Undercoating questions

[jizan]

I'm getting my new Yaris next week. (my first car!:smile::smile::smile:)
The first thing I wanna do is the undercoating.
Here in Canada every winter is horrible and
I know those stuff they put on the road will do no good for my brand new car.

My sales guy told me about some kind of protection package which includes
undercoating for a life time. But it was like $1100 and I thought
it was a rip off when I can get the undercoating spray for just $5-10.

I've read the undercoating inner wheel wells instruction in the
Yaris DIY Manual, but it didn't mention about undercoating the whole body.

So, if I actually do the undercoating by my self, what are the things
that I need worry about.
I searced but could not find any info about the undercoating.

If anyone knows about the undercoating please help!

[M4One]

I use to do this as a job. It's been a while, though. When I did this, I had the car on a lift and used a spray gun, so I'm not sure how you're going to get the underside done if you don't have access to a lift. There were a couple of times where I had to go buy the bottles at Canadian Tire and needed to go through a few to get it all done. Can't quite remember how many, but I would say 4 to 5 at least. Get some gloves, a mask, and some clothes you probably aren't going to wear again.

Basically, you're spraying everything down that is bare metal. That includes the gas tank and heat shielding and the frame. Avoid moving parts. You might want to buy a solvent as well so that if you do make mistakes you can spray it down and wipe off the undercoat. I'm trying to remember what I used, but it's been a while.

Most importantly once you're all done, let it dry. Do not drive your car if its raining otherwise all that hard work you did will be wasted and all over your car.

[jizan]

I use to do this as a job. It's been a while, though. When I did this, I had the car on a lift and used a spray gun, so I'm not sure how you're going to get the underside done if you don't have access to a lift. There were a couple of times where I had to go buy the bottles at Canadian Tire and needed to go through a few to get it all done. Can't quite remember how many, but I would say 4 to 5 at least. Get some gloves, a mask, and some clothes you probably aren't going to wear again.

Basically, you're spraying everything down that is bare metal. That includes the gas tank and heat shielding and the frame. Avoid moving parts. You might want to buy a solvent as well so that if you do make mistakes you can spray it down and wipe off the undercoat. I'm trying to remember what I used, but it's been a while.

Most importantly once you're all done, let it dry. Do not drive your car if its raining otherwise all that hard work you did will be wasted and all over your car.


Thanks for your reply!
I don't have a lift so I was just gonna use a jack to lift the vehicle up little
and crawl under to spray if possible.
Friend of mine has a lift that I can use though in case I'm stuck underneath the car.
I'll try to post with pictures in the future.

[fnkngrv]

You would also want to be sure that you use an etch primer. LOTS of people spray on undercoating without etch primer which is a big no no. Etch primer prepares the metal surface to accept another compound, paint, etc.

[M4One]

Rethinking this, you might not need 4 to 5 bottles after all. 2 to 3 for sure. Depends on how thick you spray it on. I'm thinking its going to be pretty difficult to spray just by jacking it up so I would take your friend up on his offer to use his lift.

This is the first time I've heard of using etch primer before using undercoat. Not saying it's not right, but only I was never taught to use it. Just lift it up and spray. Learn something new.

[fnkngrv]

^ a lot of people realize don't it, but it is a good practice.