Rust Sucks! Washing Out The Rocker Panels on my CRUSTY Silverado 2500
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- čas přidán 13. 09. 2023
- A little different video this time! I've had a lot of requests for seeing more of what I do. This was something I had to do anyway so I just grabbed the camera.
This is my 2010 Silverado 2500 which has spent its life in the midwest, the rust belt. Clearly, the previous owners did not make a valiant attempt at keeping this truck clean and it shows. For those who live in areas where the roads get treated in winter time, you all know what that means.
This truck is a workhorse for me and I intend to use it as a truck, hauling cars, pushing snow, and hauling parts. I bought a truck with some rust because I didn't want to pay more for something I'd use and abuse. Of course, I don't want the rust to get worse. I decided to do what I do on every truck I get, clean it. The rockers, frame, bedsides, all trap dirt, dust, mud, grass, rocks and debris. This holds moisture and when mixed with the corrosive rock salt and brine they treat our roads with, it is imperative to keep things clean or face massive repairs later on.
An hour with a power washer can do a lot of magic, but of course this isn't rust proofing anything. The best way is to clean it, and treat it with several different products on the market.
If you haven't cleaned these spots out its always a good idea. You'd be amazed at what could be hiding in those normally inaccessible areas.
I hope you enjoyed this video. As always, I love all of the comments, feedback and even the criticism. Catch you on the next one!
-Eric - Auta a dopravní prostředky
To help minimize the rust after you've cleaned it out and let it dry... a shot of Fluid Film or WoolWax would help.
That's what I was thinking.
Practical car care stuff like this from anybody that does what Eric does for a living (and is doing it on his own vehicles) is always worth listening to. Much appreciated, thanks as always for the content!
It's the salt and pepper of our life here in the salt belt
F*ck salt. Use gravel instead
The steel in the vehicle REALLY wants to "return" back to it's "natural state", iron ore (RUST)!
@@waffleown4258I think it’s a necessary evil. Back when the old timers were young and they put out sand and gravel if you went down the mountain and couldn’t get back up ya shoulda stayed home, but nowadays we’re mostly forced to daily commute or starve, so they gotta keep the roads open nearly always. Grandfather didn’t have any money, but he never had to drive a slick road to work away from home for another man to feed his family ‘cause they had what they needed on the mountain.
Here in Idaho, we have plenty of snow and ice on the roads and they do use salt. But apparently it’s a different kind than in the Midwest and Northeast, because our vehicles don’t rust out nearly so bad or quickly.
A video?
In the middle of the week?
At random?
Guess I'm going to be late for work 🤣
Edited to say that this is the sort of detail video I like to see 👌
You should see what happens to the trucks that are used to apply all that road salt. There is no coating, grease, or spray known to man that can withstand being media-blasted with salt and bathed in salt mist for a couple days straight during a big snow. You can clean them off when it is all over, but the rust always kills them in the end.
If your truck bodies rust out, look for companies that sell flatbeds for farm/ranch trucks. They will usually have MANY brand new truck beds that were taken off brand new pickups. Colors may not match, but you'll be able to get a replacement bed for not a lot of money.
There ya go. Great advice.
That is great advice. I used to drive by a place out in north Texas off highway 287 between Decatur and Wichita Falls when I lived in the latter. They always had tons of brand new take-off beds lined up just off the highway for sale.
They aren’t cheap at the places around here, they are only for current models also. The frames and cabs rust as fast as a bed. Yes wheel arches are first to go, but it’s only a couple years away from the rest going.
Daubert is the manufacturer of the stuff they use. They put it on because it’s stays a gell because the idea is it won’t crack like paint. My miscellaneous fact for the day
LMC Truck for your American Truck body panels and I believe beds
I had an F250 from Virginia I put 225k on. No rust on it at all. Still had factory stickers and chalk marks on the frame. Moved to Michigan, bought a brand new F150, had it Ziebart'd. Rust on the rear fenders and rockers within 10yrs.
