how to stop frame rust on 2015 tacoma. all the joints are rusting and the truck only has 32,000 miles
Rust doesn’t care if you have 32,000 miles or 32 mile. Rust never sleeps.
Wire brush the rust spots, treat it with POR-15 metal prep, paint it with POR-15 black, final coat of paint (Rust-Oleum) with a quality black paint. All with a brush.
I’m getting ready to have to bite the bullet on my 13 Silverado that is starting to get some spots on the frame. I’m going to use a GM recommended product, Rust Bullet. I, like you, am disappointed with the rust protection on these frames. Didn’t seem like frames didn’t used to rust so fast…
There’s been some other posts here on that topic , might provide some ideas. Use the forum search feature (above right), search on “Tacoma frame rust”
Take no action. Two weeks ago Toyota announced a customer support program to replace frames on 2011 to 2017 Tacoma trucks with rust perforation. You should receive a notification soon.
A second customer support program will occur this fall that involves applying a corrosion resistant compound to the truck’s frame.
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Por-15 and Chassis Saver are good products.
When would that be? Older trucks didn’t have any paint or coating on the frames at all and had a layer of rust before they arrived at the dealer. Later the frame rsil outers got sprayed with undercoat just so they wouldn’t look so bad.
In the early 90’s GM sprayed only the backside of the rear axle with black undercoat because people complained about seeing a rusty axle on a brand new truck.
Heck, 40 years ago the truck’s fenders would have a rust hole or 2 in them by the age of this Toyota.
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In the Rust Belt I don’t think there is any way of stopping rust short of the use of stainless steel and that would be prohibitively a bit more expensive.
Ain’t that the truth!
I lived in the rust belt for decades. There are 2 seasons there… summer (and the hope is it lands on a week-end) and rust, (which eats all vehicles, alive).
Every car I’ve ever owned has succumbed to rust. I’ve never worn out a vehicle by driving it. Every one has dissolved in the salt.
It feels do good leaving the rust belt during the entire rust season, for the nicer warm weather and the conditions that don’t rust cars. In fact, it seems the cars seldom get dirty, requiring a wash ever month or two!
I live endless summer. Now, I could actually buy a car of my dreams and not watch it disintegrate before my eyes. Feel the magic!
CSA
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Don’t remember what year but toyota replaced the frame in his truck for free,
I thought the frames that Toyota was replacing were on the Tundra.
His was a smaller truck, so guessing a Tacomah, not sure what year, I can call him and ask,
has reached a settlement in a class action lawsuit involving owners of various Toyota trucks with severe frame rust. The settlement is for $3.4 billion and will pay for inspecting and replacing frames on affected trucks. It also allows Toyota to avoid admitting any wrongdoing. In total, this settlement could include 1.5 million 2005-2010 Toyota Tacomas, 2005-2008 Sequoias, and 2007-2008 Tundras. Reuters reports that vehicles are eligible up to 12 years to the day that they were sold. The Wall Street Journal reports that Toyota will reach out to owners via mail, notices to publications, and internet methods.
This is far from the first time Toyota has dealt with troublesome rust on its pickup trucks. The company fixed many frames and even expanded its rust perforation warranty on 1995-2000 Toyota Tacomas. That warranty covered over 800,000 trucks. Toyota also had to issue a recall for 2001-2003 Tundras for frame rust. That latter recall also led to a payout of $25 million to Toyota from Dana, the company that supplied the frames. Two years ago, Tacomas from 2005-2011 were also recalled for leaf springs that could rust and break.
Good for Toyota for taking care of its customers. Presumably they got a hitch in their manufacturing process. I wonder what it was that caused the unusual rust susceptibility on those truck frames?
I refer to those holes as improved air ventilation for my truck’s wheels … hmmmm … you don’t think Ford is gonna follow Toyota’s lead and de-vent-ilize my fenders? 
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If Toyota didn’t react to the latest series of frame problems a class action law suit would force them to do the right thing.
If Toyota didn’t choose to provide a support program to apply corrosion protection compound the rusted frames could lead to a costly safety recall.
When the corrosion protection program starts vehicle owners will have a two year period to have this completed, after this expires the trucks without the corrosion protection will not have the 12 year warranty on the frame.
As this has been a problem for more than twenty years I wouldn’t call this “unusual” but typical. Hydroformed frames are lighter, made of thinner material and have an internal cavity, this seems to be more problematic for some manufactures than the old C channel frames.
I think they used to be thicker so that while they would rust, they wouldnt become trash so quickly. To have 2008 Silverados with broken shock mounts that have rusted away seems a bit much.
Current model trucks are quite a bit stiffer and heavier than even 20 years ago. That would imply thicker frame rails, not thinner.
What has changed is the expected lifetime of cars and trucks. 10 years and 100k miles was about it for 40 years ago. Today, that seems to be break-in mileage.
Depends. If it was previously a simple C channel, that is not very strong compared to a box. Strength can come from a number of methods. Going to a box may have been cost prohibitive back in the day so they simply beefed up the steel gauge to achieve the strength they needed in the chosen shape. Also back in the day, things were often over built by today’s standards. Fast forward, manufacturing techniques allow cost effective boxing which provides more strength than the C channel and allows the designer to use thinner material to achieve the necessary strength and resiliency. They seem to have dropped the ball on corrosion protection in certain cases…
Agree with that. Good point. It might also be part of the issue with corrosion - a box channel traps road schumtz and ice where it drops out of a C channel. Early frames were also not given a galvanic dip either where newer ones are. Maybe concentrated salty slush might overwhelm that coating over time.
You’re absolutely right about the unintended consequences. You see that stuff about (was it GM?) using a “wax” coating? That’s getting a bit too cheap IMO. I would be peeved if I found out they used such a weak corrosion protection on my $50k truck.
Usually more common treatment used inside doors and tailgates. GM started using that in the old X-cars and the Chevettes. since it was contained inside the car, it didn’t have to survive any real elements except heat. It was actually pretty effective as it kept these horrible cars on the road longer than they deserved! 
I would not use this anywhere on a frame. The “self healing” flexible undercoating would seem to be more effective.