I thought I would warn others about Ziebart. I had my new truck rustproofed by them 2 1/2 years ago and found some chunks of it on the garage floor so I crawled down and took a look. It seems to be absorbing moisture and rusting from behind the coating and bubbling off. I am very upset and made a video to warn others about how it is destroying my new truck.
Ziebart Rustproofing Is Total Garbage - YouTube (https://youtu.be/jO91WR5aeeM)
Just wanted to warn others about this process if they are considering it. Every year they recoat it to hide the bad areas.
You dont want any "proofing" that cures like paint. You want semi hard products that continually wick into creases and refuse to unbond so as to displace moisture and oxygen. New hampshire oil undercoaters has one of the best products available right now. A friend of mine sprays it. One time treatment.
Thanks Mike. It's to late for me now. This was what the dealer recommended and and I went with it. Now that I see it seems to have destroyed the factory coating and is absorbing water making it rust behind the coating and causing it to flake and bubble off. It stinks to pay over $800.00 to have something that is supposed to prevent rust applied and have it accelerate the rusting and destroying the frame. Just want to warn others to avoid this garbage from Ziebart. Waiting to see if they will do anything but the only real way to fix it is remove the coating, fix all the rust, apply the factory coating and then find a good product like you recommend. I don't know how Ziebart has been around for 50 years after seeing this.
That sucks!
Look into Rust Check or Krown suppose to be very good as well.
I have a 2004 rave 4that has less rust than your truck, it has been undercoated with rust check almost every year and I live in one of the worst places in the world for vehicle rust. We have air born salt from the ocean road salt and constant freeze thaw temperatures 5 to 6 months of the year along with high humidity. Some vehicle manufactures send metal samples to Nova Scotia for testing. Most vehicles that do not get under coating here are in the junkyard after 8 years.
Rust check has some different products, it sounds counter intuitive but the thin runny one is probably the best as it get in to the hard to get places that are also the places that rust through first like behind spring hangers, cross members and body seems. Your Ziebart coating is doing the same thing by holding the moisture in to the metal.
Sorry for the bad product 21incher.
I'm a big fan of the NH Oil Undercoat. I get my truck done ever 2yrs, It's cheap insurance to redo it and keep the rust at bay. I'm lucky enough to live within 25 minutes of their home base / shop. I filed bills while it was raining the other day, I paid $224 this year for them to spray it ($199 black color / $25 "Mouse Away"). Only issue is they are normally 2ish months out on appointments! As Mike said about his buddy, there are a handful of shops that apply that product is this area. I used to use fluid film, but found that it had adverse reactions to my body mounts and other rubber products :(. I know NHOU sells a diy " kit" too. My buddy bought a 5 gallon pail and applicator, he charged a reasonable rate to do a few friends cars, it was enough to do his for free...but it's pretty messy, use lots of drop cloths, or old cardboard, a lift helps!
Some frames with a certain factory finish on them shouldn't be coated with anything.
My friend does Krown and has told me that.
He wouldn't do the frame on my 2011 Chevy express work van because of that.
Quote from: Bruno of NH on July 04, 2021, 05:40:05 PM
Some frames with a certain factory finish on them shouldn't be coated with anything.
My friend does Krown and has told me that.
He wouldn't do the frame on my 2011 Chevy express work van because of that.
That's what it seems like to me. Looks like the Ziebart has damaged the factory coating. Hopefully my Chevy dealer can verify it was done right. If not there are probably a lot of other trucks out there with hidden frame damage.
Some manufacturers specifically refuse to cover body perforation guarantees if aftermarket rustproofing is applied. Last thing I knew Ziebart's warranty was so full of holes that no one could ever collect. I did a major body off rehab on a low miles "OJ" Bronco a couple of years ago and it was obvious that whomever applied it missed the majority of the underbody. (I dont think anyone has ever figured out how to rustproof a Bronco tailgate)
That said a lot of folks seem to be using Fluid Film or Wool Wax. It stays soft and flows into crevices. It needs to be touched up yearly in the locations where there is abrasion (inside of wheel wells).
IMHO, most new vehicles have pretty good coating systems from the factory but the deicing chemicals being used in NH and the Northeast seem to be a lot more aggressive than they used to be. Brake lines are rotting out a lot quicker. I tend to keep my cars longer than most and its rarely mechanicals that fail, but the rust starts to move in and eat up the emissions piping underneath the car making them un-inspectable as NH checks the emissions system as part of the inspection process.
