underseal

[smeylaerts]

Dear all,

I have been reading about underseal of the car on the forum and could not get a straight answer for my problem. My car does not have any underseal after restoration. So for example the wheel arches and footplates are bare paint. Could you advise me what to to and what to use, if anything.

Thanks a lot in advance

Sven

[colin7673]

Sven

For my car I painted black vinyl paint on first, with a brush, then inspected to make sure It got everywhere, then stone chipped, grey colour, then another inspection, the repainted with vinyl paint..
Every year I inspect the wheel arches, clean and touch up without black hammerite..

This year I have to touch up some small parts the underside as it's now eight years old

This worked for me.

[johnw]

Hi Colin, your reply is confusing. By Vinyl paint do you mean flexible paint intended for plastic and vinyl? You also say you touch up without Hammerite. Did you mean with Hammerite?

.

[colin7673]

Sorry.
Should prof read before I hit the submit button,
Vinyl paint, I got this from a sandblaster that sprays this onto metal railings, the type you see the council put around parks and trees.
And yes, touch up with Hammerite

Hope this now makes more sense

[interjen]

Waxoyl, waxoyl, and more waxoyl. That has kept our Convertible rust free since 2006.
Best regards Simon.

[johnw]

Constant attention, dry weather only use, and a good dry garage is good. Avoid the problem where possible! I waxoiled my Ford Fiesta like crazy, it wasn't garaged, and it just blistered at all the seams regardless. I really lost faith in that as a system. Now I would try a good zink based primer on clean metal inside the wheel arches, then something like Smoothrite, then waxoil on top after a few weeks to provide protection against mild abrasion. I could then easily remove the Waxoil to repair any damaged paint. That wouldn't have saved the Fiesta if it was outside. I cleaned up the front hubs on the Range Rover, then used Smoothrite, and 2 or 3 salty Swiss winters later, rust spots started to come through. I don't think modern Smoothrite/Hammerite is as hardwearing as it used to be in the mid 1980s. So basically I don't have a solution.

[Dino Fritz]

One of the things that you need to remember is that most of the original, bitumen type products back in the 60s, 70s and 80s (and even early 90s) would have had traces of asbestos in them, so avoid anything which contains asbestos (don’t buy anything NOS).

I’d recommend Glasurit products, and they have a under seal and stone chip paint which I used in the mid 90s, and it has lasted very well. Then, in the hidden cavities, as many have said, a fish oil or waxoil works well.

And don’t forget to clean the drain holes around the car too (eg. The bottom of the doors, etc.).

Cheers, Dino

[DPP]

I have used various products over the years but my latest project has been finished with Raptor, this is a 2K product and can be sprayed to achieve various finishes from a flat paint to a thick stippled effect.

It is fuel and oil resistant which often softens many of the more traditional finishes.

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[SRS2000]

Like Dave P, I used Raptor, its not a cheap option and only time will tell if it works well.

Raptor

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[johnw]

My first rust proofing attempt was a 1978 Ford Fiesta owned from new and waxoiled after a couple of years. It rotted away after 25 years, 20 standing out in UK weather. It was regularly waxoiled over the first 15 years, then I started to lose fail in the system. The tailgate rotted out early on and left and right lower corners near the glass I replaced with fibreglass after cleaning up to be spotless using a wire wheel and refitting the glass window. The cleaned up metal, could still be seen, absolutely as I left it years earlier, pristine, through the resin at the edges of the glassed area, when the car was scrapped. The chrome bumpers and door handles were still OK and had been painted behind with smoothrite where the chrome was thin. That car was a fail apart from the fibreglass resin treated areas that really protected bare clean but peppered with holes metal superbly. It seemed to rust directly under the Waxoil in the seams. The waxoil formed clumps, then cracks as it shrinks over time.

Project 2 was a Black 1983 Ford XR3i, 108K miles in it over the next 30 years, waxoiled from new. Mostly garaged, Waxoil touched up after 10 years. After 20 years it never went out in the wet. Stripped it out on day 1 as a new car in August 1983. The bonnet and tailgate were excellent, every other panel went rusty. Waxoil melted every summer and the car stank of it the entire 30 years. Unlike neatsfoot oil which smells for 5 years or so, the smell is there even 20+ years on, and on baking hot days wax still dripped from cavities. We sold it around 2013 with a new MOT, and a few years later seat belt mountings and other structural areas became MOT failures.

I do think Dino's idea of oil. Maybe a monograde 30w oil, is tht what you meant? sprayed in cavities every 5 years, might have extended the life of the Fiesta and XR3i. Also this Raptor, might be something a bit like the resin in fibreglass???

I have a 2005 Mercedes Vito which is a repeat of the Ford Fiesta story, constant losing battle, terrible rust protection. Several VAG cars, 2000 to 2005, left out, used on Swiss salty roads, not a sign of any rust at all apart from one area on a roof, easily fixed. Also an Opel left out, 2005 or so, seems very good. We have a 1976 Porsche which seems as good as new but that has been babied most of its life, lower half factory galvanised from new. We had it out in the snow this year.

[Toby]

I also had Raptor applied to my car, so far so good.

[smeylaerts]

Dear all,

Thanks a lot for your informative responses, seems that Raptor is ahed now.....

As the wheel arches and bottom of the car are painted new, just Raptor I suppose and no primer first, right?

Thanks