Why it seems just about every Charger for sale has fresh thick undercoating?

[SRT_Blubyu]

Besides the obivous of hiding defects is there a reason everyone seems to slather fresh undercoating on these 'restored' chargers? Was this typical factory practice??

 

[eldubb440]

if it's "built for profit"...........undercoat saves a lot of labor hours; and hides a lot of shitty looking work, or lack thereof

you would be lucky if surface rust like this is all they were hiding

 

[moparedtn]

Why it seems just about every Charger muscle car for sale has fresh thick undercoating?​

Fixed.

 

[AR67GTX]

There may be an exception(s) but except for spot undercoating in wheel wells, undercoating was usually a dealer or aftermarket option. Often with a car with old undercoating, as part of an overall clean up (not restoration) it's tempting to overspray the old, dried out, faded undercoating to make it look fresher. I'm guilty.

 

[slimt]

Funny you should talk about this.

7 years ago I was on the hunt for a 66/7 Charger. At the time one Red one in Maple Ridge BC seemed to be a nice one. 12 g was the price. But I was told it was in the shop getting a freshening up . Well went out looked at it. Not bad until I looked underneath. The black undercoating was dripping off the underside onto the floor. I looked closer to see many holes, It was rotted. Holes every where. Well I passed on that one.

Its a hiding product. Even on new cars it was a death sentence trapping moisture over time.

 

[Rusty knuckles]

It definitely makes the underside look better and is very easy and cheap to apply and protect the car. My buddy just did the bottom of his chevelle. He isn't hiding anything. Just a better option than paint for a car he's going to drive.

 

[barbee6043]

Some year back lots of people got into the "bottom of car needs to be as shiny as the top side" mentality. Car show stuff with the mirror beside the car so all an see how pretty!
I want to drive my car and preserve it. There is a good rason for undercoat when we want to DRIVE it!!!

 

[xs-ivv]

Besides the obivous of hiding defects is there a reason everyone seems to slather fresh undercoating on these 'restored' chargers? Was this typical factory practice??

 

[Photon440]

Some year back lots of people got into the "bottom of car needs to be as shiny as the top side" mentality. Car show stuff with the mirror beside the car so all an see how pretty!
I want to drive my car and preserve it. There is a good rason for undercoat when we want to DRIVE it!!!

Plus it also helps to quiet down road noise.

 

[4speed68rt]

I thought that it was pretty common from the factory. My car certainly has it. It is old and faded, but now I am hesitant to refresh it, because I dont want to be accused of hiding something!! haha.

 

[turbine68rt]

Its a hiding product. Even on new cars it was a death sentence trapping moisture

Fortunately not in all cases. Still have the 54 year old undercoating and all floors and trunk are still solid. And this was a Northeast car since new.

 

[68Moparmaniac]

\
Yeah there's those out there that take short cuts and hope to strike it rich without doing the "real work"...
The bottom of my Charger was completely stripped down to bare metal using walnut shell and elbow grease.
I sprayed mine not because I need to hide something but because I want to drive it. The body Schultz I used isn't as thick as the factory stuff but offers great protection from road crap and has sound deadening qualities that I wanted but not a lot of extra weight.... tough stuff.

 

[Rusty knuckles]

View attachment 1347083View attachment 1347084View attachment 1347080\
Yeah there's those out there that take those short cuts and hope to strike it rich without doing the "real work"...
The bottom of my Charger was completely stripped down to bare metal using walnut shell and elbow grease.
I sprayed mine not because I need to hide something but because I want to drive it. The body Schultz I used isn't as thick as the factory stuff but offers great protection from road crap and has sound deadening qualities that I wanted but not a lot of extra weight.... tough stuff.

Not to derail but what are your subframe connectors? Beautiful!

 

[Ron H]

Could be hiding, protection, or sound absorption…obviously stated. When I put a rust-free box on my Dakota, I undercoated it as all it had was primer and original paint overspray on cherry metal – for protection. Over the years learned a bunch looking at restored vehicles. There’s grade A, B, C, and so on quality restorations. Some have taken tons of photos of their restoration. Have over 250 photos of my ride, anyone who I might sell it to someday will see it naked about every inch of it inside, under, and during its phases of disassembly and reassembly. Phone cameras are handy, unlike doing my first resto before phones with cameras. MO, want to be pretty good spotting hard to see imperfections or shortcut work; learned a lot from versed body people. I’ve seen rides so nicely restored and much better when they have a photo shoot of what was done. There are those places bent on max profit flipping cars using the lipstick on a pig approach. If one doesn’t have the knowledge, locate someone who does before buying.

 

[68Moparmaniac]

Not to derail but what are your subframe connectors? Beautiful!

They're MoPar performance p/n P4876658 I believe is the number. These can be welded or bolted into place, your choice.

 

[slimt]

View attachment 1347083View attachment 1347084View attachment 1347080\
Yeah there's those out there that take short cuts and hope to strike it rich without doing the "real work"...
The bottom of my Charger was completely stripped down to bare metal using walnut shell and elbow grease.
I sprayed mine not because I need to hide something but because I want to drive it. The body Schultz I used isn't as thick as the factory stuff but offers great protection from road crap and has sound deadening qualities that I wanted but not a lot of extra weight.... tough stuff.

Nice and clean. Looks good.

 

[440 4 speed]

Our car was factory ordered with undercoating. Stripped it all off, because some of it had flaked off through the years. Also wanted more sound dreading material.

 

[Magnes]

I'm sorry but undercoating isn't sound deadener nor a heat barrier. Does it work for that? Probably worse than your carpet does. And if you want sound deadener or a heat barrier, you want it where you're at... Not 1/4" thick over the entire bottom of the car Like I see so often. I've seen some very clean jobs with undercoat but most are just sloppy, inconsistent messes.

I wanted a heat barrier/sound deadener in my 69 so I stripped the floor down, prepped it, and shot it with Lizard Skin INSIDE the car (where I'm actually going to be when it's hot and noisy AND where no one will ever see it).

For the bottom I stripped all the old undercoat off of my car, took it to bare metal, epoxy primed, then painted it all. On jack stands. That took time though. Most people won't ever do that. Hell, I don't know if I'll ever do that again. But in my opinion, that's the only way to show people 100% that there is nothing to hide. I'm fairly certain that a properly prepped, seam sealed, and painted bottom side will just hold up just as good or better. I think if you're going to undercoat, do all that and THEN undercoat it.

Sorry for the rant. I just agree. I've been seeing the same thing and ask myself... "How the hell are they trying to ask THAT much for a car with THAT much crap sprayed on it."... You can't see ****. Goop everywhere. Like a sign saying "corners WERE cut"

 

[Thrashingcows]

When I restored my coronet I stripped off all the under coating...if there was any on the original panels that survived...then painted the whole underside with just a simple rock guard...none of the chunky original style undercoating. Protects and gives everything a nice clean look.

 

[Photon440]

I'm sorry but undercoating isn't sound deadener nor a heat barrier.

Going down a gravel road with rocks hitting the underside of the floor pan, yes it is quieter when the gravel strikes a soft tarry surface instead of clanking against painted metal. And no, you may not be taking your nicely restored car down a gravel road, but when they were new it was a normal thing.