Dripless oil undercoating, hard-shell underbody coating, and cavity rust proofing for cars, trucks, and fleets. Ninety minutes on our lift buys you another winter without frame rot, seized brake lines, or a failed trade-in inspection.
Why It Matters Here
Columbus pre-treats roads with liquid brine before every storm and follows with rock salt. ODOT now uses less than half the rock salt per lane mile it did a few years ago because it leans on liquid brine instead. Brine is worse for steel: it goes down as a fine mist, coats every seam under your vehicle, and keeps pulling moisture out of the air long after the roads are dry.
What We Do
Every service starts with a free inspection on the lift and a set of photos of your underbody. No upsell, no mystery. You see what we see, then we recommend the least you need.
A lanolin-based oil film that creeps into seams, spot welds, and pinch welds, displaces moisture, and self-heals when gravel chips it. The gold standard for daily drivers in the salt belt. Re-applied yearly.
A rubberized, abrasion-resistant barrier for floor pans, wheel wells, and rocker panels that cures into a tough, quiet shell. Best on new vehicles, rebuilt frames, and anything that sees gravel roads.
Rust starts from the inside of doors, rocker panels, tailgates, and boxed frame rails. We fog those cavities with a 360-degree wand through factory drain holes, so nothing gets drilled.
Wire-wheel and needle-scale loose rust, neutralize with a rust converter, then coat. We stop existing corrosion in its tracks on frames, leaf springs, crossmembers, and floor pans before it becomes structural.
Boxed frames, skid plates, and lift kit hardware trap brine. We pull skid plates, coat inside boxed rails, and treat every bracket and bolt so your rig still looks right on a lift in five years.
Work vans, plow trucks, trailers, and box trucks live in salt all winter. Fleet accounts get 10 percent off, a reserved fall window, and a photo inspection report per unit for your maintenance file.
Where Rust Starts
Tap a number to see what happens there. The drive-through undercoating you get with a car wash covers about two of these.
Stays fluid. Creeps into seams, displaces moisture, and self-heals over chips. Nothing to crack or peel. Re-apply each fall.
Cures into a tough rubberized barrier that shrugs off gravel and road spray. Must go on clean metal, so we prep first and seal seams with oil.
Pricing
Pick your vehicle to see exact prices. Every package includes the underbody wash, lift inspection with photos, and a wipe-down before you leave.
About 90 minutes, wait or drop off
Re-application for returning customers: $129
One-day drop off, shuttle available
Oil shield + hard shell + cavities. Annual oil top-up after: $129
Same day or next morning pickup
Rubberized underbody only. Best on new or rust-free vehicles.
Prices are per vehicle and include tax. Heavily rusted or oversized vehicles (dually, one-ton with plow, box trucks over 16 ft) are quoted after the free inspection, typically $319 to $399 for the oil shield. Returning-customer re-application pricing applies within 14 months of your last service.
How It Works
Hot underbody pressure wash strips salt, mud, and loose scale. Air dry with blowers so the coating bonds to metal, not to slush.
On the lift we photograph every zone and text you the set. If anything needs rust treatment first, you decide before we spray.
Underbody, wheel wells, frame, suspension, lines, then cavities through factory drain holes with a 360-degree wand. Nothing gets drilled.
Rockers, bumpers, and exhaust tips wiped clean. Next fall you get a text when it is time to top up, and returning pricing applies.
Built For This
Wranglers, rockers and frame
Tacomas, famous for frame rust
Daily drivers, annual shield
Off-road rigs, hard shell
New vehicles, protect day one
Plow trucks, fleet program
Wet salt roads, all season
Salt trucks roll before the snow
Reviews
"Bought a used Tacoma and the dealer inspection flagged surface rust on the frame. Scioto treated it and coated it the same week. Two winters later I put it on a lift and it looks better than the day I bought it. The photo report is a nice touch."
"We run six vans for our HVAC company and lost two to brake line rust before we found these guys. Now the whole fleet goes in every October, they text me a report per van, and the 10 percent off actually shows up on the invoice."
"In and out in about an hour and fifteen for my Civic. No drips on my garage floor like I was warned about with other places, just a faint smell for a few days. $169 to not worry about it all winter is an easy call."
FAQ
Our dripless oil undercoating starts at $169 for a sedan, $199 for an SUV or minivan, $239 for a half-ton truck or van, and $299 for heavy-duty, lifted, or commercial vehicles. Annual re-application for returning customers is $40 to $70 less. Hard-shell underbody coating starts at $449 and our Full Armor package starts at $649.
Late summer through November, before ODOT and the City of Columbus start laying brine and rock salt. That said, an oil-based coating can be applied any time of year, even mid-winter, because it creeps into seams and displaces moisture that is already there. If you missed the fall window, do not wait until spring.
They do different jobs. Oil-based undercoating stays fluid, creeps into seams and cavities, self-heals when gravel chips it, and is re-applied yearly. Rubberized or hard-shell coatings cure into a tough barrier that resists abrasion and lasts for years, but they must go onto clean, rust-free metal and can trap moisture if applied over rust. On a daily driver in Ohio we usually recommend the oil-based shield, and a hard shell on new vehicles or rebuilt frames.
Our oil-based product is a dripless formula. You may see a light amber mist on the pavement for the first day or two, mostly from the wheel wells, and a faint odor for about a week. We wipe down the rocker panels and bumpers before you leave so nothing tracks into your garage.
Almost never. Surface rust and scale on frames, leaf springs, and floor pans can be prepped and treated, and the oil-based coating actively slows existing corrosion by starving it of oxygen and moisture. We start every job with a free inspection on the lift and show you photos so you know exactly what you are dealing with.
Annual oil undercoating takes about 90 minutes including the underbody wash and dry time. Hard-shell underbody coating is a drop-off service, usually same day or next morning. Full Armor is a one-day appointment and we offer a shuttle to Whitehall, Bexley, and Eastmoor.
Yes. Fleets of five or more vehicles get 10 percent off, a dedicated fall scheduling window, and a per-vehicle inspection report for your maintenance records. Contractors, landscapers, HVAC, plumbing, and delivery fleets across Franklin and Fairfield counties are our bread and butter.
Book
3760 E Livingston Ave
Columbus, OH 43227
Just west of Hamilton Rd, across from the Kroger plaza. Two lifts, waiting room with wifi.
Mon to Fri: 8am to 6pm
Saturday: 8am to 3pm
Sunday: Closed
Extended hours in October and November.
(614) 555-0177
Text a photo of your frame and we will tell you what it needs before you drive over.
Whitehall, Bexley, Eastmoor, Reynoldsburg, Gahanna, Canal Winchester, Pickerington, Groveport, and all of Columbus. Fleet pickup available in Franklin and Fairfield counties.
