Just a caution comment from an old timer. Ziebart (and other services like it) were all the rage in the 70's and early 80's. Practically a shop on every corner and a public indoctrinated to believe their service was necessary (myself included). I had it done to my '68 Camaro and '75 Mustang II--both were new then.

Then people started realilzing that if it was not applied properly--i.e., too heavily--it would crack and hold water and actually make the car rust FASTER than just leaving it alone. I'm not knocking Ziebart current treatment--(actually I thought the company went out of business years ago and I was surprised to see that this piece of nostalgia still exists)--but I did want to caution owners about the problems that accompanied this treatment decades ago.

In addition to spraying the underside, Ziebart used to drill holes in the body and shoot their "protectorant" inside doors, quarter panels, etc. and plugged them with "decorative" black plastic plugs. These sometimes caused the same problems as well as the nasty habit of plugging the factory drain holes so that your doors sometimes sounded like they were 7-11 "Big Gulps" with the water sloshing around.

Once again, I'm not saying today's Ziebart is awful and must be avoided. Maybe the process and or materials have been made safer. I'm just cautioning that these services can caus at least as many problems as they fixed in the past.

 

Pt. II...Oh, and by the way, at least the prices haven't kept pace with inflation. The guy who had Ziebart service said he paid $300. I paid $200 in the 70's!

 

I am driving on the streets in winter.............can any body man tell me how bad the calcium/salt is on my Stang?
I know it is not good on any car..........My question is.........How bad !

 

The Ziebart I went to is only one of 2 left in my area...I didn't see any evidence of new holes drilled or black plugs anywhere. On their website they describe the process as washing and inspecting the underbody, then spraying undercoating on structural metal, seals and joints, and other areas prone to rust. They used a thick black undercoat on the frame/undercarriage and a clear waxlike substance on the door and trunk seals.

Unfortunately i don't have any pics of the undercoating. It was shiny black when freshly applied but is really not that noticeable considering that my wheel wells were already black.

 

I, too, was a victim of the late 70's rustproofing craze. My '78 Camaro was barely 1 year old and I had it rustproofed while in Michigan. When I was back east in NJ in 1984 my undercarriage had rusted so bad that when I slammed the car door you'd see a "dust imprint" of the chassis on the driveway. A mechanic doing some suspension work told me he had never seen chassis rust that extensive but thought it was a result of the rustproofing holding mositure underneath the coating. The coating had eventually lost contact from the surfaces they were meant to protect and was virtually gone.

The only thing you should do is high pressure wash the undercarriage every chance you get,

 

+1
one of the problems is that you can get protective coating on the cracks and crevasses but you cant clean them using the techniques they do. you would have to dis mantel the vehicle and dip it to clean and protect it.

 

+1 - at least after each snowfall melts away...

 

Yeah Ziebart was a joke, lol.
And drilling holes in the jambs would **** me off!!!

PPG used to make a tar (kinda) product that stayed soft and was kinda thin.
Also, water just slid off of it, like rainX does.
Best damn product for that purpose...

I'll see if they still make that and what's the part # for you guys...

 

Not a good idea to pressure wash because you'll push the salt in nooks and crannies...
Just hose it down abundantly.

 

I can see what you're saying. By pressure washing, I was implying some sort of method of rinsing. But pressure washing is available to almost everyone (you have to put your hose away in the north since it'll simply freeze solid and stay that way all winter unless you have a hose faucet in the garage) and is better than doing nothing IMO.