Best DIY undercoating method and product?

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metroplex

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What is the best DIY undercoating product and method?

What are the mandatory spots that should be undercoated?



I live in SE MI where it is moist year round and the road salt is very bad in the winter.
 
I've been very happy with stuff from both http://www.autoint.com.html and Eastwood Company Home Page.



Both offer their stuff in aerosol cans(very convenient for some jobs) and in bulk for use with sprayguns (which are cheap, maybe ~$50 or so).



FWIW, the AutoInt Rust Inhibitor is the same stuff the big manufacturers use. A guy I know at AutoInt sent me some labelled "MOPAR" back when Daimler-Chrysler had them relabel it (probably easier to give it to me than to recycle it ;) ). This is the exact same stuff they use at the dealerships.



I use black stuff (Eastwood) for things that show and AutoInt (gross, yellowish looking) stuff for areas that *don't* show. How involved you want to get will determine what areas you treat. If you're worried about rust in an area, treat it..it really is about as simple as that.



FWIW, I never did treat the minivan and after four Ohio winters (lots of salt) it's still fine; I just clean it every time I wash the thing and that's sufficient. But on the Blazer I treated all the stuff that shows and it looks a lot better. Also treated areas on the Blazer that *don't* show because I don't trust its build-quality ;)
 
metroplex said:
Which black stuff do you use from Eastwood?
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Sorry, didn't mean to be so vague. IIRC, they call it "Black Heavy Duty Anti-Rust". It's a black version of their regular stuff. Check out their products for rust prevention and you oughta find it.



I truly can't say enough about how much I like this product. I prefer it over the rubberized stuff that's so popular too BTW.
 
Not sure where at in SE Michigan you are but there is a place called Crest Industries Crest Automotive - Product Portal in Trenton, MI that has a product called Auto Coat. Not sure if they come in small containers or just 5 gallon jugs. I would give them a call and see.
 
I dunno...to each their own but the three undercoatings I saw at that link left me cold. The rubberized one is probably ok *for what it is* but I'm not a huge fan of that kind of undercoat. The others aren't IMO something you'd want to use on parts that show (I use stuff like that for hidden areas though).



I did a quick spot-in on the Blazer yesterday- ValueGuard Rust Inhibitor into a seam and then Eastwood's Black Heavy Duty Anti-rust over top. I'm gonna stand by my recommendation, those two products are great. And note that the ValueGuard stuff is good enough for Daimler/Chrysler.



Gee, don't *I* sound all up-on-my-soapbox about this :o
 
backwoods_lex- There's surprisingly *little* prep required. While I generally do this stuff rather meticulously, I did play around with spraying it over areas that weren't prepped to my usual standards. It's holding up just fine.



I didn't use the pressure washer (my Karcher is having startup issues again :rolleyes: ), I just blasted with the hose, scrubbed with APC and brushes, and used a wire brush on the loose original undercoating and the rusted areas. I did treat the some worst of the surface rust with rust converter and some areas with the Rust Encapsulator, but the areas where I just cleaned/brushed seem to be OK. So IMO it's really a matter of how meticulous you *want* to be, you can get away with minimal prep if that's the way you want to do it.



FWIW the Rust Encapsulator works well with so-so prep too, doesn't require the degree of proper preparation that you need to go through with POR-15, not by a long shot.
 
Accumulator said:
Sorry, didn't mean to be so vague. IIRC, they call it "Black Heavy Duty Anti-Rust". It's a black version of their regular stuff. Check out their products for rust prevention and you oughta find it.



I truly can't say enough about how much I like this product. I prefer it over the rubberized stuff that's so popular too BTW.
Click to expand...



Is it the Rust Encapsulator?
 
metroplex said:
Is it the Rust Encapsulator?
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No, sorry to be vague. They're two different products.



The Rust Encapsulator is a "paint over rust" type product, a competitor for the better-known POR-15.



The Heavy Duty Anti-Rust is a rustproofing product, like Ziebart or the stuff many people call Cosmoline (real Cosmoline is different). It comes in both the usual yellowish version and the black stuff that I like so much for exposed areas.
 
Note that you can use the Anti-Rust over lightly surface-rusted metal too. It sticks very well and retards (if not arrests) the corrosion. While I'm not a big fan of doing things in a half-@$$ed manner, when it comes to doing this stuff to areas like undercarriages *IMO* you really can get away with it when you're using good products. Just do some degree of surface prep (remove dirt, grease, loose rust) and you should be OK.



Buy more of the Anti-Rust than you think you'll need. If you buy the bulk containers (and apply with a spray gun), get some aerosol cans anyhow to use for touch ups. The Rust Ecmnapsulator seems to go pretty far with good coverage, so you won't need gallons of it. I can't really say how much you oughta get though, I don't keep track of how much I use :o
 
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