what are you guys using for undercoating? I have the original (read decaying) undercoating on mine, and I plan on taking it all off, and putting new stuff on.

I don't have a lift, so that's problem 1. Second problem is, I could take off all of the stuff underneath to get a perfect coat, but the car is my daily driver, so I don't plan on doing that.

What do you suggest for removing it? A wire-wheel and a drill? Or, a few wire wheels ?

And what kind of undercoating should I use? I was thinking of the truck bedliner, but I will be applying this upside down (meaning it could drip off). I know some will stick, but I don't want to make toooo big of a mess.

 

As far as removing the old, torch (or better/safer - use a heat gun) and a putty knife. But I'm old school, maybe someone younger has a newer idea.

 

Alright, I've got both of those....it comes off that easy though?

 

I don't know about easy, had a buddy with a Pantera (man, I love that car) that spent a little over a year on the bottom of the car. He didn't want to spring for a rotissory (sp?). He always had burn marks on his forearms.

 

lol, yikes. I've already been in the hospital too many times, don't need to go to the burn ward.

Maybe I'll pick up a wire-wheel and see if it works. if it hurts it, I'll get some good welding arm-length gloves

 

I used a wire brush and putty knife. Get off all the loose stuff then I used eastwoods red rust encapsulator, very close to original. Check out the pic:

Damn, sorry forgot to resize it.[]

 

We used truck bedliner, none of it dripped off, the extent of our mess was what we spilled, and this cleaned off with laquor thinner.. it took about a gallon to cover the bottom of the 66. We reduced the liner for faster/easier coverage.

If you go this route get a gun with a hose that syphons directly from the can, not a gun with an attached container so that you can spray from any position or angle. We shot the car while it rested on 4 jackstands, in about a half an hour, there was plenty of room.

Cleaning off the old stuff sucks,,, we were fortunate that what was under the car was not peeling off, we did sand some areas with 80 grit on a D/A sander. You can do this to much of the underside of the car, and scrape away stuff that you cant reach with a sander.

 

I am going to throw this in here because I think it needs to be said. When undercoating gets old, it tends to crack, and when it does water gets under it and it begins the rusting process. And, since the water is under the undercoating, you don't know it is happening until it is too late. What most guys do is get the bottom clean, then spray it with red oxide and then maybe a coating of their favorite color like black.

 

You can do like we do on Jeeps ... have a leaky transfer case or transmission that slings oil everywhere, permanently preserving the underside from everything except rocks!

 

Add VW's to the list of oil sprayers.
Jim