Question: I just bought a heavy duty steamer and was debating about removing what appears to be caked on dirt in the inner fenders and quarters. I think years ago I read an article that the dried on dirt acted as a barrier to moisture getting to the metal and therefore avoiding rust. My car is driver quality but not used as a daily driver and will only see rain on rare occasions. See attached photos: Is it pure dirt or some kind of coating covered in dirt? Would you remove and paint or leave alone. i want the car to look as nice as possible but I know its not a show winner. thanks,
What are you talking about? You car looks great! Im sure you'd take home a trophy if you put that car in a show The rear wheel wells usually have a thick coating on undercoat on them from the factory. On yours, it looks like you have some gold overspray from the last paint job. On rear wheel houses on my car, I took the wheels off, sprayed some Simple Green on them, gave them a good scrub with a bristle brush and hosed them off. Once they were dry, I gave them a fresh coat of the canned rubberized undercoating. A couple hours of work but the results were amazing. They looked brand new! . On my car, the front wheel wells had almost no undercoating on them. I cleaned them the same way. Once dry, I just misted on a little Rustoleum satin black. I also hand sanded the frame rails on each side of the car and sprayed them in satin black. This is the part of the frame rail that you see just below the rocker panel trim. Little improvements make a big difference
If I could I would make one suggestion. When you have time,I would pull the wheels one at a time (with stand please : ) to aid removal,and pull your stainless wheelwell trim. You might be very impressed how much potential rust promoting gunk is stuffed behind there after decades. Whenever I wash my cars I also cup my hand around the top of the rear wheelwell lip ledges to direct the water up there and avoid grunge perching up there too (just watch out for the sharp points of the screws). Nice looking car man : )
Many times the orig undercoating would peel, crack, or blister and moisture would condense between the undercoating and the metal and it would rust.
