Need opinions about finish on chassis

[69bronzeT5]

I was thinking last night, I plan on using my '69 as much as I can. I would ultimately like to do some rallys and autocross with it. Now I'm looking for opinions...how should I get my chassis done? Should I do it black, silver (colour the car will be), factory style (primer & overspray) or do like Rhinolining or some sort of other thick undercoat on it?

[Charger-Bodie]

That is pretty much entirly up to you,the owner......I think they look awesome in the over restored fashion,but it got to be how YOU want it..

With as much new floors as your car needs I think it would be foolish not to paint it up really nice,but if you like undercoating that what you should do. Build it to suit YOU.

[bull]

Does it have undercoating now?

Here's my philosophy as it relates to my car. Mine came with factory or dealer installed undercoating and I'm glad it did for a couple reasons. While I do love the look of a nicely painted undercarriage I think it sort of defeats the purpose of usability. In other words, I don't want to be worried about the top and the bottom of my car. Second, the benefits of undercoating are that it costs less during the restoration as well as all the other benefits for which they put it on in the first place; protection, noise and heat reduction, etc. But, if my floor had a bunch of nasty rot and I was going to have to replace it all and the trunk floor too I'd really be on the fence about finishing the bottom off nicely or reinstalling undercoating. If I were in that boat though I think I'd still go with undercoating. Fortunately for me though, my car came with it so it's a no-brainer: I want to use it and undercoating makes it more usable.

Like Brian said, it's really up to you. I will say this though, if you don't paint the bottom I'd finish it off with nothing but real undercoating like what came from the factory. Not Rhinolining.

[69bronzeT5]

Does it have undercoating now?

[The70RT]

Mine had undercoating on it but was soaked with oil, grease and road grime. After I removed mine and had it blasted and primed it looked so good I went the over restored look. Undercoating is good if you don't do a total restore, you can just hit the replaced areas back to match the rest. You can always put sound deadener in to make up for any road noise and heat. I just think a pained bottom shows how much work and detail went into the car as well.

[FLG]

I like the undercoated look. Yes the over-resto looks SWEET! But at the same time i dont want to deal with cleaning the bottom and im sure as hell not gonna go under the car to clean it. I think some nice undercoating actually really looks good on alot of cars.

[elacruze]

We went around the maypole a few times on this. My resto lead (interior/assembly) loves the undercoat/rhinoliner look. My body guy likes paint. In the end, we decided to paint the underside to match the top, and he's finishing it off with some less expensive/more durable urethane clear which isn't as shiny but will last a long time, and can be cleaned and resprayed if necessary from road abuse. I plan on driving across country a couple times in it, so durability was considered-but in the end appearance won out.
Edit: My car is silver too and staying that way, top and bottom. 

:YMMV:

[Back N Black]

We went around the maypole a few times on this. My resto lead (interior/assembly) loves the undercoat/rhinoliner look. My body guy likes paint. In the end, we decided to paint the underside to match the top, and he's finishing it off with some less expensive/more durable urethane clear which isn't as shiny but will last a long time, and can be cleaned and resprayed if necessary from road abuse. I plan on driving across country a couple times in it, so durability was considered-but in the end appearance won out.

:YMMV:

That's what i used on mine,urethane clear, its tough and look real good.

[69bronzeT5]

See, I don't really care how it looks as long as it ain't rusty! I'm just thinking of durability and protection.

[elacruze]

Are you in the rust belt? Will you be driving after salt season begins, or before the spring rains wash it away?
If not for salt, I don't think you'll have to worry about durability to the rhinoliner extent. My car came to me with about 300lbs of Alabama red clay on the undercarriage, and the bottom paint was in better shape than the sun-baked topside; even unpaved roads aren't damaging. As was said at the start, only you can make you happy. As a relative said once, "Here's my opinion, feel free to disregard it". I'm all for a painted bottom, but I'd never pretend to tell you my way should please you.
I believe that undercoating or rhinoliner is not significantly more durable than urethane; the *significance* being that your roadside isn't a pickup bed nor winter driver (probably). When I lived and drove in the salt of Detroit, I was a religious undercoater, and even fair-weather cars needed something underneath due to the ground moisture and heat cycles up there, but for sealing not impact. For myself, even if I manage 40,000 miles in the Charger I don't see the necessity of going heavy on the bottom.

