Does anybody bother undersealing their cars?

[phil1968]

I would say yes on anything prior to about 15 years ago as most modern cars have excellent anti corrosion treatments. How many 10 year old cars do you see these days that are rusty? (save for those that have had bodywork poorly repaired). Corrosion on a 5 year old car was commonplace not 25 years ago.

[galloot633]

I have to say those that mock rust proofing have either not inspected under their cars or get rid after 5 or 6 years , like I said in a previous post I first checked my xc90 when it was 5 years old and the rust bug had already started on things like the spare and various brackets , whatever you use anything is better than nothing , I just give mine a spray with waxoil once a year and that's enough , being high off the ground I don't need to raise the car , the one place I haven't sprayed is the abs rings , and sure enough both front ones rusted out this year resulting in a massive ( to me anyway ) repair bill for their replacement , needless to say new rings have got the waxoil treatment
Dave

[volvoid]

Ive never done it on any car, only touched up a few spots if Ive felt it necessary. Cant say I spend a lot of time slithering around underneath a jacked-up car looking for faults.

[Bonefishblues]

Yes to my old MX5, no to everything else.

[canis]

I've spent considerable amount of time and effort on the underneath of our beloved V40. Not because it's a concourse valuable prestige piece of motoring heritage, just because the new cars scare me with all their stupid rules.

It's very easy for some fat-headed politician to sit in an oak panelled office only two degrees above comfortable asking of manufacturers "Can it be done?", recieving an affirmative reply, and then passing a law. But they're not the ones lying under a car for the umpteenth time trying to work out why their ABS isn't working.

I mean, I've had dozens of cars, none have ever had (or needed) ABS before. I'm a capable driver, who was trained well, and has compounded that with many hours of experience. I can stop a car. But now, all of a sudden, I've got to comply with this new law rendering this perfectly good car unroadworthy. The idea of other stupidity like typre pressure monitoring truly disturbs me.

See, it's one thing to put a ton of electronics into a car and expect it to continue working, but it has the advantage of suspension. Things like ABS sensors are in full receipt of every bump, full whack, and rain and salt and wotnot. It's expecting a bit much to put electronic gizmos on the wheels and have them work, they suffer all manner of vibration and water ingress.

These techniques are basically the new tool for getting the poor off the roads and into their correct position according to their status, while the rich sods can fly accross town on empty roads. We need to resist this fascist effort in any way we can.

So I spent many hours under the car scrubbing it, painting everything. Underseal is the final touch, really. The serious work went into preventing the corrosion in the first place. And I'm putting my money on PVA glue. But in all other respects, it's basically like painting the hull of a boat, except that a car is a much more complicated shape. But I figure it's effort which will pay dividend in future.

It's either that or run the gauntlet of new cars with insane electronic expectations, and ten years from now there will be a lot of cars being taken off the road way too prematurely in my opinion. And they'll justify this with them being "newer" and "greener" all the while ignoring that these cars could go on for hundreds of thousands of miles except that their TPMS and other unnecessary bull**** will render them "dangerous" for truly pathetic reasons.

[volvo always]

on my 240 I just give it a quick go from a can especially the sills and box sections every couple of years.

I did the same to my 940.

This summer it's all due again so I'll do it again but probably with dinitrol!

James

[galloot633]

just to give you an idea , this was posted on the xc90 section, other members have dismissed it as only surface rust , but i don't like rust of any kind
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=277088
Dave

[ITSv40]

Originally Posted by galloot633

just to give you an idea , this was posted on the xc90 section, other members have dismissed it as only surface rust , but i don't like rust of any kind
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=277088
Dave

I'm with you on that one. Rust is rust no matter where it is and like cancer will spread and get worse if not treated.

Those photos are truly shocking, looks like the underside of a British Leyland product of c1977, photo taken in 1978.

[galloot633]

I agree , mine was going the same way when it was about 5/6 years old , I was checking the spare when I found the rusty chassis , wire brushed the loose stuff and sprayed , do it once a year , takes less than 20 mins .
Dave

[KerPLoD]

The Volvo's had the sills and wheel arches sealed.

The Corsa will have the sills sealed before the side skirts go on this year. And my van will have it done as well.

Not that messy waxoyl bollocks though. Will have all proper underseal used.

To be honest though the only cars that seem to rust in recent years are certain Suzukis (shame because the engines are brilliant), older Vauxhalls, All bloody Fords, and Mercedes seem to have issues as well.