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Diy rust proofing a 2017 Prius prime

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by Naimc, Nov 17, 2021.

  1. Naimc

    Naimc Junior Member

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    My second post,

    Having purchase a used 2017 Prius prime last spring and living in Quebec where the road in winter are covered in a corrosive mixture of salt sand and melted snow ( we call it de la sloche) I wanted it rust proofed to some degree. I did this during the summer and thought it might be of interest for prius owners.

    Here in Quebec most of the rust proofing is done with formulation that are based on oils and they all to a certain degree cause rubbers to swell. (that's what happend after years of rust proofing our 2005 Pontiac Vibe at antirouille metropolitain a retinal rust proofing company)

    After watching a ton of youtube videos and reading forums post I realized that wanted a treatment contained lanolin as the rust proofing ingredient. Lanolin is extracted from sheep's wool.

    There a few lanolin based products : Fluid Film, Woolwax, SURFACE SHIELD by Blaster.

    I ordered a kit from Woolwax because it had everything I needed in one kit.
    By its nature lanolin give's off a very strong odor. Some products like Wool Wax have the odor neutralized which I can confirm had no smell or I lost my smell due to coivd ?

    Before tacking the job I found a very useful youtube video of prius owner doing his own rust proofing, in it he showed how to remove all the plastic panels under the car and how to deal with different type of plastic push pin fasteners. Charged UP channel :


    I raised the car on jack stands using tire ramps 1st to get the front off off the ground:
    [​IMG]

    In the future cars with levitate perhaps.
    [​IMG]

    This is the condition of the car prior to the rust proofing,
    rear bumper to frame attachment point :
    [​IMG]

    Rear wheel assembly :
    [​IMG]

    All the screws holding the plastic shields were in this condition :
    [​IMG].

    I cleaned the screws with brass wire brush then I tried heat them and dump them in oil cycle a few times. Not sure how effective this is but it better that doing nothing, all of these screws that has rusted actual screw in a plastic female part, after reinstalling I also recovered all the screw in a thick coat of water proof grease. ( I used marine bearing grease)
    [​IMG]

    The woolwax kit :
    [​IMG]
    I wanted to try Fluid Film but having everything I needed in one box shipped was just to convenient.

    I heated up the gallon :
    [​IMG]
    Covered the brake rotors as I was though this product would cover everything. Turns out this was very easy to spray on, and I did not make a mess ! I kept the same t-shirt and pants all day and they were not covered in grease.
    Short clip of the application :


    Back suspension after coating : The product has clear yellow texture, you also pay a bit extra to have black graphite color added.

    [​IMG]

    Inside of front wheel well :
    [​IMG]

    Back metal bumper mount to frame :
    [​IMG]

    Back suspension from top of wheel view :
    [​IMG]

    I did not spray any Wool Wax on the main body as the factory undercoating does its job. A few dabs here and there on bolts and metal back bumper assembly. Notice the missing plug on the frame I replaced that.
    [​IMG]

    Over all the spray job was "satisfying" ! ( I was glad the product did not drip everywhere and make a mess of everything. I did not even have to throw away the close I was wearing )

    I am looking forward to see how much of product will still be on the car next spring pictures to come.
     
    #1 Naimc, Nov 17, 2021
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 17, 2021
  2. ForestBeekeeper

    ForestBeekeeper Active Member

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    I live in Maine.

    I have a buddy who runs an automobile repair shop, he offers lanolin-based undercoatings. He has a lot of customers and they seem to love the undercoatings.

    My concern though is the plastic bodywork. On my 2011 Prius I have seen how the body has become very fragile and brittle. The grommets that hold body pieces in place, pop loose. My 2017 is following the same pattern. I am far more concerned about the quarter-panels popping loose, than I am about undercarriage rust.
     
  3. Georgina Rudkus

    Georgina Rudkus Senior Member

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    I use these stainless steel neoprene washers to keep the steel bolt heads from wearing into ans degrading the plastic panels where they are fastened.