Don't use Ziebart, get a fluid film treatment once every year or every other year. Ziebart puts a coating on the frame similar to LineX, and it will trap water and rust underneath the coating. We have "Krown" fluid film treatment franchises, and it's about $145 to do the initial treatment. You can buy touch up spray cans as well. Every time I go in for a oil change and the truck is up on the lift, I search around for dry spots and touch them up. I wish I knew about the fluid film when I bought the truck new.
Here in Sydney and other coastal places in Australia don't get snow so no salt on the roads but suburbs close to beaches have their cars eaten by the salty air really quickly unless they get really serious rust treatment. The idea with older cars is to buy ones that spent their lives inland. They might have red dust anywhere it can find its way in but no rust. They are also usually driven fair distances so the number of warm up cool down cycles of the engines is low for the mileage.
Same happens to costal areas in the usa like Florida
@@FishFind3000the north still gets it so much worse than florida ever does. but florida definitely has it worse than places like arizona and utah that get nothing because its too dry
Wont the number of warm up cool down cycles just be the same? Just the warm longer when drivin further?
My first car was a '67 Mustang. It was so rotted out, I called it a Rustang.
@@FishFind3000 I disagree. I live on the coast in Fort Walton Beach. My 1998 RAM 1500 has no rust at all that I can see. No paint bubbles, no holes. I bought it from a guy back in 2007 who used to drive it for hunting in Alabama. When I got it, it had a lot of Alabama clay in every crack and orifice. It took forever for me to get that crap out. Maybe the clay kept it from rusting, who knows? I see a lot of trucks around here, though, and I don't see much rust.
Lived on the gulf coast of Texas all my life and I feel bad for you guys in the rust belt. That’s something I’ve never experienced.
Just a future reference for the bedsides it's easier to take the taillight off and spray in from there
Sold my 1987 BMW some time ago and recently was contacted by the new owner. They asked how I kept that car so free of rust over decades. FluidFilm, baby!
A lot of people dont know about it. Got a 14 Ram. Fluid film since new same no just. I live in Chicagoland and they salt like crazy.
Enjoyed the video. Nothing like blasting some holes and making some bigger
😂😂😂😂😅😅😅
Even if you don't flush out all the crap...if you blast enough water in those crevices, you are very likely to dissolve and wash out most of the salt. A trick we sometimes use to wash the undersides of a vehicle (we used it for big, really muddy, trucks) is the old wave back and forth type of lawn sprinkler. Leaving it to do it's business for a half hour or so, will do a good job. You still need to power wash those holes.
It may not be exciting but absolutely worth passing on 👍 once I get the steering gearbox off of my 99 Dodge, rebuilt and installed this will be the next thing I do. Thanks for sharing this good information with us Eric👊
In Canada, a company named Rust Check sprays an oily compound under your vehicle, fenders, rockers, etc. You have to redo it every year but they only charge for the first application. My dad used to do this for all his cars, and they never had any rust underneath. It's up to the owner.
Fluid film
I use Krown, I had no idea you only had to pay for Rust Check once.
@@rightlanehog3151 I have moved to an area of Canada where Rust Check isn't needed. (no road salt), and all I know is they used to be like that, and I don't know if they still have this policy.
@@juliamiller2299 ok
It's probably a Lanolin product (which is what FluidFilm, SurfaceShield, Woolwax, CRC are all made of!)
I was shocked to discover (years ago) that even something as heavy as frame rails can completely rust out (like rocker panels do). Probably didn't realize it because my Dad would trade his Suburbans ever 3-4 years. Often enough to make you think that frame rails were forever....
Nice paint! too bad they can't make body panels and frames out of paint, since there seems to be a lot of vehicles that have great looking paint, but a lot of the steel underneath , like Elvis, has already left the building.
Every spring I would thoroughly wash the underside and frame of my 4runner, then spend an hour with rust converter paint.
