Let's Talk Undercoating

[cobra3073 24]

Well, I was over at my Restorer's shop today to review the install of my subframe connectors and we

got into a conversations regarding the pros and cons of undercoatings.

 

It was noted that my '69 is really clean underneath and I am going to be utilizing the Mass carpet

inside.

 

Anyway, I was wondering as to what the sentiment is here on the Site as to undercoating.

 

BT

[coz 108]

My plan is to remove the old undercoating I have and re-paint my undercarriage with POR-15.  I swear by the stuff.  It creates a great finish, is easy to paint on (levels out fine), encapsulates any rust and is virtually indestructible.  Down side - it will never come off in case you want to change up later and only time will remove it from your skin.  I know one guy who did his undercarriage in Line-X.  Looked OK but I didn't like the texture.  A couple of years later he was having rust come through.  Not sure if it wasn't prepped correctly or if the product wasn't doing the job but now he has a mess trying to get it off.

[moodster 55]

My personal opinion is if you don't plan upon driving the car then no undercoating is fine.  However if you're going to drive it then you should at least have undercoating in the wheel wells.  

 

david

[machm1970 180]

I don't like undercoating, I've seen too many cars where people try to hide rust and damage with it. I'm restoring mine and it's clean underneath. I'm going to paint it with 2K clear to help protect it.  

[cobra3073 24]

...to continue the discussion.

I guess I am really torn as the car currently has ABSOLUTELY no rust...I mean it is clean. So, a couple of questions as relates to the posts so far:

 

If you have no rust issues, what would be the reason to use any type of undercoating, especially if the "noice" issues have been addressed in the interior of the car?

 

machm1970 - Are you planning on using the aerosol can version of the 2k clear?

 

Again, I have not made a decision yet; I am just trying to get a feel for what others are doing.

 

Thanks!

 

BT

[shaun071 62]

I'm in the middle of doing the undercarraige at the moment. I'm using KBS rust seal which is similar to por15 then using stonegard rubberised coating. My car had body deadener from the shock mounts back to the rear stonetray from the factory. My car will be a daily and the roads here are not the best.

[RPM 1,190]

I used and like the 3M rubberized in an aerosol can. It lays down a nice light texture and is not too difficult to remove (wire wheel and thinner/acetone) when the owner has a change of direction in the build. It doesn't scratch easily, as I wanted some protection from road debris.

[Guillaume69 150]

I used a very thick and protective truck bedliner. Horrible to work with, super messy, but once it's on, car undercarriage is water tight. And it's got urethane beads in it that make it "bouncy", so it's a very good protection from gravel and stones as well. I drive my car a lot and want to be able to drive it in the rain if I have to. As far as hidding stuff underneath, well, I have zillions of pics of the restoration to show what was done. ;-)

 

[Chelby-Ann 47]

I took my project to the extreme I guess.

After I had the car media blasted, neutralized and primed, I put her on the rotisserie and seal sealed all of the over lapped metal since water could get in between the joints and rust. I gotz me sum disposable plastic syringes and put Eastwoods Seam Sealer in it and forced the seam sealer in the joint and took and acid brush and smoothed it out so it looked professional. Took some time but worth it for me. Had to work in sections as the seal sealer skinned over pretty quickly and was difficult to smooth. 

I picked up some Dupli Color Bed Armor at Advance Auto and applied that with disposable brushes from Harbor Freight. Wear GLOVES.

The final results were amazing and I was really happy in the end.

Look, when I go to car shows I always look at how the owner restored the car and I always look underneath.

I spent so much time on this project so why not take the extra mile to make it look good as well as functional.

At the end of he day I was happy with the results, actually kindah proud.

Look forward to catchin up witchuguyz soon at car shows as I am registering y car on Friday and having the front end aligned on Monday 

[rchappelear 28]

Linex Truck bed liner for my under coating

[Pakrat 1,043]

It never hurts to over protect anything really but if there are budget concerns than you really need to decide how you intend to use the car and then go from there. My car has never seen rust, not even a floor pan or battery apron. If I can't drive with the top down then it stays in the garage, I wouldn't even go out for a nice early spring day if the road salt had not seen several rain showers first cleaning it up. So for me I just went with a black durable paint and called it a day.