    1/4” x 1” OD Stainless EPDM Washers, (50 pc) Neoprene Backed, Choose Size & Qty, by Bolt Dropper



    Expensive, but I love my Quickjack lift, when I need full access to the underside of the car. Got it in 2017 for $1,000 delivered Black Friday Special.

    Prius v on Quickjack.jpeg
     
    #3 Georgina Rudkus, Nov 17, 2021
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2021
  4. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Wow, that's a lot of work for preparation. I brought in my then-new 2017 PP to a shop that applies Fluid-Film undercoating. The tech at the shop looked at the underbody of my PP and told me that there is nothing they can spray onto unless all the plastic shields are removed first. That meant extra labor cost, and the annual application of this stuff would get way too expensive. I decided not to bother with it. It was a good thing I did not spend extra cost on the car. I did not keep the car long, but when I sold it two full winters later, the rust on my car was similar or worse than what is on yours now. Mostly surface rust, but still very prominent rust developing around brakes and suspensions. Since then, I have used aerosol spray WoolWax or variants to spray on the areas accessible when the tires needed to come off for the winter. But, if I decide to do the entire underbody, I will likely leave the job to professionals.

    A few years later, I purchased a used Nissan Pathfinder which had been on NE winter road for 5 years. The underbody had a quite bit of surface rust. I decided to take it to a shop to have it sprayed, but this time at a shop that uses Wool Wax. See the photo of before and after.

    Do you need underbody rust protection on new Prime? | Page 5 | PriusChat

    It has been two years. Here is the pic I just took. Where it was applied, it is holding very well. But I think I am going to bring it back for re-application soon.

    upload_2021-11-19_13-43-44.png
     
    Naimc likes this.
  5. Naimc

    Naimc Junior Member

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    @Salamander_King, yes was a bit of work, but given this "used" prime was a new car for me I was happy to "undress" it and to familiarize myself with the underbody.

    I also like doing this to establishes a baseline of the cars condition in my mind.

    I did find a crack in the main engine underbody plastic cover, something I fixed with epoxy and a strip of fiberglass. The crack would have gotten worse with time.

    I will follow up with pictures again next summer when I jack up the car again to see what's left of the Wool Wax, Looks' like your Pathfinder got coated with wool wax that contains the black pigment. I am going to try that one next year.

    Reading that other thread is interesting, given my and idea, given I have 1/2 a gallon of wool wax left I should coat soon rubber parts, and see if they do swell up after 6 months.
     
    Salamander_King likes this.
  6. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Yes, I had my Gen3 Prius treated with FluidFilm at a shop when new. Gen3 had fewer underbody covers than Gen4 and they did it without taking off the covers. Then when I took my first PP back to the same shop, the tech told me that it really can't be sprayed without taking off those covers. When we bought the used PathHy, I brought it to the same shop for FluidFilm, but they had stopped offering the service and referred me to another shop doing a similar service nearby. The shop offered only black color WoolWax. It does effectively cover already rusted metal and hides them. So I really can't see the condition underneath the layer of black WoolWax without first wiping it off. Since I did not remove or convert the rust before applying the WoolWax, I am sure the rust is still there. The question is, is it worse or the same as before?

    I do think rust inhibitor to be effective, it really needs to be applied before the first sign of rust, preferably when the car is new. I just did spray rust inhibitors on my 5 mo old 2021 PP while wheels were off, only to the areas around the wheel well. Did not crawl under the car nor took off any of the underbody covers. I really like the way the CRC rust inhibitor went on the surface and covered it. It is by far the easiest and cleanest application compared to the other three products (FluidFilm, WoolWax, and LPS3) I have used so far.
    Do you need underbody rust protection on new Prime? | Page 8 | PriusChat

    Here is an example of what the FluidFilm application looked like on my 2017PP from an aerosol can. I don't have a photo, but WoolWax aerosol application was worse looking than this FluidFilm with thicker "blobs". I think doing this in the middle of summer when the temp is high, and using the spray gun with an air compressor as you have done would have made it much easier application and neater results.