Thank you for reminding me of what I know, but seem to forget too often. These videos reinforcing those little dos and don't give people like me a visual reminder of their importance. Thank you. Again.
Great video- I didn’t realize there were plugs to wash out the body and frame
I realized it when the rockers rusted enough to drop the plugs in my driveway.
More mid-week videos for the win!
Thanks Eric, I needed an IDC fix today.
Man, I love being a car guy and mechanic that lives in the desert southwest. I can't even fathom dealing with sh!t like this.
It's nuts! I've had 7 year old trucks come in with frames rusted out to where it's not fixable
I just bought a 2018 Silverado and this is EXACTLY the info I wanted to see. I know the Michigan road salt is eventually going to win but knowing how to fight it is awesome. Thanks a ton for this video!
Coat your trucks under body with fluid film to fight the rust. It can really make a huge impact
@@freiherrdinkelackeryour not correct, fluid film and surface shield does work in Michigan . Starting with a new vehicle helps though.
Third winter in Michigan with surface shield not 1 spec of rust on frame or anywhere else . F250
Bought new '23 crew cab silverado. Day 1 - removed rocker access plugs, & sprayed fluid film in cavities. Also into area above rear wheel opening, removed plugs, sprayed. hood, tailgate, & doors all aluminum. Used Amsoil MP HD on frame to touch up rust on wax coated chassis areas.
Yes, please, more video of you doing your everyday stuff.
I live central Texas. As you can expect, rust is not an issue here. The sun damaging your paint, plastic, and rubber is. Cars do rust long the Texas coast due the salt air. In your video, you show a truck from Oklahoma. I am from an old oil field area in Oklahoma. There are still oil wells. Salt water comes up with the oil in this field. The salt water is now pumped back into the same depth as it was pumped from. This was not always the case, and there are bare spots from 1920s salt water spills around. Anyway, the salt water is transported around by tank trucks now, these always leak a bit. If you drive on the county dirt roads in this area, you get the same rust as your truck shows in the video.
I have one and you can buy inner fender liners for those trucks and it keeps the rust away from the box in the wheel wells. When I bought it new I was surprised that there was no inner fender liner so I talked to the parts guys and they said that liners are available.
Did that also on new '23 Silverado, after spraying w/ fluid film.
I guess I know what I am doing this weekend. Thanks Eric👍
Love this video. Excellent content keep these videos coming.
These trucks started rusting on the dealer lot. I install anticorrosion modules on all my vehicles plus hot undercoating. Zero rust 15 years later, I honestly cant belive people pay mega money for a vehicle then let it rot. Blows my mind.
Born and raised in Chicago Illinois in the 70s and 80s living in Texas for the last 40 Years glad I don't have to deal with this anymore
From Michigan,
You are exactly right!!!
The salt from winter roads, will rust a new vehicle in just few short years.
Manufacturers are getting better!! But nothing can win the battle, against, road salt!!
Yes you can , surface shield once a year and salt loses
Thank you Eric. I live in snowy Spokane, this info is very helpful.
I have a 06 F150 with rust. I look at it and other trucks and think wow that truck has lived a long time. Good truck!
Doing what you are doing right now is why my last truck that was 10 years old and still looked new. And I live in the greater St. Louis area. It's a seasonal tradition every spring and maybe once in the winter on the nice days.
The PROBLEM with doing this in Winter (unless you have a heated garage) is finding "self-service" car washes. They are disappearing faster than the "Dodo Bird". And, those "touchless" car washes with their 15sec "under body" flushes are next to USELESS!
@@TheOzthewiz I just wait till a worm day after the snow. And there are a few in Missouri. That's when I clean under my cars. Then in April I absolutely clean all of the crevices.
such great advise. I live on the west coast but I will clean the rockers and the fender wells from now on.
I use fluid film on my truck. I live in wisconsin, I pressure wash my frame then spray fluid film all over. Works great
You might want to try a spinning head and hose that is used for cleaning drain tiles. It would allow you to run the hose from one end of the rockers to the other and clean everything completely.
