Cosmoline as an undercoat for my truck?

[Ithaca Gunner]

Yeah, it sounds funny and I laughed about it myself...But I wonder how it would actually preform.

Back up a few months, a fellow who has every, ''Mechanics Illustrated'' magazine from the past 50 years was telling me he undercoats his Jeep with a mix of WD-40 and Marvel Mystery Oil twice a year and never gets rust. Fast Forward to this past week-end at a gun show. A dealer had several M-1 Carbines on his table caked in Cosmoline. I quipped to my brother, ''Pay $1,800 bucks for a Carbine and get two and a half pounds of free Cosmoline!..Wonder if I could undercoat my truck with this stuff...''

I googled, ''Cosmoline'' today and they still make the stuff...They even pay your state tax on it. They have several kinds and it comes in every imaginable container from a spray can to a 54 gal. drum. They even have one that, ''creeps'' for hard to get to places.

cosmolinedirect.com

[waksupi]

Probably cheaper to get it undercoated.

[Castaway]

At one time, vehicles were preserved with it, which I suspect was for open deck shipping during the war. You can always used what’s left in place of Lee Liquid Alox

[Ithaca Gunner]

Probably cheaper to get it undercoated.

Nah, take a look, the stuff is pretty cheap, and undercoating does little if anything to prevent rust.

[farmbif]

well since water displacement formula 40 was first created to shed the ice and water from some of the first rockets ever to take off from cape Canaveral it should work to displace moisture from truck frame.
cosmoline sure does stick good, if you can find the real stuff and coat in on clean truck frame members It probably will work

[zarrinvz24]

If you are looking for a protective coating for the underside of your vehicle, I would highly advise you take a look at fluid film applied via a garden sprayer.

[Ithaca Gunner]

Yup, a yard sale one time use sprayer. It's made by the same company, Houghton International, the original developer of this gunk in the 1890's as a ''balm'' for cosmetic, skin, and veterinarian use. It comes in several grades, military, industrial, marine, and automotive.

[GregLaROCHE]

I don’t think the cosmoline will hold up as well as a regular undercoat. I don’t think it’s that hard and would wear off in areas where there is sand and gravel abrasion.

[Mk42gunner]

I think it would work well, as long as you let the vehicle set for a day or so for the cosmoline to gum up.

I have only applied real cosmoline once, when we replaced the gun port shield on my second ship. It came out of the gallon can real thin, almost like varnish, but thickened/ gummed up in a short time once applied with a brush.

Cleanup of even fresh cosmoline is no fun.

Robert

[Ithaca Gunner]

I think it would work well, as long as you let the vehicle set for a day or so for the cosmoline to gum up.

I have only applied real cosmoline once, when we replaced the gun port shield on my second ship. It came out of the gallon can real thin, almost like varnish, but thickened/ gummed up in a short time once applied with a brush.

Cleanup of even fresh cosmoline is no fun.

Robert

They sell a cleaner for it. How well it works...

Only one place actually under the truck I want to use it on, the cab pan, and it's a miserable thing the way it's made. I would do well with something that creeps and gets in cracks, corners, and under things. Other parts I'd like to spray the inside metal.

[Texas by God]

Diesel and dirt roads is a West Texas undercoating.

[samari46]

There used to be an undercoating called Zeibart smelled just like Alox 2138f. Maybe find out what dealers are using for an undercoat today and what the ingreidents are. Frank

[Shopdog]

I found this under an 1837 house that we did major preservation work on. The province of the place put this can in the late 1940's.

I've been using "pea sized" amounts on machine rebuilds/restoration since finding it in the late 80's. We mainly use it on parts of machines that are left,"in the white". It is a kissing cousin to cosmolene,found through research. Also through that research;

Wool wax is another product that is in this circle of friends(Type L,cosmolene). WW is still available,almost said widely. Not commenting on these as auto "under coaters" but can say they have some real uses on equipment.

The Type L is the bees knees on machines. You use the tiniest amt,and then it gets "buffed" out to where you can't even feel it. Think sweaty hands,or salt water area machine shops. That's where this product comes from. It would work fine on firearms,but I use that rennesance wax for those,this stays with the machines.


284252

[Ithaca Gunner]

Fifteen years in the automotive collision business has taught me rubberized undercoating has fallen out of favor as a rust preventive because it doesn't work well in that capacity and is is sold mostly as a sound deadner add-on these days. In time it chips, cracks, peels and holds water and road chemicals where it does actually causing rust. We didn't even do it at the Toyota dealership body shop I worked for, we sent it out. Our bread and butter was collision, and we were usually backed up. Our favorite customer was a pair of plain clothes deputies assigned to the county D.A. office as chasers and warrant servers. We could count on them bringing their 97' 4-Runner in at least twice a year for front end work, or replacement. They had no qualms on using it as a ram to stop a fugitive flight and even rammed a get-away car once at a robbery.

Anyway, with the price on new, or even used trucks these days, I want to hold on to mine as long as I can, and Cosmoline may be the answer for extending the life of the body. It seems cheap enough.

[alamogunr]

There used to be an undercoating called Zeibart smelled just like Alox 2138f. Maybe find out what dealers are using for an undercoat today and what the ingreidents are. Frank

I think that Zeibart was Alox 606-XX, supplied in various solvent cuts. It is also the base for Lee Tumble lube. Smells almost like Alox 2138f and Alox 350. I've got some of both and use it in NRA 50-50.