    upload_2021-11-24_7-30-18.png
     
    #6 Salamander_King, Nov 24, 2021
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2021
  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I fell into this strategy, not by plan, just happenstance, but in hindsight it's maybe not a bad approach:

    Drive the car for a while, say one winter minimum. Then, in warm/dry weather, jack up one end at a time, and see where rust is forming. Remove plastic panels as needed, as long as it's not too complicated. Apply undercoating locally where you're seeing rust, and go beyond some too, especially if it's easy. Oil soak all the removed bolts/nuts/screws (typically on plastic underpanels) before reinstalling

    I've done this a couple of times now, using boiled linseed oil, applied with a disposable foam brush or old tooth brush (and an ancient can of 3-in-1 oil for the bolts/nuts/screws). It's holding up quite good. I'll revisit sometimes, especially if I notice a new, previously untreated area starting to get some rust.

    There's a member here from Finland: every time he posted one of his rust horror stories, I'd take a look at ours and ayup, starting to get a bit there, better hit it with a little linseed oil. :)
     
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  8. PT Guy

    PT Guy Senior Member

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    Marine grade (now called "Mariner's Choice") Never-Seez is my choice for rust proofing threaded fasteners. It is a high quality industrial anti-seize with corrosion inhibitors.
    Industrial Supply Group - Your Solution to Anti Seize, Lubricant and Epoxy Needs!
    If any of the fasteners have a torque spec, then the spec must be changed due to the lubrication on the threads. A torque spec actually combines the twist in the fastener and the friction on the threads and bolt or nut face. Lubricate and the friction factor changes. Failure to lower the torque spec can result in stretched or broken fasteners.
    https://www.antiseize.com/PDFs/torque_specifications.pdf

    I'm sure glad I live in a place that rarely uses salt on the roads.
     
  9. Naimc

    Naimc Junior Member

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    1 year update on the wool wax rust proofing, I had the car up in the air, picture of what it looked like after 1 year, prior to re-applying the wool wax.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    the car was winter driven every day but not much high speed highway miles. I was quite impressed at how the product help up after 1 year. To the untrained eyed, you could not tell the car was rust proofed and that yes rust is present under, sealed away. Look at my 1st post and compare to these.

    This year I went the the black wool wax same as the clear it just has added graphite to make it black. It does make the application easier because it easy to tell where the spray lands. A bit tricker with the clear.

    [​IMG]

    This year seeing the product held up well I did not take off all the plastic trim under the body seeing that all the product has stayed, I just did a light respray of everything that is in natures direct path, mostly suspension area's and other parts I missed last year.

    Heating the woolwax prior to applying and multitasking
    [​IMG]

    Rear wheel area :
    [​IMG]

    Area's I did not do last year, I cleaned the brakes this year so sprayed around while they were off.
    [​IMG]

    Top of front strut seen from the underside :
    [​IMG]

    Video of the gun in action doing the strut.


    I know the stuff looks tacky and runny. but it clings in place just like the clear version :
    [​IMG]

    And I did find some access to the front of the rocker panel using these side access holes.
    [​IMG]

    I still have the bottom inside of the doors to do, the drain holes are two small and I don't want to plug them up. I plan on taking the interior door panel off, then off goes the speaker, I did this on 2019 Highlander and gained full access to the inside of the door.
     
  10. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Good job. I am debating what to do with my PP this year. Last year, I sprayed CRC Marine rust inhibitor spray can on one side and LPS3 corrosion inhibitor spray on the other side, just the areas I can spay while the wheels were off without crawling under the car. Both sides held up pretty well, but there were still some areas with surface rust. Not exactly sure if that's because I missed spraying the area or if the inhibitor did not prevent the rusting. I really don't think I will be keeping the car long enough to see the benefit of rust-proofing.