When I was a teenager I drove a 20 year old Honda Accord that was a hand-me-down from my family. It was totally rotted from rust, had to redo brake lines and fuel lines. I just thought it was normal until I realized if that same car lived its life in the south it would look mint underneath lol
Great education, thank you for posting!
thanks for the info, i just learned something new from you again eric
Great vid sir. I really enjoy your channel. Well done.
This video is great for us that are unfamiliar with living in an area that will give our cars cancer.
Thank you so much!
GREAT VIDIO!
Bro this is awesome stuff, I would have never thought to do this on muh chevy. Gonna have to do this before winter now 😁
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us😊
Love the content, Eric! Good info to know for us northern people who have to deal with the salt.
I just moved to Florida from NJ and I see these early 90s pickups with solid rockers and bed sides and I’m so astonished. I’ve seen trucks in NJ as soon as 5 years rotting away
When you started washing the rockers I immediately paused the video, went outside and washed out my rockers. They were pretty clean but I pulled the plug in the door frame that is right below the A-pillar and did not realize that I soaked the inside the truck until water came running down onto my floor mat.
Thank you Eric! 👍
One of my main concerns if I was doing that is if using a power washer would be stripping coatings off the internal parts and then the rusting even getting worse. I think I'd just start off with a hose and then maybe use a PW'er sparingly just to make sure it was all really clean. I've been fighting rust since my 1963 1/2 Comet and it's a bitch. Now at 74 yrs old I don't drive that much anymore and I think the cars that I have (2015 Mustang GT PP and 2018 Focus ST) will likely last beyond when I'm gone.
Wait just a minute. You're telling me that after I spend $30K+ on a vehicle, something that's probably the send biggest investment I'll purchase. I not only have to maintain it mechanically, but I have to also maintain it's exterior if I want to protect my investment and keep it going? You sir, are crazy!
Just kidding of course. Appreciate the work that you do!
ATF in door panels, with a syringe and some tubing. through the window opening. Keeps doors from rusting out on the bottom
A couple courts of ATF (get new because its anti-corrosive additives haven't been depleted) with a cup of PB Blaster and a little bit of Dawn is what I use. I have a Shutz gun to spray it into the frame and in the voids between the panels.
Hey yes several good soakings so it creeps into the pinch welds
Good morning Eric. Ray had a Rusty Ridgeline on his channel and you have a Rusty Silverado. Wow I was amazed how much junk came out of the drains.
I really don't understand why there aren't under-body wash stations up there during the winter.....one step to wash away the salt, and the second to treat the areas for sodium intrusion.......you could make a fortune!!
And oh yeah, there's no way a car company couldn't figure out how to treat these areas for zero intrusion.....something about planned obsolescence??
My golf buddy who is a bodyman says they used to fill those holes with spray insulation, sand it off smooth and then paint it. Looks better than holes I guess.
Thanks for the video. I never thought about washing out the rockers or frame. But then I don't live in a rust belt. I do drive out on the beach sand which will rust out a truck if it isn't treated.
That was satisfying to watch.
I didn't even watch the video yet and Id to tell you what's work best for me,
I put a couple service holes in the wheel wells and I spray fluid film or Blaster Surface Shield inside the wheel well or transmission fluid
Oh, bonus video, thank you :D
Nice mild project to end up with a good work truck !!!!😀😀😀😀
awesome advice .. if you dont have the tools or time maybe think about taking to a detail shop and have them do it . great video as allways.. thanks !!!!
Some people don't know about those holes and what they are used for but that's what you sir are about educational video
When I moved from the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area to southern Ohio, I found that cars were not as rusty as in NY. Glad I left NY behind.
I don’t live in the rust belt. Don’t have or plan to have a truck. But learned a lot of stuff I never knew or thought about.
Moving to Cali helped out a lot.