I do acknowledge the additional labor in cleaning a painted bottom, though. Nothing is free. 

[69bronzeT5]

Are you in the rust belt? Will you be driving after salt season begins, or before the spring rains wash it away?

Depends, I'm on the west coast of B.C so the moist climate isn't the best for cars but it's not that bad. I wouldn't say I'm in the rust belt and I don't plan on driving it that much during salt season.

[elacruze]

Are you in the rust belt? Will you be driving after salt season begins, or before the spring rains wash it away?

Depends, I'm on the west coast of B.C so the moist climate isn't the best for cars but it's not that bad. I wouldn't say I'm in the rust belt and I don't plan on driving it that much during salt season.

I live only about a half-mile from the Atlantic Ocean. Salt air is a serious problem where I am, in fact cars in Florida tend to rust from the top down rather than the bottom up. Daily rinse is a prerequisite. Do you have onshore winds, are you close enough to the Ocean to get salt mist?

[Belgium R/T -68]

I sprayed my underside with a rubbercoating for sound and other protection. Since it dryes I afterwards painted it bodycolour.
It also makes the paint moore elestic which is necessary to prevent from cracks from small stones hitting your floors and wheelwells.

Per

[six-tee-nine]

I'm also still undecided on this matter.... my car has the factory undercoating, but its cracked and brickhard, so it'll have to go all of when i have the car on the rotisserie.
I like the painted look but how will it look after a couple of summers of intensive cruising? dents in the underside, paint chips coming loose from stones that hit the underside etc.....
One thing i know for sure : the wheel wells need coating for sure !

[qwick68]

Mine came with factory installed undercoat....that real tough thick chunky stuff.  Mine was is great shape so i just cleaned it and painted it with POR 15 chassis paint...it look excellent just like new.  The undercoat really saved my car too...a northeast car that never saw a garage, i only had to replace the trunk floor everything else is original-all floors extensions etc......

[BLUE68RT4ME]

My car had undercoat put in from the dealer I believe.  You could tell the order in which the tech put it on too; rear wells first then front.  He was really heavy in the back and the last one up front got pretty thin.     So, everything was painted underneith and the undercoat was only in the wheel wells and along the inner quarters and trunk extensions.

I have crust here and there all over the underside and in the rear wheel houses.  I had to take it all off anyway.  Heat and a scraper worked.  We sandblasted the rest because we're completely restoring the car and EVERYTHING is getting addressed.

Talking with my body man, who is my best friend (not just because he owns the shop!  ), we concluded that we were going to paint it and put a heavy clear on it.   Reason being is several.  One, with all the effort to remove the areas of undercoat that were there before, it would be one hell of a job to ever have to do it again when sand blasting would have it off in no time.  But, hopefully you don't have to worry about doing it again.  Second, the appearance of the underside painted and shiny tells people that you went over the car thoroughly, from top to bottom.  People see that and know you've really went all out.  Third, with all the new clear coats out there, you can put on some heavy clear that is really durable and have no problems.  Plus, it's easier to mask off a spot that needs to be re-cleared later than to have to try to put more undercoat on somewhere and blend it.

For me, the thing I hate most about undercoat is that it holds so much dirt, and though it won't rust it does look dingie.  I found that if you spray the foaming tire cleaner on it, that stuff can really make it pop, but I'd rather just take it through and undercarriage wash and be done with it.

There's my    But don't listen to me... I don't know squat... just ask my last girlfriend! 

Good luck!   

[The70RT]

My car had undercoat put in from the dealer I believe.  You could tell the order in which the tech put it on too; rear wells first then front.  He was really heavy in the back and the last one up front got pretty thin.     So, everything was painted underneith and the undercoat was only in the wheel wells and along the inner quarters and trunk extensions.

