Ziebart, good stuff? or junk? <iframe width="640" height="360" src="" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> https://youtu.be/nXvl9nt57Kg
As a Technician who spent the first part of his career in the repair business, in the rust belt, I agree that products like ziebart, sprayed over already rusty metal, are a problem. Undercoating will not stop existing rust, even surface rust. Undercoating is designed for two things.. noise control, and to keep corrosive chemicals away from metal surfaces. It cannot be applied "after the fact".. only once, when the vehicle is brand new, and has not been exposed to corrosive chemicals. Many of us have stripped the factory undercoating out of a rear wheelhouse of a 50 year old car, that is otherwise rusted out, and found nice shiny metal underneath it. Undercoating, properly applied, works. His conclusions about undercoating in general are a bit simplistic. Seems to want to sell you another product. I have found thru the years, that the best way to prevent rust, is to paint every bare metal surface, and then when it is exposed to salt, wash the vehicle after ever time it's exposed. Plenty of convenience stores have the "all you can wash" cards. It takes a little effort, but I any vehicle that I have owned that was not rusty when I got it, did not develop rust in the time I owned it, and I am talking about decades of year round use... Vehicles that had rust when I bought it, are gone, it's just a matter of time.. not much you can do to slow it down even. I rarely wash my vehicles in the summer, but wash them several times after each exposure to salt in the winter. Even the rusty ones...it's a losing battle, but it's a habit I picked up long ago. For those who will not be bothered to take care of their car, then you either need to move to someplace that does not use salt, or quit whining about it. You have made the choice to let your car rot out. JW
Yep, salt is bad, the new stuff is worse. I had to go back to St Louis in the dead of winter a few years ago with my "never seen snow" pickup. Got back home and it had surface rust everywhere and corroded all the underhood aluminum. But when I was younger I remember my father taking his new Nash to be undercoated and "Mingized".
That's why I don't like the Chevy truck frames, GM just dips them in a waxy substance, instead of painting the frame like Dodge does.
This. It got real bad starting with the 2014 models. Didn't take more than 6 months from my frame to start rusting around any sharp edge where the coating was thinnest. I think there was even a tech bulletin that would allow for one dealer reapplication if you bitched enough. Of course that "fix" was short lived since most dealers did minimal prep to remove the existing rust prior to applying the coating by hand on a spot basis.
I had my truck oil sprayed when I purchased it. Back in 1970, I had my new Chevelle Ziebarted. worked well. Sold the car no rust 4 years later.
I just bought the 'Fluid Film' aka 'wool wax' rustproofing to use on my driver and treat some areas on my classics. It's Lanolin-based, basically like spraying an enviro-friendy oil on the underside of your vehicle. Should last a year if it's not pressure washed off.
Here is what I am worried about with oil based spray on coatings.. what about the sand, dirt and dust they are going to attract? They will cake it on in nooks and crannies, and that is the exact place were it will hold moisture, and rust will start. The salt water will wash the oil off eventually. I would only use them in the winter season, followed by a complete and thorough pressure washing of the underside in the spring, and then re-apply the next fall. I would assume that is the directions, since re-spraying over dirt makes little sense. JW
Have you ever tried to remove Ziebart? It's a bear to try to get off. A chisel and a BFH are your best bet.
"Back in the day",down south here, service stations had an actual oil pit. Drive the car over the pit. Get down in the pit. Generously spray used motor oil on the underside of the car...wheel wells,gas tank,chassis,the whole nine yards. Pull out. Tip the gas station owner a buck for using his pit.Go tearing down a nearby(we had plenty of those,even in the city) dry dirt road a few times. Undercoated,and rustproofed. Affordable.
I don't know how you east coast guys deal with that salted road stuff. I guess we are spoiled here on the west coast, heck even when I lived in Montana and scoured the Montana and Wyoming wrecking yards almost all the cars in the wrecking yards looked like this underneath.
There was a trim shop in Elkin North Carolina that had a pit, we'd buy cars at Northwest Auto Auction, drive 'em to Elkin to the trim shop, pull over the pit, change the oil, just let it splatter wherever, ahhhhh, the good old days
Yes it will work till it dries out enough, about 5-6 years, then it starts developing cracks. The moisture penetrates the cracked up undercoating and you are now hiding and protecting the rust happening underneath the undercoating. If you took your vehicle back for yearly touch-up to keep warranty in effect, it still just sealed in any moisture. Don't think there was a lifetime never rust policy anyway, it just makes a mess of the underside. A real B to try and remove it too. I was going to buy a 87 Grand National couple years ago till I looked underneath and saw the Ziebart. They were all the same, Ziebart, Polyoleum, and a few others.
I have one of the few 2005 Silverados in the area with solid, non rusted, original rocker panels. It was rust proofed very well when new. I also wash it regularly. With my '92 Plymouth, its a race between rusting away and drivetrain failure. I just bent and installed new brake lines. I just have to bleed them.
I do not know why it is called "rustproofing"! No such thing; only rust retarding. Remember the scam where u could buy a device and pass current thru your vehicle to prevent rusting?
We have a Guy here in the area. Rick Fennel he sprays your vehicle with a substance close to crude oil. If you ever went to a oil tank where they had a pump. And climb up top and dip a 5 gal bucket in. It’s a lot like that. Crude oil before its refined. Sticky. But if you have to wrench on car you won’t be happy. But protects from salt well
