Protecting undercarriage for beach driving?

[Yahnz]

Is there anything I can do to help protect the undercarriage from sand/salt? (OTHER than not driving on the beach. thanks. )

I've seen references to something called "fish oil" - it's a low-viscosity oil treatment that is supposed to help.

Any ideas? Recommendations?

Thanks!

J

[skid]

don't drive on the beach

the salt is in the air and everywhere else

it will always find a way to jump onto your wagon

[LOLYF]

Wash it really well I mean realllly well!

Ive given my hilux a good wash after every beach trip and after 12 years of driving on the beach it still has no rust.
You need to spend a couple of hours cleaning and make sure you get every nook and cranny, get right under it ( i put mine up on ramps) and be prepared to get very wet.

[fweddy]

Have a good slosh round in a fresh water river straight after, it will help the underside but the only other real solution is a good wash all over. The 90 mile beach tour busses apparently drive onto a big squirt wash thing each time they come off the beach to help preserve them.

[KiwiBacon]

don't drive on the beach

the salt is in the air and everywhere else

it will always find a way to jump onto your wagon

Tell me about it.
I live on the west coast, where if you leave your washing on the line too long it goes sticky from the salt. I am continually amazed at how fast and thoroughly steel rusts here. Even aluminium windows corrode.

[skid]

don't drive on the beach

the salt is in the air and everywhere else

it will always find a way to jump onto your wagon

Tell me about it.
I live on the west coast, where if you leave your washing on the line too long it goes sticky from the salt. I am continually amazed at how fast and thoroughly steel rusts here. Even aluminium windows corrode.

your details on the left say you live on the wet coast not the west coast

[KiwiBacon]

your details on the left say you live on the wet coast not the west coast

Drought at the moment, hasn't rained for at least a week.

[Yahnz]

You need to spend a couple of hours cleaning and make sure you get every nook and cranny, get right under it ( i put mine up on ramps) and be prepared to get very wet.

FYI, the car wash in Kumeu has an undercarriage rinse lane - lots of waterjets you drive over and over, and over, and over. You will need two people to operate this effectively: one to keep moving the car over the jets and another to keep the dang "undercarriage rinse" button pressed. (it seems it was intended to be used just momentarily, but clearly works much better if you can move the car over the jets a bit)

The water pressure seems high, and it looks like it would do a better job than what I could achieve by hand - but without having a lift to examine the car closely afterwards perhaps that's just my wishful thinking.

So back to my original question - any ways to protect the car before heading off onto sand?

Anyone heard or or used fish oil or other treatments??

Thanks!

J

[gimmemud]

my work mate does a lot of fishing and likes to dunk his truck in the water quite frequently. he gets someone to spray the underneath with fish oil every year and stinks for two weeks after but hey no rust to speak of. go the fish oil,

[Taz]

Heres a bit of info I read a while ago on this topic. There was another thread with a bit more info but I'm sure you can use the search button! (P.S. the one up the top doesn't work, use the one on the calender and new posts menu)

http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14466&highlight=protecting

[LOLYF]

[quote][by Yahnz on Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:07 pm

LOLYF wrote:
You need to spend a couple of hours cleaning and make sure you get every nook and cranny, get right under it ( i put mine up on ramps) and be prepared to get very wet.


FYI, the car wash in Kumeu has an undercarriage rinse lane - lots of waterjets you drive over and over, and over, and over. You will need two people to operate this effectively: one to keep moving the car over the jets and another to keep the dang "undercarriage rinse" button pressed. (it seems it was intended to be used just momentarily, but clearly works much better if you can move the car over the jets a bit)/quote]

I have tried the under car wash at Kumeu But it doesn't get all the sand out from underneath, maybe only half.
Could be something to do with my hilux's chassis being quite far away from the water jets, they just dont seem to have enough pressure.

one thing you can do before a beach trip is to coat the underside of your vehicle with a mixure of kero and waste oil/diesel.
Just mix it up in a cheap spray bottle and spray away. It does a great job of rust prevention and makes it easy to clean afterwards (not the most enviromently friendly solution tho)

[91Rangie]

I use kero to degrease engine parts works well and is water soluble wouldnt of thought it would be a good to use as protection but there yah go

[LOLYF]

I use kero to degrease engine parts works well and is water soluble wouldnt of thought it would be a good to use as protection but there yah go

The kero is just to water down the oil/diesel to make it easier to spray

[kiwipete]

The cert guy told me of a product to use on the Terrano to prevent the dreadded rust problem in the back that plages them.
He suggested using "Cavity Wax" available in a spray can from Supercheap etc. Spray in every nook and cranny, making the truck is perfectly dry first.
There is another product available from Miter 10, caled "Black Guard".
Its a milky looking paint that you apply to any rusting areas, water soluable and dries to a very hard grape colour. excillent for rust treating and is able to be painted over with any paint if needed.
I have used some of this on seams on mu under body as added extra protection, will do the whole underside when I get some more.

[Suza]

I haver used the Black Guard coating on a lot of my projects and it is great brushes wash out in water real easy and it does the bussiness for killing and preventing rust

[DieselBoy]

I use kero to degrease engine parts works well and is water soluble wouldnt of thought it would be a good to use as protection but there yah go

The kero is just to water down the oil/diesel to make it easier to spray

What he said!!!

I mix 75% old engine oil from my diesel engine with 25% kero to thin it down into an old spray gun. I blast the whole underside of the vehicle on a regular basis with this mix. Works a treat

[3VILC]

There is a stuff in England I remember dad used to use on everything called "WaxOil", probably similar to the "Cavity Wax" mentioned earlier, spray it on n dries almost like oily candlewax, very waterproof.
my 2c

[xj]

Get home, turn on sprinkler, park front half over sprinkler, come bak in 15 mins, move trucks rear over sprinkler, after another 15mins, turn sprinkler off and lock truck.

[icekayak]

Big advantage with the wax is it will actually creep when you spray it, thus some what penetrating into the seems a little more and easier to spray into cavities... the catch is your not suppose to have any rust there to begin with as it does not kill it...

Been using the blackguard stuff a bit for killing rust aroudn the place... But it puts off some bad fumes when you weld next to it though...

[KiwiBacon]

There's also fish oil to get into the tight areas. CRC Marine 66 is something similar.

[cornfarmer]

I do a bit of beach driving. All I do is give it a blast up a fresh water creek for 5 or so minutes in water up to the diffs, give the top side a good rinse off with the garden hose, and spray the motor down with a bit a WD40 once shes cooled down. No probs so far.

[taxi]

after driving on the beach to go fishing i park the truck in driveway hose the crap out of it then stick the garden sprinker under it for a while moving it around occassionly. Also use a product called enza oil which is resonably cheap and works well .Underside of truck hasn't showed any signs of rust yet.