It seems to happen on most Equinox/Terrain/Vue’s up to 2017 or something.
It’s not a pretty fix, but the bracket is welded between the frame rails and to the floor above, so it seems pretty solid.
The friend is someone I would ask advice, but not really ever let work on my car because I’m cheap and don’t trust any stealership or parts changer. He fails cars all the time for rot, so I’m not surprised.
One was my brother in-laws ford Tauras. He sold it to some guy and that guy still drives it allegedly.
I just did not expect an issue yet. It does not help that mechanics always use the pinch welds and ruin that general area anyway.
Amazing how bad cars rot out after 10 years around here. I do my own undercoating with WoolWax. Cost me about $250 for the kit with 2 gallons and I’ve yet to go through a gallon on my wife’s tahoe over 3 years.
I also had a friend buy a new Traverse and he had the dealership ziebart it, I told him he has about 8 years before that thing is in the junk pile. That shit should be illegal.
I have a friend that does undercoating on the side. He did my truck in October. He said with the stuff he uses you only need to do it 2 or 3 times, then you can switch to a more watery type of rust prevention. The stuff he uses is an oil based. It seeps into lots of joints, and nooks.
Fluid film is great for in the doors and rocker panels because it is a little less viscous and it will coat and run down. The Wool Wax doesn’t run as much and tends to just stick where it’s sprayed, but it does seem to last longer than Fluid Film on the undercarriage.
I think they’ve been around a while. My guy has used all sorts of products and swears by this stuff. It took him about 35-40 minutes to do my truck. He had me remove the spare tire before I got there and he popped a bunch of rubber body plugs. He buys the stuff in huge buckets. I forget how many cars he can do with each bucket. Maybe 4 or 5? Buckets are $220~ish.
I built 12" ramps out of 2x6’s and it gives me plenty of room to get under there. A lift would make it better but it’s doable without. Definitely tyvek suit, respirator, and a bunch of rags in case of over spray, although I’ve never really had an issue with over spray, but there will be random drops or whatever on the floor to clean up.
My guy didn’t use a lift, most places don’t. They just have ramps you drive up on. My front end was maybe 1.5 ft up in the air. Then 20 minutes later I drove off and went up the ramp in reverse. Obviously with a lifted truck (mines a ZR2 Colorado) it makes it easier, but a lift is not necessary at all.