Undercoating?

[Atom Eyes]

I have meticulously maintained my one-owner '89 K5 from day one (161,000 miles on her now), but the rust really took off a few years ago. First, I had to replace the rear portion of the bed because the metal around the tailgate hinges had gotten to the point where there wasn't much holding the gate on. I just replaced the inner and outer fenders (the quarters are still okay), but I still need rocker panels and an outer tailgate skin (bottom rotted in the middle). The bottoms of the doors have gotten rough as well, and a curious hole has quickly formed next to the driver's side outside door handle, so both the doors will need to go eventually. What really kills me is the fact that I see plenty of '89-'91 Blazers and Suburbans in my area of the Northeastern US which are virtually rust-free, (some with quite obviously their original paint), and wonder why my truck in particular was so viciously attacked. Of course, it's been driven every day, yet hand-washed and waxed religiously. I took the advice of my owner's manual which stated, "No additional rustproofing is necessary". Could that be wrong? Would undercoating have made a difference?

 

[trailblazr81]

If your near the ocean or in an area where they salt the roads in the winter I would definatelly use a good undercoating. GM has had some problems. There were some years where they rusted out bad, other years where the paint would peal off after a few years...

 

[Robert D]

My '91 is a Texas truck with no rust anywhere but the top of the cab. The paint came off and surface rust took over. There's still bare metal up there that is yet to be infected...also the hood on my truck turned a black color... I'm pretty sure the rust protection used on these trucks isn't the greatest. BUT, even on Porsche's with galvanized bodies...the salt of northern roads have proven to rust some out.

 

[cbbr]

http://coloradok5.com/rustbulletreview.shtml