[waksupi]

If you are looking for a protective coating for the underside of your vehicle, I would highly advise you take a look at fluid film applied via a garden sprayer.

I used Fluid Film on guns in a wet environment, still had rust to deal with.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I used Fluid Film on guns in a wet environment, still had rust to deal with.

I never heard of that stuff. Looks pricier than Cosmoline though. Cosmoline does have a low melting point, 135 degrees as I remember from the site. That might be a downside with the old mil-spec stuff.

[Rick Hodges]

I live in an area where Zeibart was all the rage. It was expensive and messy and vehicles "treated" with it rusted out just as bad as untreated (although sometimes in different places). It trapped moisture and road salt under it so it couldn't dry out. It just pinned wet road salt slurry to work on the metal from the inside out.
The most successful rust treatment was an outfit that pumped Texaco grease into every cavity. It was expensive, the car/truck dripped grease and oil every warm day in summer, but it did seem to work markedly better at preventing rust. Probably because it never solidified and redistributed itself if nicked. Had a friend who did his new 74 Ford PU, it was still rust free when it was stolen in 1986. (That is really saying something for a Michigan truck of that era that was driven daily and kept outside). Tom had more pairs of pants stained with that grease from getting in and out of that truck. It dripped right up to the day it was stolen.

[alamogunr]

I forgot to mention that I had a 1968 Dodge Charger treated by Zeibart. I was transferred to Tennessee about 6 summer months later. Drove the car until needed a family vehicle after about 5 years in TN. If it stayed in Tennessee, it should still be around somewhere. The way that car drove though, I doubt it survived.

[Frosty Boolit]

I don't get too attached to vehicles. The galvanized bodies in cars now last as long as the drivetrains even in salty areas.

[tomme boy]

Bar and chain lube thinned and sprayed onto underside at least every other year.

[beechbum444]

got to ask........what are you thinning the bar and chain lube with ?????

[tomme boy]

Kerosene or mineral spirits, ATF. Whatever is on hand.

[No_1]

For a period of time I rebuilt (catapult) water brakes, spears, grabs, shuttles, and strip guides for Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP). Preservation and packaging was more important than the part itself. Cosmoline was alway specified for raw machined surfaces. We used many different versions with consistencies from very thick to very thin - some had to be warmed in order to be applied.

I believe based on my experience that Cosmoline will survive the elements for small period of time but is best used for preserving items stored in an atmosphere such as a warehouse that will protect the preserved item from direct contact with the elements.

[Ithaca Gunner]

Longevity is a concern, as is heat. I read regular mil-spec Cosmoline has a melting point of around 135 degrees, (which ain't very promising anywhere near an exhaust system). They advertise their RP-342 as a vehicle undercoating, Marine shaft and propeller coating, lawn mower blades, off shore drilling platforms and equipment, Military Specifications: MIL-PRF-16173, Grade 4 and MIL-C-83933.

Sort of like tomme boy's post with the bar oil coating I know of folks using various oil mixtures sprayed on or painted on to prevent rust under their vehicles. My idea came almost as a joke seeing a bunch of M-1 Carbines coated with a thick mess of Cosmoline on a guy's table at a gun show, ''Gee, only $1,800.00 and a pound of free Cosmoline! I could undercoat my truck with that stuff!'' Then I got to thinking that maybe it's not so crazy after all. They advertise it as, * Vehicle undercarriage / undercoating (cars, buses, trucks, etc.) - Quite possibly the most effective, longest-lasting aerosol undercoating on the face of the Earth. At $84.00 a gallon I may try tomme boy's recipe though. The price isn't bad compared to rubberized undercoating though.

[No_1]

Cosmoline is very effective as well as resilient when used correctly. Properly applied and protected it will last indefinitely as witness by the condition of surplus guns being sold now which were rebuilt then preserved during or after a war.

Will it do for your undercarriage? Most likely yes Is it the proper product for the protection you need? Most likely no.

[Ithaca Gunner]

For cheaper and probably just as good, I think I'll go with something on the line of tomme boy's bar oil idea. It also gives me an excuse to buy one of those large pump oil cans that I'm some-how missing in my life for the application.

[No_1]

Years ago the “oil rack” was out back of the gas station. Once they finished the oil change they would coat with used motor oil (by spraying) the underside of your vehicle if ask. It worked well. The GOV stopped that practice in late 60’s / early 70’s.

[redneck1]

Something to think about when your spraying any sort of goop around the underside of your vehicles.
Always ask yourself this question ... is this something I am going to want to deal with when it comes time to do suspension repairs or brake and gas line repairs.

Ask yourself that even if you do not work on your vehicles because at some point someone will have to do it .
Dealing with half an inch of rubberized undercoating can add to your bill substantially

[jonp]

There used to be an undercoating called Zeibart smelled just like Alox 2138f. Maybe find out what dealers are using for an undercoat today and what the ingreidents are. Frank

Ziebart was a major selling point for used cars where I came from.

[Huskerguy]

Undercoating is not specifically designed to "prevent" rust. It is mainly used on underneath surfaces like floorboards, wheelhouses and such. It deadens sound, seals small crevices and provides some protection.

There is a rust prevention material sprayed inside panels such as fenders, fronts of hoods, quarter panels and doors. This product is designed to prevent rust as it stays flexible .

I worked on cars for many years and I cringe when people have many home remedies to fix and solve problems. Use the product designed for the problem.