My 2013 Honda Fit Undercarriage after

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6yrs of Winters and 33,380 miles of wear and tear and without Undercoating added it has whatever they might of done at the factory on it for undercoating. I am planning on doing some undercoating on it this spring hopefully whether I'll pay somebody to do it or do it my self is up for debate. I will be using Fluid Film, POR 15 or something similar to those and will not use anything that is rubberized or tar based because that will only make it rust quicker and here is the video of the undercarriage:
 
Sounds messy. I'd pay someone to spray.


Next time film in landscape mode.
 
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Originally Posted by Donald
Originally Posted by TDOHGL01
6yrs of Winters and 33,380 miles of wear and tear and without Undercoating added it has whatever they might of done at the factory on it for undercoating. I am planning on doing some undercoating on it this spring hopefully whether I'll pay somebody to do it or do it my self is up for debate. I will be using Fluid Film, POR 15 or something similar to those and will not use anything that is rubberized or tar based because that will only make it rust quicker and here is the video of the undercarriage:


Please put it on a lift and retake the video.

No I won't!
 
My mom's 2011 Fit just passed 85,000 miles. It is stored in a garage, and she works in a school so it hasn't seen too much road salt since school is usually closed on really snowy days. The undercarriage is decent on it with the exception of one of the heat shields for the cat converter rusting off.

The biggest issue seems to be the paint, it is super thin and there are numerous rock chips on the hood that are starting to rust.
 
It doesn't look too bad actually for a six year old vehicle, although the mileage is low for this age.

I would not worry about the control arms or links, these will need replacing due to worn out bushings or ball joints way before the rust compromises them. But the front and rear cross members should be liberally oil sprayed, as well as the rest of the undercarriage.

However, before you start spraying the undercarriage, I suggest you concentrate on inside of doors, rocker panels, rear liftgate, radiator support, and other hard to reach areas and cavities. Also, take off the wheel well liners and plastic under cover.

Once you sprayed those hard to reach areas, spray the undercarriage. This way stuff will not be dripping on you. Well, it still will, but not as much as if you were spray it first and then treat the cavities.
 
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Originally Posted by jeepman3071
My mom's 2011 Fit just passed 85,000 miles. It is stored in a garage, and she works in a school so it hasn't seen too much road salt since school is usually closed on really snowy days. The undercarriage is decent on it with the exception of one of the heat shields for the cat converter rusting off.

The biggest issue seems to be the paint, it is super thin and there are numerous rock chips on the hood that are starting to rust.


I don't drive a lot at all during the winter or the summer and it's only driving back and forth to work or my Grand parents house with the longest drive being to my Grandparents camp in Bancroft, Maine

Originally Posted by KrisZ
It doesn't look too bad actually for a six year old vehicle, although the mileage is low for this age.

I would not worry about the control arms or links, these will need replacing due to worn out bushings or ball joints way before the rust compromises them. But the front and rear cross members should be liberally oil sprayed, as well as the rest of the undercarriage.

However, before you start spraying the undercarriage, I suggest you concentrate on inside of doors, rocker panels, rear liftgate, radiator support, and other hard to reach areas and cavities. Also, take off the wheel well liners and plastic under cover.

Once you sprayed those hard to reach areas, spray the undercarriage. This way stuff will not be dripping on you. Well, it still will, but not as much as if you were spray it first and then treat the cavities.
Yeah Mine will probably wear due to age not mileage (at least the rubber parts anyways), They'll probably dry rot away. I appreciate both of your answers.
 
In general, I've noticed that anything painted body color has pretty decent corrosion protection--it's dipped or whatever just like the rest of the car. It's anything painted chassis black which seems to be just about not treated at all, and prone to rusting away, and anything that isn't black is all the quicker. But hitting the floorpan even just once really slows down rust in areas that don't get a lot of wash; anything that gets a lot of water from the road will just have FF washed off in quick order.

Something I noticed is that bolts will rust anyhow, even with FF. FF isn't getting behind them and into cavities. I removed a tow hook to install a tow hitch, and the bolt would not go back in until I chased it. Looked fine on the outside.

On my truck I've tried real hard to keep it coated. Frame looks great. Snapped a leaf spring anyhow; there's some speculation that spraying it with FF may have contributed to its early demise. Shop said they had to cut at least one bolt off, rust had gotten into a bushing. So much for FF preventing problems.

I'm left wondering if it's worth spraying any more. It only slows down the inevitable.
 
Originally Posted by supton

On my truck I've tried real hard to keep it coated. Frame looks great. Snapped a leaf spring anyhow; there's some speculation that spraying it with FF may have contributed to its early demise. Shop said they had to cut at least one bolt off, rust had gotten into a bushing. So much for FF preventing problems.

I'm left wondering if it's worth spraying any more. It only slows down the inevitable.


Is the spring issue common on the Tundra? I know my buddy's 08 Tacoma has a recall for leaf springs breaking.

Like you said, Fluid Film won't stop rust but it will slow it down for sure, which I still think is worth it to get the most life out of a car in the salt belt.
 
Originally Posted by jeepman3071
Is the spring issue common on the Tundra? I know my buddy's 08 Tacoma has a recall for leaf springs breaking.

I think the Taco's had springs that would go flat. Maybe some break, dunno. Tundra's, I'm not so sure. I think they mostly break. Maybe not as widespread as Taco spring issues, but then again, Tundra sales are much lower.

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Like you said, Fluid Film won't stop rust but it will slow it down for sure, which I still think is worth it to get the most life out of a car in the salt belt.

Yeah, true that. I just didn't get to it this year, and after having problems anyhow I'm a bit jaded.
 
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