, and it also gives you a good excuse to check on things.

 

I appreciate the input guys. I coat both trucks with fluid film yearly so I’m with you on the coatings and the maintenance. I’m more interested in personal experiences of owners with trucks in the north east and how much road time it took for you to start noticing corrosion. I’m now looking at some trucks up in northern VT and Maine that are Toyota certified but range from 2015 all the way up to 2020. Let’s just say my price range cuts me off around 2018. So I guess the best question is how are those 2018 untreated trucks holding up?

 

I just traded a 2019 4.6L for a 2017 5.7L to get away from TSS and get the trans cooler. I found a truck with low miles and is pretty clean considering I live in the salt belt. To keep the rust demons away, I’ll be taking it to my local Oil Gard to get it sprayed. They stick a wand in the doors, fenders and frame. My 10 year old Tacoma still looked new underneath using Oil Gard. I found Krown to be too thin.

https://youtu.be/Rme49iIEJDY

 

One year without treating will show a bit of rust......trucks delivered to dealers up here in the winter can start to show signs by spring so it doesn't take long ..... something 3 years old and not looked after can show lots of rust on the under neath.
Treating the vehicle from new is always best but even if some rust is showing rust proofing will help.

Product I have been using on my current 2016 Tundra has had 4 winters and just about no corrosion at all under neath and we have over 110k
It's a bit messy but beat the alternative !!

 

So long story short is there is no proportionality between road miles and excessive rust and the best advise I have is to skulk around parking lots crawling under vehicles and hope I don't feel a swift boot to the groin from the owner that thinks I'm under there with a hacksaw doing some Cat shopping.

I mean...what can go wrong haha.

 

I wish I could tell you what the lessor did to my 2018. All I can tell you is that he bought in S. Burlington and traded it in there, and it had about 41K on it. Other than the friggin' towbar being rusted into the receiver, it looked great underneath. But that towbar had to be removed with an air hammer.

Edit: local dealer has three Certified Tundra DCs (and a zillion Tacos) on the lot: https://www.heritagetoyotacars.com/used-trucks-south-burlington-vt?isOEMCertified=1