My grandmother in Michigan bought a brand new Kcar. When she made her last payment she had to trade it in. The front suspension was rusting off of the car. It was unsafe to drive. And she had it under coated before she drove it home. Wow.
I have an 09 crv. You have to battle it. I stay ahead of everything I can, undercoat for the winter, I pay for an automatic wash so use it often. And I avoid driving whenever possible when the salt is wet on the road. I can walk to work in 9 minutes so I do most of the time anyway. That’s just what I do
So happy we don’t have to deal with this in SE Texas😊.
Oil spray, oil spray, oil spray. It’s about the only thing that will slow down corrosion. We really battle this here in Ontario Canada as well. I had a 2008 Silverado that I was able to keep the body solid but unfortunately the frame rotted out behind the fuel tank on the drivers side. I had a 2006 Avalanche that the frame rotted out on the passenger side just under the front seat. Sad to have had to junk both of them
I noticed that the short time I lived in Missouri. Here, in Florida, we experience it to a far lesser degree around the coast. It is usually just surface rust in most cases.
Fluid-film. Had a 3 year old focus, kept up with the fluid film, sold it when it was ten years old, minimal rust, in New England… fluid film… that truck looks cleaner then a lot of ten year trucks around here.. rip
Drain holes at the front of the rockers and doors and the back at the bottom, work tremendously well. It's free to copy 35 yo Porsche.
Here in South Dakota it’s not unusual to see dodges and chevys rusted through at 3 years old.
I love taking my truck off road into mud and rocks and when I get home I wash the bottom of my truck and I am amazed at how much debris comes out. Almost 200k on truck and no rust yet. It just takes some of my time.
Lived for 35 years in Wisconsin. So familiar with rust.
Moved to Southern California 36 years ago. Rust is almost unknown unless you live on the coast close to the SALTY ocean. And I don't! 👍
Ahh this reminds me to clean my Honda's rear arch! Thanks!
I was just setting up to do this on a used QX56 I just bought. Its a 2004 and I can't believe the amount of mud and dirt caked on all the nooks and crannies of the frame and shock mounts. I've also never seen the amount of surface rust on a vehicle as I've seen on this one, especially living in Tx. I'm going to take it a step further after power washing and take a wire wheel to the worst areas and then spay on some rust converter and paint.
Be sure to rinse out the INSIDE of all the doors, there are acess plugs on the door jambs. After all the water dries, spray the insides of those with "fluid Film" (make sure the windows are fully closed), your doors will thank you!
Spend 2 hours with a garden hose every spring to help keep rust away. Get under the thing and rinse that salt off. How much salt and sand comes off will shock you. Out of the frame and where Eric's truck is rusting holds SO much crap. Let it dry. Then spray oil like fluid film. Use 5 cans or more. In 8 years my ford had zero rust. I did this every spring and fall.
Thanks for the info.
Great video.
Keep it up man ur doing great
my 1994 gmc c1500 with 290k on it has rotted rockers and cab corners. eventually ill get to fixing it. next year i would like to start on it. frame is excellent on it other than core support mounts which always rot out. i got the truck in 2019 and its been all over the place just had a used engine put in from my other truck this past winter due to oil pump failure on original engine. i really enjoy driving the older vehicles. that old 350 (which was originally pulled from a 94 4x4 truck and stuck in my old 93) has lots of power and is always ready for a long trip. the only issue is replacement parts are getting really crappy. i had 2 egr valves go bad one was a genuine gm replacement lasted a hour. i had a block off plate made after that
Oh I’m getting that wiff of Bavaria and my van😬…
People who live in places with salt on the roads! Do as what this man says because every dollar and every minute you put into this kind of maintenance is worth is going to save you 10-20 times as much a few years down the road -and will let your vehicle last a lot longer, and may save your bacon since cars are designed to function as ensembles of metal parts, not heaps of rust!
