Those rusty details ...

[Don]

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.

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.

Here`s Robbie coating the under hood areas & hinges

...and here`s Robbie doing the trunk channels and seams

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.

 

[Accumulator]

Don- Good on you for taking care of that!

Interesting that he did the seams from the *outside* too, but better safe than sorry.

 

[Don]

Don- Good on you for taking care of that!

Interesting that he did the seams from the *outside* too, but better safe than sorry.

This is the same shop where I first learned how to `properly` detail a car (Summer = intensive detailing / Winter = insane rustproofing).

The owner of the shop is extremely (a very mild word to describe him) driven to perfection and working with him made me realize just how far he will go to do the job "right." Which is why I made an appointment to have him rustproof my Camaro BEFORE I actually took possession of it

 

[BudgetPlan1]

NE Ohio, right? Who/where is Robbie?

 

[Accumulator]

Don- Oh man, that all sounds *so* good!

Sigh...had I known I`d be keeping the Beater-Tahoe for so long (rather than figuring it was a disposable ) I would`ve done the same to it (have done so in a problem area and gotten away with it so far, but still..).

 

[PRND[S]]

I can`t believe all that time, effort and materials is just $100. Not that we need rustproofing here in SoCal, but $100 wouldn`t get you very far -- it doesn`t cover minimum wage for eight hours.

 

[rlmccarty2000]

Yeah that sounds like a fantastic deal at 8 hours work and materials for $100. I`m surprised he doesn`t have more business than he can handle. I`m not even in the "rust belt" and I would have that done. I love working on paint, but the underside of my car is pretty much a mystery.

 

[Don]

NE Ohio, right? Who/where is Robbie?

Akron Oh. The shop is called Ultra Cote, Bob Lindsey is the owner/operator, Robbie is his "apprentice?" and has been working there for years.

;2101153`]I can`t believe all that time, effort and materials is just $100. Not that we need rustproofing here in SoCal, but $100 wouldn`t get you very far -- it doesn`t cover minimum wage for eight hours.

Yeah that sounds like a fantastic deal at 8 hours work and materials for $100. I`m surprised he doesn`t have more business than he can handle. I`m not even in the "rust belt" and I would have that done. I love working on paint, but the underside of my car is pretty much a mystery.

THIS was just an annual rustproofing checkup, the original cost, what with disassembly (splash panels, fender well inserts etc) chassis deep cleaning etc took 3 days and cost over $750. Steep compared to other "rustproofers" in the area but a bargain when you consider the depth and completeness of the job. (I got a discount for being a former employee & I`ve referred a few people)

 

[LEDetailng]

This seems like a very good idea. I`m guessing he gets a ton of new pickup trucks in there every fall. Can you post some pictures of it all cleaned up? Would love to see how clean/rust free it keeps the undercarriage.

 

[HCF]

What is the undercoating, yearly clean an respray areas ? I know Ti dyno in Astrabula, Ohio does fluid film, I`ve heard good things about it, yearly application also.

 

[Don]

This seems like a very good idea. I`m guessing he gets a ton of new pickup trucks in there every fall. Can you post some pictures of it all cleaned up? Would love to see how clean/rust free it keeps the undercarriage.

He gets tons of cars period during the fall. I even convinced my brother (who is an A#1 cheapskate) to fork out the $1,200 to do his Silverado 1500. He gets completely booked by October and if he hadn`t had a last minute cancellation, *I* wouldn`t have gotten my appointment last year. Next time I have it on a lift or can get underneath it, I`ll try to remember to get some pics. (BTW, yesterday he said my car is perfect-spotless, no signs of rust anywhere.

What is the undercoating, yearly clean an respray areas ? I know Ti dyno in Astrabula, Ohio does fluid film, I`ve heard good things about it, yearly application also.

I don`t know the name of the stuff he uses, but it`s very much like thick grease in consistency and yellow/brownish in color and has to be heated to be sprayed on. When I was there, we used cosmoline, but he said this stuff is way better.

It is a yearly respray/touch up w/paintbrush used cars get a 3 year warranty, new cars a lifetime warranty. I forgot to mention, on the original job, he removes the door panels and sprays inside the doors also.

 

[Accumulator]

... on the original job, he removes the door panels and sprays inside the doors also.

I`m guessing he does inside other potentially vulnerable panels too, doesn`t sound like the kind of guy who`d leave things to chance!

 

[Don]

I`m guessing he does inside other potentially vulnerable panels too, doesn`t sound like the kind of guy who`d leave things to chance!

You guess well, grasshopper. He sprays so liberally that the ENTIRE CAR is covered in rustproofing and it REQUIRES a mineral spirits bath to get it all off the paint.

 

[Nizmo]

I`d love to do this to the GTI, as unfortunately it`s covered in salt right now. I`ve been putting the cars on ramps when it gets warm and using my homebrew desalt, that that gets old after a while. There`s a local line-ex dealer that does undercoating, but it`s more of a thick rubberized system. Still might get them to see if they`ll cut me a deal on two cars at a time.

 

[rlmccarty2000]

I`m guessing the stuff he sprays in the doors also add some sound deadening properties as well. I wish someone in my area had this service.

 

[Accumulator]

Nizmo- The rubberized stuff has a reputation for making things worse instead of better (winter/salt/rust-wise) after a while. Gets compromised, creating pockets that salt/etc. dwells in, and doesn`t "self-heal" (scare-quotes intentional as I kinda wonder...) the way other types of undercoating/rustproofing do. I for one will *NEVER* use rubberized stuff after discussing the matter with guys who (really) know from such stuff.

Oh, and IMO if you want to keep it nice you`ll still have to do all that desalting (OK, OK..desalinization) after it`s rustproofed. IMO the rustproofing is really all about not having a terrible corrosion experience down the road.

Don- How`re things after the Mineral Spirits Bath? Marred up? That`s one thing that gives me pause as I..sigh...corrected before/without doing the rustproofing first

Eh, using some vehicles through our Ohio winters puts me between a rock and a hard place- I want my undercarriages/etc. all nice after each wash and don`t want rustproofing on my towels/etc. but I don`t want things to rust out. Spoiled by a few vehicles that never did rust despite all the salt exposure...

 

[Don]

Nizmo- The rubberized stuff has a reputation for making things worse instead of better (winter/salt/rust-wise) after a while. Gets compromised, creating pockets that salt/etc. dwells in, and doesn`t "self-heal" (scare-quotes intentional as I kinda wonder...) the way other types of undercoating/rustproofing do. I for one will *NEVER* use rubberized stuff after discussing the matter with guys who (really) know from such stuff.

Oh, and IMO if you want to keep it nice you`ll still have to do all that desalting (OK, OK..desalinization) after it`s rustproofed. IMO the rustproofing is really all about not having a terrible corrosion experience down the road.

Don- How`re things after the Mineral Spirits Bath? Marred up? That`s one thing that gives me pause as I..sigh...corrected before/without doing the rustproofing first

Eh, using some vehicles through our Ohio winters puts me between a rock and a hard place- I want my undercarriages/etc. all nice after each wash and don`t want rustproofing on my towels/etc. but I don`t want things to rust out. Spoiled by a few vehicles that never did rust despite all the salt exposure...

They are also a high-end detail shop, so they wash the car first (no dirt etc left on the paint) THEN they spray the undercoating and then mineral spirits wash, IMO it`s gentler than an IPA wipe down. The car ends up with no more marring than what it had BEFORE the whole process begins.

 

[Accumulator]

Don- Ah, OK...just sounds better and better No wonder they`re so busy!