billbuickgs Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 What is an easy to remove undercoating from wheel wells and underside of floor? I'm not restoring my 55 but want to clean it up somewhat. Yes , hard work is one way ! Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpecialEducation Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 I have a white car that was Ziebarted. That black stuff under the hood looked terrible. One time when the engine was out I decided to clean it up, what a mess. Still gooey after decades. As I understand it, Ziebart is parafin based. Mineral spirits and a plastic putty knife will do it, but it's still a lot of work (then I repainted everything I cleaned). There's no magic formula that will cut the coating without removing the paint. One of these days I'm going to completely disassemble the car and have it blasted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 I use an oscillating multi- tool with a flooring removal blade on it.... works good. Cheap at harbor freight and has lasted me 5 years now..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Propane torch until it is soft, remove bulk with putty knife, follow with mineral spirits. Nasty hard work, not so bad if you do one square foot daily . 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 (edited) I removed the undercoating from my '64 Riviera about 20 years ago. It was counter productive. The small amount that was lose came right off and what was tight was really tight and a good seal. Undercoating is also called sound deadener for a very good reason. The Riviera is a lot noisier. About 6 years ago we cleaned up the bottom of my '60 Electra. The undercoating was brown from road dirt. Being older and, honestly, a little smarter from experience I thoroughly cleaned the existing undercoat to remove most of the dirt and resprayed it with Carwell http://www.carwell.com/. I am happier with the recent job. The car is still very quiet and the black finish looks good. When I clean the car I scrub the visible front fender wells with spray glass cleaner and then pat on ArmorAll with a damp sponge. I won't remove undercoat any more unless there is some pressing reason to do it. And I probably will spray the Riviera when the current round of refurbishing is ending. Bernie Edited November 2, 2016 by 60FlatTop (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEarl Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Pretty much all of the above. Unless there are patches of missing undercoat, just clean the existing and respray with thin layer of more overcoat from LPS The best tool to remove large quantities of it is what Matt used above. For crevices and tight areas I used a heat gun, putty knife and a paint scraper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEarl Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 I bought and used a needle scaler one time but it really boogers up the metal with small dents 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1953mack Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Eastwood makes a spray-on product that I have used with good results. The softened undercoating is easily scraped clean similar to using a liquid paint remover for paints.....http://www.eastwood.com/under-gone-undercoating-remover-aerosol-17-oz.html Caution: the really old undercoating might have asbestos in it. Al Malachowski BCA #8965 "500 Miles West of Flint" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caballero2 Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Also, EZ-Off oven cleaner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 5 hours ago, MrEarl said: I bought and used a needle scaler one time but it really boogers up the metal with small dents I used a needle scaler on my 64 Riviera and it took the under coating off and left a pretty smooth finish on the metal. the scaler took off the undercoating but didn't disturb the paint. Could have been the product or the application. I used a 3M product to reapply a new coating. I like how it went on and it's not thick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 May I remind if you use a torch, heat gun, or oven cleaner..make sure you have appropriate ventilation or respiratory protection. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Big time ear protection as well as eye protection with a needle scaler. I think in certain places where there was a real build up, I used an electric heat gun and a narrow scraper. Trying to take off the undercoating in too big of pieces is a waste of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 I've tried many methods and have done many cars. For me a heat gun or torch (open flame can be hazardous if not careful and/or it slips out of your hand but I like it better in larger open areas because its faster than a gun), various width putty knives, flat blade screw driver for tight areas, and patience was most universally effective. It takes a little practice to learn how big of an area you can heat at once, and what temperature to get it just right to scrap off in chunks but not too hot to be gooey. It all depends how thick and what type of undercoating/body schutz it is. Most ideal is heating the metal from the backside but that's often not possible. Once the heavy stuff is off then more hours spent wiping it down with mineral spirits. Personal Protective Equipment: Work gloves for heating and scraping. Solvent resistant gloves for wiping. Tight fitting safety glasses or goggles If working overhead a beanie type head cover or old ball cap with the bill cut off works well. Dust mask is a good idea also depending on type of undercoating 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Some of the methods of removal can cause cognitive damage. Of course, that brings me back to why I wanted to do it in the first place. Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudbone Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Just a lot of hard work...... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEarl Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 43 minutes ago, Mudbone said: Just a lot of hard work...... well, you know what they say..."If it were easy......" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I did a 1965 Corvair and some big chunks came off by just running the putty knife under them.............but most of it was pretty well stuck and hard. A heat gun worked on 90% then more heat from a torch finished off the rest...also heating the putty knife also helped. After final cleaning and prep, I used spray on bed liner for the replacement. The brand I had needed something to dull the finish so I added flat black urethane pint to the mix and along with some experimenting with texture, it looks pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 Here is how the Carwell product looks freshly applied. If it gets dirty or dust coated I usually spray it with glass cleaner and pat it down with paper towels. Then I use Armorall liberally applied with a sponge. The areas without undercoating get sprayed with WD-40 and wiped off. We shot that coat knowing a new exhaust system was going in. I'd say that up until the 1990's undercoating was applied by salesmen who weren't meeting their quota. And their attitude showed in the overspray and sloppy job. I have been cleaning a little off the rocker moldings and wheel opening trim as I go along. We did that in the Spring of '11 and it still looks very good underneath. It's not like I'm babying it. Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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