 

I plan on getting my 2000 Dodge Dakota on the road again this year once I fix the brake lines and tranny and I plan to POR15 everything underneath while at it, this former show truck will become a workhorse now and finally see some off-road fun so I want to make sure the underside lasts a long long time.

[10yearsgone 15]

I delivered mine on the rotisserie to a local shop that does powder coating. They did the sandblasting and powder coating for $1200. I had planned on sandblasting myself and using POR15, but for the cost differential on rental and media for the blaster, this was a good alternative. All of my suspension parts, driveshaft, pedal assemblies are all POR15 (agree with Coz.. awesome stuff).

Inside the fender and shock tower area as well as the rear wheel wells we sprayed Sem Rock-it-liner. Inside we used Silent Running (like Lizard Skin) spray sound deadener and thermal coating. The Silent Running is paintable and you can use it as undercoating as well, but it's not as durable as bedliner.

 

[MikeStang 247]

I paid a fellow $300.00 to come to my place an blast under the car, and inside and under the hood...he blasted anything that was not a body panel... I rolled it into the shop and spent about a day vaccuming sand and prepping the car.

Bought a gallon or so of POR 15 and a throw away siphon feed gun and set pressure to about 50psi and sprayed the POR 15....It looked like a Base Clear paint Job...It was awesome.

Then I went back and scuffed it all with 320 and shot a coat of Tie primer from POR 15 and laid down a Coat of Lizard Skin inside and under the bottom, then scuffed that and shot another layer of POR 15 for color mainly.

Lets just say I HATE RUST, and dont intend on replacing sheet metal any time soon.

[cobra3073 24]

AWESOME responses!

 

I posted the query up on another Mustang forum that I modierate and got some of the same responses.

 

Since this is one of four (4) Mustang "toys" I have, it probably will not see over 2000 miles a year and never in inclement weather. As previously noted, the undercarriage is ESPECIALLY clean and already painted so I have decided to just hit it with a coat of clear.  Here in Memphis, we do not USUALLY get that much snow and the car will stay garaged when not in use.

 

THANKS for the inputs, Folks!

 

BT

[mustangmike6996 34]

that blue and black looks killer and nothing over the top, almost like it came that way.

[JayEstes 172]

My car has been garage kept, and I had a generally clean undercarriage.  The passenger side needed some floor replacements, and I took care of those.  I had to work on mine by jacking it up relatively high and working from undernearth on a crawler.  I left as much original paint as I could (that stuff was stuck REALLY well), and I cleaned it with wirebrush, then scotch brite with laquer thinner (cleanup thinner).  The final prep was towels with thinner to wipe it down.  after that I put on primer where it was needed, and flat black to cover everything (even original paint after cleaning). 
 
Once the whole bottom was covered with flat black (I used rattle cans of rustoleum) and properly cured, I applied some spray on truck bed liner.  It was a messy proposition doing it on my back, but a sherwin william's paint suit and goggles, and I got thru it. 
 
I'm really pleased with the hardness of the finish.  The truck bed liner is really tough.  It's not as thick and mottled as those above, but I'm satisfied it is a lot better than original, and I feel I've protected it really well.

 

The floorboards on the inside are 100% coated with dynamat.  They got primer/flat black too before the dynamat.  So, this is where I am hoping to get noise reduction.

 

[Protowrxs 111]

Since mine wasn't bad but wasn't perfect I ended up using Rustoleum spray on bed liner stuff. Not super super tough but much  better than paint. Dries real fast as well. I used this on the underside, leaves, and rear end housing. Just an option...

 

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rll-248914?seid=srese1&gclid=CLGRgYW5rsQCFYQ8aQodF1MALQ

 

Edit: You can get it at Autozone, haven't seen it at O Reilly's or Advanced though.