Undercoating...to remove, or not to remove...

[TylerCharger69]

I'm finally embarking on hopefully a 2 month journey to get my car back on the road.  My question is...the undercoating.  This stuff is as hard as a rock, but it still seems to be doing it's job.  Should I remove it, or just leave it alone since it's getting undercoated again anyway.  I don't have a rust issue on my undercarriage everything is pretty solid.  If I should remove it.....HOW??  Is there an easy way??  I DO need to replace the trunk floor, however, and I'm going to undercoat that fresh metal too.   Thoughts?....Ideas???   I'm all ears!!   Thanks everybody....Ace

[69*F5*SE]

If there are no problems that you can see I'd just leave it alone.  Removing it is quite a task and you'll probably cause yourself more trouble down the road by scraping it off (propane torch and scraper is the best way in my opinion).  I scraped mine all off and due to the scraping I also scraped off the original primer in many areas and those areas started to rust.  Unless you want to do a full underbody resto I'd just leave it.  I only had minor rust issues underneath but, now I have to blast the entire underbody and reprime.  Lots of time and work.  Especially since I don't have the car on a rotisserie.   

[Charger-Bodie]

    Yep!

[green69rt]

If there are no problems that you can see I'd just leave it alone.  Removing it is quite a task and you'll probably cause yourself more trouble down the road by scraping it off (propane torch and scraper is the best way in my opinion).  I scraped mine all off and due to the scraping I also scraped off the original primer in many areas and those areas started to rust.  Unless you want to do a full underbody resto I'd just leave it.  I only had minor rust issues underneath but, now I have to blast the entire underbody and reprime.  Lots of time and work.  Especially since I don't have the car on a rotisserie.   

I agree, if it ain't broke don't fix it.  I've seen several cars go the removal route and cause more problems than you would believe.  Some of the problems were: 1. as above, damage to the underlying primer.  2. the old undercoat was oxidized or coated with years of carp that caused a seam to develop between the old and new layers.  This became a conduit for moisture.  3. accidents during the removal of the old undercoat, burned wiring, dented panels, you name it.

So unless you want to do a full bore restoration, just leave it.

[TylerCharger69]

Okay then...I'll just leave it, clean it up and maybe dust coat it black for cleanliness purposes.  The last thing I want to do is to open up a can of 40 year old worms...lol

[BBKNARF]

I used a heat gun and then wiped it down with virosol and painted it with a semi gloss black rust paint and the results, looks great.

[maxwellwedge]

Okay then...I'll just leave it, clean it up and maybe dust coat it black for cleanliness purposes.  The last thing I want to do is to open up a can of 40 year old worms...lol

I pressure wash, spray some good cleaner degreaser on it, scrub it a good scrub brush, pressure wash again and then nail it with the spray-on foaming tire cleaner and leave it. It looks new after that. A lot of work, but that is how I clean my survivor stuff up.

[TylerCharger69]

That's probably what I will do then.  I got some Mean Green cleaner/degreaser that'll probably do the trick.  Thanx Max!!   Oh...and everybody else's input as well!!