I hvae an '83 Dodge that's originally from New Jersey, original owner moved down here to Southwestern VA back in the 90's and the truck was undercoated when it was new, the truck is only just starting to get rust in this area from sitting and being driven around someones yard without having the dirt cleaned out of the wheels wellls. Likewise the floor is only rusted because it sat and water got on the carpet. It still has factory markings on the firewall, and front passengers side frame that was hidden under the undercoat.
Most of y'all would fall over if you saw my friends 2011 GMC Sierra tho, not a spec of rust anywhere, normal down here though. I see a lot of 40 year old trucks with original paint like mine and no rust to speak of. But one state up? In West Virginia? I see cars come down from there and I'm like "What the actual..?" while I watch the quater panels of a truck flapping in the breeze because they've rusted so bad.
I was gonna say give ‘er the fender flare treatment, then you did. 😂
This is one of the more practical videos here
We rarely use salt on our roads up here in Alaska. Instead we use sand coated with magnesium chloride. It doesn't rust your rig and it makes the roads sticky. We don't scrape the snow/ice off our roads all the way down to the asphalt. That would allow the sun to heat the road and melt the ground underneath during the day. Then at night when it re-freezes, the ice bulges up the road and causes potholes. Instead, we leave an inch of hard packed ice, as insulation to keep the ground frozen, with the magnesium chloride sand mix down and the grip is surprisingly good.
Living in MN, they clean down to the asphalt. No bulging of pavement during the winter.
@@dans_Learning_Curve I've driven on Minnesota roads. They are severely potholed. I'm not talking about speed bump sized bulges. They're called frost heaves. Are you suggesting that I'm lying? Why would I do that?
Did you hear about the mechanic who was afraid of speed bumps?
He's slowly getting over it.
Spray bed liner works great! Heavy stuff
Can you tear the engine apart to check for rust just in case one of us want to buy one? Thanks in advance!!
I'm from Michigan and that truck actually looks pretty good.
That pickup isn't bad at all. Any 2010 Chevy here in NY would be in the crusher by now
Thank you for pointing out the consumer is sometimes the problem
I had a Ford Five Hundred, and rain would like to sit inside the door itself, and you can hear it sloshing around going around turns. The drain holes under the doors like to clog up with debris , so it can't drain. Probably unrelated to this, but the lower rocker panels by both rear wheel wells are completely rusted away as well.
I had to fish out the debris on all door drains and widen the holes up, yet they still clog up
At one time, and may still be, I knew guys that lived in West Virginia that used canned spray foam to fill rust holes. At that time, it wouldn't pass inspection with rust holes.
From Atlantic Canada here, salt is a common problem all year in a way. The city I live in usually goes about before a large snowfall with "brine trucks" to pretreat the streets, not sure if it helps or not...plus I wonder about the condition of some of those truck frames, not sure if they get a washdown between runs. I'll pass this video onto a few friends of mine that have trucks (if I had a power washer maybe I could charge them! *laughs)
Here in Central Wisconsin, the road crews have generally switched from 'road salt' to brine and trust me when i say the "brine" penetrates EVERYTHING causing more things to return to their "natural state" (rust). The brine does evaporate quickly leaving the highways in "Summer like condition" after one day. If you are fortunate enough (like me, retired) to wait a day or two before taking your ride for a spin, you can literally say goodbye to MAJOR rust problems!
I worked at a ski resort in the Sierra Nevada range, and they used lava rock instead of salt for traction on the roads.
I was thinking after watching some SMA videos this truck was pretty solid lol
CZcamsr Mustie1 uses bar and chain oil for chainsaws mixed with a solvent. Something that'll allow the oil to get into small areas, solvent evaporates, leaving the oil. Then he intentionally drives on a dirt road to cover the oil in a coat of dirt. He's repaired his Toyota trucks frame and then treated it. Check him out.
I normally use the pressure cleaner then i use the garden hose and remove the coupler and stick it through the hole and let it flow out for a period of time while i clean other things on my car