BEST WAY TO RUSTPROOF YOUR VEHICLE

There are many ways to treat rust on a vehicle underbody. The following basic outline allows you treat a vehicle, chassis, subframe, axles, anything really.

You can swith products out for alternatives, or remove some entirely to save money (and reduce longevity) as well.

Process is

Step 1 - Degrease/  Clean.

Use Fxdegreaser and / or a steam cleaner. get everythignb clean. You should not to any more cleaning / degreasing once this process is done, so do it thoroughly.

Step 2 - Abrasives / surface preparation.

Remove heavy rust that has an edge. We call this "delamination". otherwiese this will cip off later and take the coating with it. use a needle gun, or chipping hammer.

next, bring down the surface profile. This can be done simply with paitn strip discs over rust etc. This will mean that the surface is not so rough under a microscope, and as a result the metal will not try and poke through the paint later cuasing rust spotting.

I use a combination of drill abrasives, quick release on a die grinder, and angle grinder. Work your way from the biggest (angle grinder) down to drill attachments. Finally for the last areas finish off with wire wheels. Reverse the roation on the drill every 20 seconds to maintain a cutting edge from the wire.

TOP TIP- Only use wire wheels on an angle grinder as initial cleaning back. They will polish the surface and reduce the adhesion of the coating, but are fast and cost effective for heavier areas of preparation.

Step 3 - Stripe Coat

Paitn thins on edges. it "pulls". to counter this follow the stripe coating guide and apply a full strip coat by brush. Stripe coats can be purchased here. we do three.

1. 2K armour for rough areas, no existing paint, and maximum protection.
2. RE Rust encapsulator. this is the most popular. Stabilises the rust and can be top coated with almost anything.
3. Superzinc 68. This is a budget but quality zinc rich paint. Use this if you budgety is limited and cannto justify Rust Encapsulator.

Step 4 - Primer

This step is important. there are three main choices.

1. Rust encapsulator. This will go over metals, rust and paint, sealing it up and treating the rust. 
2. 2K epoxy. A superb hard coating that lasts well. For rusty underbody use 2K Armour, for bare metal and high end restoration use 2K tintable epoxy.
3. No Primer. for coatings like CIO, DTM they are dirtect to metal paints. so you can leave the primer stage out. Longevity is reduced, but they are also easy to repair and reduce the cost of the job. I always use a seperate primer.

Step 4A - Sound / thermal insulation

Cosyfoam is a mid coat, applied by schutz gun that will add sound and thermal properties to any treatment, great for use underneath the vehicle body.

Step 5 -  Top Coat

You need to deciude what finish, how you want to apply etc, but generally these are the most popular top coats.

• WAR- Premium Hydrophobic, any colour, tough, and easy to clean.
• Lanolin Paint - Cost effective, any colour, brushes on superbly, and a lovely finish.
• Blackit Cost effective black wax based coating.
• DTM - Very tough single pack traditional paint / bedliner in any colour
• Fxliner 2K - Very ahrd 2K bedliner top coat any colour.

Step 6 - Optional Clearcoat

Once these products are applied you have anotehr options layer. Clear coating.

We do four optional clearcoats.

• Chassis Guard - Lanolin based oil, anti corrosive, , cheap and easy to apply, can be removed later for maintenance.
• Chassis Guard Pro. Striking a balance between 1 & 3, this coating offers better protection than 1, but cheaper than 3.
• Zero Prep UP. a high quality solvent lacquer, can yellow in some circumstances, but extremely hydrophobic, long lasting, and anti corrosive.
• Clear lacquer. More for show cars, but a good 2K lacquer works well. Only use this over WAR, or Fxliner, or Basecoat should you choose to go full body paint underneath.