Anybody not using undercoating?

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autumn ash

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Hey, so im interested if anybodys painting their underbody with por15 or something similair, maybe even body color. If so are you happy with it?
Id prefer not to stack rubber/tar on my car again...
 
4500 miles on mine now and I live on a gravel road. Haven't chipped it yet...
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I am undesided myself. I have see cars painted underneath. After being driven they get all chipped up from road debris if you drive hard like I do. . I'm thinking a thin coat of a good rubberized undercoat around an behind the tires nicely taped off areas. This can be touched up without notice. POR15 is the worse, Once it chips it peals off in sheets. It only adheres to rust. Been there.
 
I didn't even do the wheel wells on my Bee above, figured I'd wait until the paint got chipped up and it would give the rubberized stuff something to bite into... still hasn't chipped though after 4 summers of cruising!
 
I used a product called "Chassis black" with a brush on my 68. It looked great , held up to stones without chipping and wasn't crazy expensive.
 
I paint the underbody with regular paint, either single stage or base/clear depending on what i'm using. You could do it in epoxy if you want to go the extra mile, but I only use undercoat in the wheel wells at the rear and the firewall portion in the front. I find it easier to clean without undercoat. Every year or so, I spray fluid film in the cracks and crevasses and wipe off the excess. Works for me.
 
None of our convertibles were undercoated (except the wheel wells). GTS has somewhere around 155,000 miles on it. While the underside is NOT shiny, it's still decent.
 
Factory undercoat, 56 years, 322,000 miles and no rust.

I vote for undercoat
 
No undercoat on mine. Lots of clear though. Holding up very well after 6 years and 7000miles!


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I have a full factory undercoat car. Nice and functional.. just OOOGLY.. But the bonus is you get a hood pad with that! LOL
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I just put a semi gloss paint on the underside. The rear wheel wells get undercoating for noise reduction. The car will live a sheltered life.
 
Primer underbelly with paint overspray just as the factory did it, with undercoat in the wheel wells. Not sure if that was factory or dealer installed, but the family owned the car since day one and it definitely had undercoat in the wheel wells

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Well...if you are going to the trouble to paint it why not prime and overspray like the factory. As someone said
these cars lead a sheltered life and the finish will stay nice a long time on most. Body color under the car is common but i don't know who started that. Probabvly the best thing to do is leave the factory undercoating on. It will be protected, quiet and have the correct restored finish if you are restoring a car that came undercoated.
 
After all the work scraping, burning, and blasting the old undercoating, I was not about to re-apply it. Black primer, white body color. Extra holes in rear seat belt area are for TTI exhaust hangers.

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There isn't a reputable body/restoration shop in the world using POR-15, Chassis Saver or any other "magic paint" to protect metal, because those paints don't protect metal. What they do accomplish is trapping moisture between themselves and metal, causing rapid rust-through. I've seen the damage they can do in two years; it ain't pretty. Avoid them like the plague. Quality primer and quality paint is all the protection you'll ever need. Undercoating is just a bonus, although I consider it mandatory in wheelwheels--just to dampen the sharp whack of stones on sheetmetal.
 
I have no intention on putting under coat on my 65 Barracuda. It took a while to get rid of the stuff that was on it. Too much time and effort went into the details. To under coat or not..."to each of their own."
Norm

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Removed all the old undercoating... went body color and clear coat in the wheel wells... chassis black underbody.
 
I'm just doing mine with brush on rustoleum (although my dumbass forgot they make red rustoleum.. i went black out of habit) It's not as pretty as sprayed but is hard as cement when dry. I don't worry about rush proofing or anything, how many of us will ever drive our cars in salt/snow... or even rain ever again? My goal is just to remove existing rust and cover up the metal.
P.S. i'm also just building something to beat the piss out of.. not a show car :)
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A few decades ago the major Mopar resto shops restored back to as like built by factory. If car came new with undercoat, they restored it as such. Used correct undercoat too! Otherwise, floor was primer, with overspray underside past rockers, etc. There was factory undercoat in various places under fenders, etc. Today, what 98% are done with bc/cc, bottom side of car as shiny as top side. We go from clones to restomods. Soon our old cars will be "restored" wit big batteries and electric motors! Progress!!!
 
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