This Rebel is my 3rd Ram, the first new Ram was a 1996 quad cab 8 foot box, only two door that year, no rustproofing was added to it, I had to repair the holes in the rocker panels and holes around the fender wells before I sold it to buy my second 2011 Ram Quad cab, I had the electronic rust protection control box installed at the dealer, and I had it Krown sprayed for the first 3 years, $100 cash, In 2017 the bumpers were rusting big time, the warranty for the electric box doesn’t cover the bumpers, the tailgate was showing small rust bubbles under the paint at the handle. I decided to remove both bumpers and got them Linex coated and painted the original metallic gray, the linex was actually colour matched gray in case of scratches you would not see the black. I even drilled all the holes slightly bigger to be able to install all the bolts without drilling the linex out and expose the steel. It was a lot cheaper to remove the bumpers myself, a lot of stuff had to be removed for the front bumper. It turned out really nice. I had the truck rustproofed at the Linex dealer while it was there with what is called Corrosion Free, it is a bit more expensive than Krown or Rust Check but it does not drip and is only applied every 18 months. The rust bubbles on the tailgate never got worst, even 3 years later when I sold my truck. I traded the truck in to get my 2020 Rebel, they listed my 2011 truck at $17,995, wow, and I only got $11,000 on trade, I should have tried to sell privately.
I had my new 2006 caravan Krown spayed every year. The Krown actually melted off all the rubber insulating sound shield in all the doors, the tailgate and body panels, every piece was lying at the bottom of the doors, tailgate and body panels. In 2016 it was rusting bad at the rocker boards, around the fenders around the windows.... the Krown dealer really screwed me on this one, even the head office would not come good for the repairs, I did not find all my receipts for all the years, Krown doesn’t register your vehicles, unless they do now.
The Corrosion Free registers your vehicles and is transferable. I read a Canadian military report about rust proofing and found that Krown was 60% effective for rust control, and had specified that it damaged all rubber seals, Rust Check was 70% effective for rust protection and Corrsion Free was 90% effective for rust protection. They even mentioned that is was cheaper because of the application was every 18 months.
I am getting my 2020 Rebel rustproofed by Corrosion Free, I plan on keeping this truck for a long time.