Its the salt brine they put out now.
It eats a rig like pine bore eat fresh summer cut pine
I'm surprised they're still in business. My parents bought a Dodge Ramcharger new in 1978 and had it Ziebarted. There was a place in Petoskey. They drilled holes to spray the crap into the cavities and plugged them with yellow plugs with Ziebart on them. It rusted out faster than the 76 Dodge pickup they'd bought the year before which had a similar treatment done by Dodge at the dealership. Not that vehicles of that age were rust resistant on their own... :)
When I traded my 05 2500hd toward my 15 3500hd, I had just had the 05 done for the 3rd time. The dealer was pretty thorough and put the truck on the alignment rack to do a look over before giving me a trade in number. The Tech that looked at it pulled me aside after and told me he was impressed that a truck of its age that had plowed was holding up that well. I pointed to the black oil undercoating, and then a hose in the shops wash bay, told him those were the two biggest contributors.
We have a farm truck that had been Ziebarted...rust started at the Ziebart sticker! If anyone can find that trucks floorboards, could you please return them!
Dad had a 76 Plymouth wagon that he bought new, it started to rust through after a year and half.
A Chrysler engineer was staying at our motel while vacationing and asked how Dad liked it, Dad replied that it would not be half bad if it didn't rust so fast. The engineer said he wasn't surprised as they were built out of a pile of rejected steel that had be left out in the yard rusting for a while, it turns out that the boss at the plant insisted on using the rejected steel because they had run out of good steel (against the wishes of the engineers).
in the olden days, before rusty jones and all this other brand name stuff... everyone knew boiled linseed oil reacted with metal and formed a skin. it was in military aviation manuals for corrosion prevention on aircraft fuselages and such. from what i gather theyd drag a pressure pot hose full of hot linseed oil out of air craft chassis before sealing it up or skinning or whatever.
i used a spray bottle full of microwave hot waste vegetable oil on my stuff every other year and it worked well. also makes a skin. not thick and gooey or difficult to work on after a short while when it dries a bit.
Just wanted to do an update on this that may affect others with Chevy trucks. I have a wonderful dealer and the service manager located a TSB that some trucks with the wax coating on the frame may have issues with it peeling and rusting from the back like mine did. It wasn't fully the Ziebart fault, that just hid the damage from view longer. They will remove the wax coating and treat the frame with special coatings to stop the rusting. Then it will be recoated and go back for a new Ziebart coat. It's going to take a couple days to fix so they are giving me a loaner. Just have to wait for the coatings to come in because they are special order from other companies to start. I think this applies to 14 to 18 1500 models so check your bottom if you have one. So glad it's going to be fixed right. Ziebart did also offer to fix it but not with the GM approved process that would keep the warranty in tact.
In our parts, Fluid Film is common for undercoating. But should be done annually. I've had good luck with it.
Had a 1978 Ford Granada with Zeibart - seemed to hold up well for that time period of vehicles. Did end up rusting out, but lasted until 1997 or so.
Since todays trucks cost what a house should, i expect 40 years out of a vehicle before the first remodel. Theyre falling a bit short :)
Quote from: mike_belben on July 07, 2021, 09:40:38 AM
Since todays trucks cost what a house should, i expect 40 years out of a vehicle before the first remodel. Theyre falling a bit short :)
I have 29 years out of my 1991 GMC....so far. Determined to use it 30+ and then use it for a plow truck... :) Also, I have been spraying drain oil into the panels for years. sure helps.
Quote from: PoginyHill on July 06, 2021, 03:26:57 PM
In our parts, Fluid Film is common for undercoating. But should be done annually. I've had good luck with it.
Had a 1978 Ford Granada with Zeibart - seemed to hold up well for that time period of vehicles. Did end up rusting out, but lasted until 1997 or so.
Project Farm on Youtube tested and came up with Fluid film, royal purple, and CR6026, which all tested better than straight oil
Quote from: jb616 on July 07, 2021, 11:18:38 AM
Quote from: mike_belben on July 07, 2021, 09:40:38 AM
Since todays trucks cost what a house should, i expect 40 years out of a vehicle before the first remodel. Theyre falling a bit short :)
I have 29 years out of my 1991 GMC....so far. Determined to use it 30+ and then use it for a plow truck... :) Also, I have been spraying drain oil into the panels for years. sure helps.
Mine is 30 and it has seen a lot of used oil. the fenders and box did rust after 20 years but the cab and frame are solid.