My parents just bought a Mercury Mariner. It was built in August. They live in Rochester, I’m in Buffalo, and I’ve only actually seen the thing a couple of times but it appears to have no undercoating and even areas in the wheel wells that aren’t coated.
My dad likes to keep cars for a long time and is looking to get it undercoated before it sees its first winter. I have no experience with RUSTOP or Ziebart but I’m under the impression that they’re not super effective. My brother and I bought some por15 and undercoated his galant vr4 - it was super messy to work with but I really like it. My dad agrees that we should go with the real deal here(por15). I understand that it adheres better to rusty surfaces but so far it seems to do pretty well on clean surfaces too.
I’m obviously not going to start painting the underside of my parent’s brand new car for them. I also don’t know anything about warranties with stuff like this.
So are there any shops that apply por15 much like Ziebart and the like?
It would work fine for this application. Metal Ready etches, yes, but that’s only part of it - it leaves behind a zinc phosphate coating that promotes adhesion. You can apply it over damn near anything, and I have, for years. If you properly coat all surfaces that will see salt or water, you’ll be protected.
Now, the caveat: shit’s pricy to use. Plus, whatever you treat, it’s on there. It’s tough, but flexible, so it’s damn near bulletproof. If you slobber this all over parts that have to move, you run the risk of practically welding them together. I’d still think rustproofing oil would be the better way to go.
Yea idk how much it costs, never had to pay for it at the shop.
Well now that I think about it I never used the por 15, I still have an unopened quart in my box. We just used the metal etch during a rust repair (like a paint chip rust bubble or something) after grinding it down to get inside the little pock marks.
But really, washing it once a week does wonders to a car. I’m still putting my money on 3m rubberized under coating though. It comes in an easy spray can and is liquid enough to flow anywhere. Oh, and 3m internal panel coating for inside the doors and quarter panels (sprayed from in the trunk forward).
Trust me - you get this shit on something, it’s there. Like your fingers You just have to be quite liberal with your application for real rustproofing.
I am washing the Evo once a week this year (my 300M is still virgin underneath), next year I’m doing the Rustop treatment. Getting the salt off is still the best treatment :tup:
I’ve found the 3M rubberized undercoating to have two flaws that would keep me away from it.
*it gets clogged OFTEN…I’m talking like 5-10 seconds after spraying it.
*in my experience with exposed parts on the underside of the car, after a few years of winter use this stuff has chipped away quite easily.
I’ll be POR15’ing the underside of my car this week actually as I’ve never heard any negatives to this stuff, and the wash-every-week approach over the past 4 winters wasn’t as successful as people want to believe. Outside looks great…metal underneath not so much.
I’ve used LOTS of cans of that stuff when working at holtz and never had a can clog. I would undercoat any thing that wasnt painted after changing a quarter or rocker panel.
And yea, its not perfect, but $30 in undercoating every year would go a long way. and you can just spray willy nilly anywhere you want (besided brakes and struts, lol). You are going to be spraying the por15, right? post back with results of cost, coverage, etc.
I used por 15 to cover the rust that has started on the back door seams of my wifes 2008 Mariner already :banghead: 2.5 Year old car and the door seams are bubbling out already, fucking unreal. Good thing her dad works for ford and we get a decent deal for her LOL.
I would take the car to carwells or somewhere and more importantly that covering the bottom, would be to get the inside of the doors/rear tailgate and the areas you cannot get at coated/with something. Every ford she has had, the same thing, door seams start bubbling out and the trunk seams/plate area rust out. I would get someone to spary/oil up the doors If I were you.
thats what 3m internal panel coating is for. always used it inside a door when changing a door skin or behind a quarter. its real snotty so it runs down into all the cracks but isnt water soluble. once a door is rusting at the seams there is basically no way to stop it short from cutting it out.
The clogging would have to get unclogged via a paint thinner soaked ragged…got quite annoying.
I suppose if you go by your mentality of applying here and there every year it could be beneficial. I’m not 100% possitive, but I thought the POR could be brushed on. For the cleaning prep agent and a gallon of POR it runs right around $50.
Well yes, the por15 could certainly be brushed on, but I would think that spraying would be best. Its not catalyzed and takes FOREVER to dry, so take that into account when doing it. (usually overnight from what I remember)
If you are going to brush this please be careful. it will drip ALL OVER the place.
You just have to be quite liberal with your application for real rustproofing.