Hey all.

I am a new owner of my first Blazer, and SUV for that matter. I found a really clean 2000 Blazer, with a relatively rust free undercarriage. It has a light dusting of surface rust in places you would expect.. but its extremely superficial to the point where I could likely remove it by hand with sandpaper. One of the first concerns I have is preventing this from spreading as much as possible. I plan to use this car as a beach buggy quite often.. so it is definitely going to experience salty air and other corrosion.

I have looked into POR15 and it seems like an option. Problem is I do not have a lift, and Im not sure I can take apart the truck enough to be able to clean and coat with POR15 enough to be effective. I imagine I would want to disassemble as much as possible to truly get good protection on there... taking off control arms, suspension, etc... pretty much anything that can be removed to get better coverage.

If I was to just spray down the undercarriage with warm water often and remove salt and other corrosive agents... would that be enough to keep things at bay... or will the surface rust just be a ticking time bomb? I feel like spraying water onto surface rust is just acting as rust fuel..

 

The undercarriage gets wet every time you drive in the rain, so unless you garage it and only drive on dry days spraying it off is not going to increase rust to any great degree.

Salt water, OTOH, will accelerate rusting like crazy. Look at any car from a heavy snow state versus a warmer climate, the salted roads make short work of vehicle steel. Spraying after salt water exposure is a great idea even if it is coated.

I would coat anything you can, less surface area exposed the better.

 

Im no fan of POR 15, here is my favorite rust fighter. https://www.krown.com/ If you have the extra cash go get it sprayed.

 

I have a real clean 2001, 4WD, a southern car now operating in coastal Massachusetts, and I live on the beach. I have had no luck with any "paints" or undercoatings on any equipment I used over the years here at the beach. Even after sandblasting before application, Rust just seems to get in under the coating and starts to spread.

My plan for my new Blazer is to spray the undercarriage with waste oil. I have had the most luck with this technique over the years, all the old farmers and fisherman here do this to their trucks and machinery and it works fine. The price is right too.