I have crust here and there all over the underside and in the rear wheel houses.  I had to take it all off anyway.  Heat and a scraper worked.  We sandblasted the rest because we're completely restoring the car and EVERYTHING is getting addressed.

Talking with my body man, who is my best friend (not just because he owns the shop!  ), we concluded that we were going to paint it and put a heavy clear on it.   Reason being is several.  One, with all the effort to remove the areas of undercoat that were there before, it would be one hell of a job to ever have to do it again when sand blasting would have it off in no time.  But, hopefully you don't have to worry about doing it again.  Second, the appearance of the underside painted and shiny tells people that you went over the car thoroughly, from top to bottom.  People see that and know you've really went all out.  Third, with all the new clear coats out there, you can put on some heavy clear that is really durable and have no problems.  Plus, it's easier to mask off a spot that needs to be re-cleared later than to have to try to put more undercoat on somewhere and blend it.

For me, the thing I hate most about undercoat is that it holds so much dirt, and though it won't rust it does look dingie.  I found that if you spray the foaming tire cleaner on it, that stuff can really make it pop, but I'd rather just take it through and undercarriage wash and be done with it.

There's my    But don't listen to me... I don't know squat... just ask my last girlfriend! 

Good luck!   

I agree. If you are going all out on a rotisserie why not make it nice. I figure all your suspension will be all redone like new anyway. If you have a lift you could clean it once a year and maybe touch up anything that needed it. I don't have a lift so If I get worried about I will put it on some big truck stands that I have. I figure if your 50 now this will last. If I get to drive it for 25 or 30 years after that who cares. After it was blasted and primed I just couldn't spray the under coating back on. Just the wheel wells.

[BLUE68RT4ME]

Looks AWESOME!!!   

[69bronzeT5]

Are you in the rust belt? Will you be driving after salt season begins, or before the spring rains wash it away?

Depends, I'm on the west coast of B.C so the moist climate isn't the best for cars but it's not that bad. I wouldn't say I'm in the rust belt and I don't plan on driving it that much during salt season.

I live only about a half-mile from the Atlantic Ocean. Salt air is a serious problem where I am, in fact cars in Florida tend to rust from the top down rather than the bottom up. Daily rinse is a prerequisite. Do you have onshore winds, are you close enough to the Ocean to get salt mist?

About 30 minutes away?

[FLG]

Heres a good pic of some nice undercoating.

I think it looks great!

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,60689.20.html

[elacruze]

Funny how things got done.

Mine has no undercoating anywhere, except in the front wheelwells-

[dads_69]

What I've done for a few customers is seal under side, undercoat using a paintable undercoating material and then either paint it in a single stage paint or base clear and call it good. Looks good and strong at the same time for a daily/weekend driver.

Myself on a few of my past rides, I would reduce the undercoating and make it thin so it would lay out smooth and look evenly with paint applied on top of it.

Mark

[70daytonaclone]

If I had undercoating that was in good shape I would just paint over it. plan undercoating looks like poop, and so does that primered half painted look. looks half a--ed. which is the way the factory painted cars half a--ed. NOTHING  looks better that fresh shiney paint,  just my 2 cents. Clone

[1968Dodge]

Am I the only one that thinks that gray epoxy primer/body color overspray blown underneath looks really cool? It seems like that would be a good trade off between looking real original and having a tough, easy to fix coating underneath.

[Scaregrabber]

I think this is a real tough decision. I love seeing over restored cars with legit oversprayed primer, I also love seeing cars with the bellys painted body colour. My cars have always been in nice enough shape that I've just painted the original undercoating black and drove the heck out of them.
If I was replacing floors on a driver type car I would spray it with black rhinoliner if I thought I would be driving it in the rain. If I thought it would never see rain I would spray it shiny body colour.
If I was restoring a multicarb car or even a 440-4 car I would do the primer look with original overspray.

Sheldon