I just had the whole undercarriage and wheel wells pro' steamed cleaned on my IM in preparation for some undercoating. The car is presently in my heated garage and I've got it up to 80+ trying to really dry it good
Tell me what you've used or would use to seal the whole deal.
Note: this is my first attemp ever at this job
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I haven't used this but have had heard good things..
after considerable google's it seems a lot of folks have drying problems with some brands. Some go on with too much bubbling which traps moisture. One product that boasts no bubbling is Eastwood's spray on.
I'm a big fan of POR15 products. I've already done all the exposed underneath metal with the stuff...then for some reason the remainder of the magic black goo' hardened up on me in the container. I lost over half the quart..doh
I've used waxoyl hardwax undercoating because I could get it in aerosol cans, it wasn't super expensive, and it's self-healing to some extent. I put it on over a year ago and it seems to have held up except for some spots on the rear axles and front beam where the car has rested on jackstands.
I've read of people using rubberized bedliner-type coatings but I've gotten the impression that those can trap moisture between the coating and the metal, leading to rust in the long run - rust that may not be apparent because it's masked by a fairly solid layer. I've also read that bedliner is a nightmare to remove.
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I just looked on the Samba and some noble soul did a side by side comparison of six wax-based undercarriage coatings:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=479448&start=0
Bedliner might be good for non-metal wheel wells. It might help prevent damage to your paint from a pebble smacking the inside of the fiberglass at high speeds. I don't think Waxoyl would do anything to fix that potential problem.
Undercoating? Why on Earth would you want to undercoat? A car that lives in a heated garage and is driven on sunny days. Almost exclusively?
Paint it underneath with black epoxy paint.
I suppose I could paint it but I'm not. I want the extra protection that an encapsulated layer of rubber adds. A small bonus is the added sound dampening it brings
