Clean, not remove undercoating.

[Ingemar Viklund]

I am currently in the process of cleaning the chassi / undercarriage of my 69 Satellite that has what seems like the original undercoating. I am not going to remove any of the coating, just want to well.. make it look better. What to use?

 

[Charles Cook]

Black spray paint. Really

 

[zyzzyx]

The one problem you're going to have is the undercoating in the area around the rear of the trans usually
leaks fluid just a little for a long time if it's an automatic. That oil soaked area will come off very easily because
it has been softened. Mine came off right away without any work. I would spray the underside down with a
garden sprayer loaded with dawn & hot water, then pressure wash it off with low pressure. Don't dig into the
undercoating and then just fix spots later. It should come out nice!

 

[Darter6]

It's been awhile. 3M makes a product called Body Schutz that works very well.
Thin to apply for touch ups and or a recoat.Requires their spray application gun that the bottle screws directly on.
Lately I have been using Truck Bed black.This was a quickie blast. Not the best job by me on this beater.

 

[Darter6]

This is the best photo of Truck Bed Black when doing this car. Done with spray cans.Just a thought.

 

[Bighouse]

SEM trim black spray paint

 

[Runcharger]

Yeah, I've tried soaking undercoating with everything from Varsol to Laundry detergent. I think maybe soaking then heated spray water would be the best chance. I also think it would remove at least some undercoating which would spoil the whole effort. You also don't want any water or other liquid sneaking in between the undercoating and the metal/primer. Hence everyones suggestion to touch up rather than clean.

 

[qkcuda]

My car was fully factory undercoated, but covered in red dust from what I assume was life in Arizona. I decided to pressure wash it. Because my cheap pressure washer doesn't have a very wide spray pattern, I ended up with a tiger striped undercarriage. One day I will try and do a better job.

 

[Davefinan]

I’ve never tried to remove undercoating from a chassi, but I did remove it from the under hood area. A prior owner thought it was a good idea to spray a medium coat of it all over.
I tried chipping it off with a stiff putty knife when it was very cold out and it came off relatively easy exposing the car color paint. Very long tedious job. I can imagine doing that on the entire underbody

 

[Darter6]

red dust from what I assume was life in Arizona.

That stuff is everywhere out here. I vacuumed about 2 lbs out of the inside of the doors,trunk, cowl etc.

 

[qkcuda]

Here is the dust coating on the back of the original headlights

 

[matthon]

Spray undercoating with Goo Gone - Automotive Goo & Sticker Remover.
Make sure it is this type of Goo Gone, sometimes hard to find.

Spray on a thick coat, walk away, come back in a few hours spray again, walk away, repeat if you can, come back 24 hrs later.
It will appear dried out and normal when you return, but will scrape off with ease.
Definitely better when spraying down instead of up, or covering with saran wrap after, keeps it wet and helps it soak in better, but not always possible and it scrapes off as a wet black goo this way.

I used it many times and was always surprised, especially the first time when I had to walk away, came back the next day and it looked all dried out. I thought, what a waste of $ and now I have to spray again, but it came off dry and was so easy to clean up.

 

[1KoolBee]

The OP wanted to CLEAN the undercoating, not remove it. In dry climates where underlying rust is not an issue, just get a scrub brush (preferably with an handle) and some Purple Power cleaner and scrub it. After rinsing, let it dry for a couple days, then brush on some Eastwood chassis black paint. Turned out great on my Bee. Nice thing about it is that it’s pretty easy to clean after it’s painted, no drama over duplicating the original undercoating spray pattern or finding “concours” undercoating.

 

[1000j]

I put my Challenger on the hoist and soaked it with spray nine and pressure washed the undercoating and it came out nice

 

[GetX'd]

I know you want to keep Ma Mopars original undercoating and I agree with you 1000 %. I had stored my X in a pole barn out in the country in MN for some 30 yrs on a loose rock flooring before pulling it out to restore. My biggest worry was the probability of a rotted underbody. Not to be. The whole undercarriage was as solid as new because of that undercoating. The only place that was problematic was the trunk pan because they don’t undercoat above the gas tank - thus that was completely rotted away but also an easy fix. I never did try to touch it up but couldn’t agree with you more on your project. Good luck!

 

[Pool Fixer]

I know you want to keep Ma Mopars original undercoating and I agree with you 1000 %. I had stored my X in a pole barn out in the country in MN for some 30 yrs on a loose rock flooring before pulling it out to restore. My biggest worry was the probability of a rotted underbody. Not to be. The whole undercarriage was as solid as new because of that undercoating. The only place that was problematic was the trunk pan because they don’t undercoat above the gas tank - thus that was completely rotted away but also an easy fix. I never did try to touch it up but couldn’t agree with you more on your project. Good luck!

same here. my 68 charger has all it's OE undercoating. It's dirty and I'd like it to look better but i'd never remove it.

I have a lift. I'm going to try to spraynine it. I keep that around for the boat anyway. I also have an electric power washer so that might be the ticket.

 

[1KoolBee]

So on undercoated cars, the gas tanks are coated too. I took some of the original “blister your skin in 20 seconds” aircraft stripper and removed the undercoating from the tank. Tank looks brand new. The trunk floor above the tank was pretty clean.I didn’t like the repro tank pad I got, it was foam, a moisture magnet. So I carefully cleaned the original tank pad, let it dry, and sprayed it with some krylon rubberized black paint which helped keep it together.