Rust protection?

[Coley]

Well as a Canadian who has lived through a few eastern Canadian winters I'll throw my two bits in.
Like a lot of the guys from the North East and great lakes areas some parts of Canada get a tough heavily salted winter.
Full disclosure: I don't drive my truck in the long winter months...its off the road from November until April.
Regardless, it still sees moisture, rain and a lot of d.d usage, etc. So what I use and swear by is 'RustCheck'.
http://www.rustcheck.ca
This is a somewhat specialized chemical spray product that has rust/corrosion killers and etchers in it. As well, it has special creep agents and moisture chasers in it (like WD40). Its a pinkish colour, thicker than WD40...sort of similar to trans fluid in appearance and viscosity.
The process is not difficult...takes about 1/2hr to 1 hr if you want to do it right.
I start at the front of the truck and target all of the typical rust areas of these trucks as follows:
Starting at the lower area of the rad support, inner fender join lines, down the upper cowl vent area- both sides, don't forget around the battery tray. Inside both doors and up through the doors (cleared) drain holes. Then in the cab: remove the 2 upper sunviser hold clips and spray left and right up through that upper part of the cab where it rots along the upper gutter metal.
I follow that up with a bead where the kick panel meets the floor (pull the carpet, etc back for this. Then into both inner cab corners (inside).
Then I get under the truck and spray both directions (fwd/back) through the rocker panel drain holes...use extra here. Also try to get the nozzle down through the any other access holes, seams or cracks and spray....really hit the rocker panels both sides, all directions.
Then at the box, again I do all join line points between the bed, the box sides and wheel wheels. A really important area (to me) is to spray up from below towards the back of the box underside area (below the gate). This area is famous for collecting road debris and rotting up from the bottom through the box.
Then I spray the inside of the tailgate...through any little orifice I can get the little tube into.
This covers the basics for me...I hit a few more miscellaneous areas including running a bead along the whole length of both upper/lower mouldings.
Important point: the 'bead' of the this product 'runs and creeps' down in behind the items you are spraying...so don't worry about it, its not caulking.
Now: DON'T wash the truck for 3 days...it will leak/drip a bit of this stuff while it finds 'home'. After that the truck will wash up clean and new and show well....none of this stuff will be visible to the eye. PLUS, when you go to undo bolts over the next few years, it will help a bit with that too.
When you are done.....sleep well through the winter....rusting is no longer a concern.
I've done this every year on my trucks and its always been bulletproof while I've watched other nicely restored trucks start to 'bubble' after a couple of years...too bad. Some of the guys didn't want to do it...."takes a little too long to do.....don't want to mess up my truck"...kind of comments, oh well...to each his own. Personally I hate rust and I'd rather rebuild a complete drivetrain than to have redo a body every 6-7 years or whatever.
I usually use 2 to 3 cans per season per truck....love it, works great and its never failed to deliver on the 'no rust' guarantee.
My two/four and 6 bits.
All Good
Coley