Undercoating

[78mali350]

Probably a common question to some of you guys but I just wanted a few opinions. I need to put something on the underbody of my malibu for fear that when it sits over the years that I am going to get some rust on it only because I can't drive it much while being in school. What do you guys recommend for some undercoating. Kinda wondering what i could use to cover...everything! ha basically all i am thinking of is taking off the exhaust and then painting some stuff on the entire underbody to try to prevent any rust from happening on me while i am not home.

what do you recommend and why?

previous experiences with some pictures would be awesome

This is going to be a weekend project for me also kinda looking to do it in about a day and a half since i don't have alot of options with work

Thanks for your help

 

[n8dogg]

Well first of all your gonna have to clean the living hell out of the underside. If it has any rust and you spray undercoating on it, all your doing it trapping the rust and it will become much worse much quicker.

I personally wouldn't recommend undercoating (other than maybe your frame and floors) Don't just spray it on everything because if you ever have to change parts or anything, it can hide the bolt heads and just get into places you don't want it and make a real mess.

and this coming from a Canadian lol

 

[78mali350]

Isn't there some form of brush on application? I won't do it if it requires spraying I can't risk my paint job

 

[v8power]

go to walmart or a auto parts store and get a rust removal wheel. it looks like a sponge but is really hard, you put it on the end of your drill and it works really good. as for undercoat i used duplicolor pro undercoat, is not all spattery and lays really smooth, i put 2 layers on and then painted flat black over it.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

I spent a full 4 to 6 months doing nothing but cleaning the underside of my malibu. Problem was I was moving to maine where salt and sand are the norm. I live in texas now and luckily my malibu didn't see the road when I was living there for 9 months. I wire wheeled the entire underside, put 3 coats of handbrushed rust encapsulator, and then three coats of undercoating (spray cans). I always check underneath the car and it is still spotless and clean as the day I laid down all those coats. It's just ironic cause it never saw the salt or sand and now I drive it down here in the desert of texas in san antonio. Guess I'll never have to worry about the floor boards falling out from underneath me :lol:

 

[Blake442]

Your best defence is laying a large sheet of heavy plastic under the car so when the concrete sweats, it wont let the moisture linger under you car.

 

[pontiacgp]

:?

 

[78mali350]

thanks for the few tips, looks like I will be putting this off for a while till I can put some more time on the car

 

[78mali350]

Just got the car out this weekend and found out my framerails have quite a bit of surface rust that has started to form on them since spring break, only reason I say that is I was under the car changing the oil then and everything was clean, Now a come back a few months later and rust is forming everywhere. So looks like the last two weekends of this month I will be heading back home to get the rust off and then put some sort of protective paint or something on them, just thought I would update you all

 

[threetwentyseven]

Hey PatMckinney, any idea off hand if rust encapsulator can be sprayed on? I have a lot left over from the frame and I picked up some undercoating to use after I sandblast the underside of the car. I was going to use the undercoating alone but if I can spray on the rust encapsulator while the car is on the rotisserie I'll try that too.