Those rusty details ...

[Don M]

Against all the detailing blood in me, I had my car sprayed with this nasty, gooey gunk last year. The undercarriage, under hood, hood seams and hood channels, trunk seams and trunk channels and the bottoms of the doors, along with any other spot rust may start. All in all a three day process of totally gunking up the car that required a mineral spirits bath of the paint to remove the grunge and a heavy wash to remove the mineral spirits.

Now if that isn't bad enough, once a year I take may car back again, for a full day of re-gunking. The whole car is put on a lift-where the, tops, underneath and door jambs. Trunk, hood and the jambs are hosed down and washed clean of any salt & dirt that my be lingering. Then the car is lowered to about a foot off the ground and high powered fans are run underneath the car to dry the chassis, while the top areas are hand dried and the gunk reapplied to all the sensitive areas with a small paintbrush for control and exacting coverage. When the chassis is finally air-dried, the car is lifted back up and a heated spraying unit is used to spray all the exposed areas on the chassis, where the original coating of gunk may have been damaged or compromised.

The car is then washed to rid the painted surfaces of any gunk overspray and I get the call to pick her up. The results? In just under 8 hours and $100, I get a car that is completely RE-undercoated and ready to face the worst that man's attempts to eliminate snow and ice bring.

Here are a few pics:


This is Robbie washing the car underneath the get all the salt off - he does lift it higher to get ALL of the chassis cleaned.
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/medium/inspection_2.jpg


Here she is on the lift being air-dried (Not visible is the fan in front, so the underneath is being hit in two directions by forced air for speedy drying.
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/medium/inspection_4.jpg


Here's Robbie coating the under hood areas & hinges
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/medium/inspection_1.jpg


...and here's Robbie doing the trunk channels and seams
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/500/medium/inspection_3.jpg

I didn't stick around for them to spray the chassis (I took the day off & wanted a nap :) ) and I didn't want to get covered in undercoating just to get a pic or two.

I dropped the car off at 0800 this morning & BSed with them for a while during the wash & hand work, but then left them to do their thing. Then just called and said it would be done between 3 & 3:30. So in a few minutes, I'll be leaving to pick up my freshly washed & gooped up car.

[11Silverado]

My truck has undercoating sprayed on every year and I regret taking it every time. While the idea is great, their application is absolutely terrible. There is always overspray of black undercoating that needs attention. Worst part, it is still peeling off the frame when it rarely sees salt or any harsh road treatments. I wash it weekly, but it should not be peeling off so easily. I love the idea, hate the execution.

[WindyCity]

I personally love fluid film..apply it myself though. But on my work truck and daily drivers i dont care what the undersides look like i want to keep them from rusting since i keep them for a very long time

My camaro never sees inclement weather so i dont fluid film it


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[Don M]

My truck has undercoating sprayed on every year and I regret taking it every time. While the idea is great, their application is absolutely terrible. There is always overspray of black undercoating that needs attention. Worst part, it is still peeling off the frame when it rarely sees salt or any harsh road treatments. I wash it weekly, but it should not be peeling off so easily. I love the idea, hate the execution.

This stuff is an oil-based polymer, it NEVER dries, peels or hardens, it only turns into a gel-like substance after being sprayed and exposed to cold which is why they only do undercoating in the winter, it won't 'set up' properly when it's warm outside. I remains gooey and sticky basically forever. He's the only shop using it because it's so expensive and most shops (and customers) don't want to pay that much for "just undercoating." They have no clue the tenacity of this stuff and the OCD of the shop owner on perfection.

FRESHLY applied, it is easily washed off painted surfaces with mineral spirits, which is easily cleaned with soap & water and is part of the service when the undercoating is applied. Even when set up, it is just slightly harder to remove with mineral spirits.