Undercoating in wheel wells?

[PDACPA]

I have noticed that some guys wheel wells are very very clean. Mine appear to have the body color of the car under the dirt and grime. What I wondered is if there is an undercoating in the wheel well?

Is it ok to take it off and just clean it up so that the wheel well shows the body color?

I drive in any weather so I do not want to damage the car by taking off anything that is supposed to be in the wheel well to protect the metal.

Thanks

[KTL]

I used Xenit citrus degreaser, Simple Green, and soapy water in that order to clean mine. All you need is a good scrub brush and some time. Others have had good luck with Castrol Super Clean and a pressure sprayer.

The undercoating is underneath the paint. Meaning, the red you see is actually painted over the rubberized undercoating stuff.

[Chuck Moreland]

You mean something like this?



Your 89 has galvanized sheet metal so the undercoating isn't necessary. And it makes working on the car a pain.

Using a pressure washer and a solvent like Castrol Purple you can get it out of there. It will take some work.

[Chuck Moreland]

Are we talking about the factory undercoat or aftermarket?

The factory stuff is under the paint. I wouldn't take that off for a street car, plus it would be very difficult to remove.

I was talking about removing aftermarket undercoating, the black stuff.

[PDACPA]

Chuck - I was talking about the stuff on the outside of the paint.

When you say its galvanized sheet metal and makes it a pain to work on the car, how is it a pain? I am not modifying any of the body parts.

Thanks for the pics. Thats what I want mine to look like when I am done.

[Early_S_Man]

I have no idea whether the practice continued to the end of '89 production, or not, but, the factory used to apply Tectyl undercoating material ... under the paint! It gave the floor pan, engine compartment, and wheel wells a glossy, 'mottled' or rippled appearance.

[KTL]

Originally posted by Chuck Moreland
You mean something like this?

Showoff!

[Chuck Moreland]

Undercoating makes it a pain to work on. Galvanizing is good.

[Early_S_Man]

Floor pans were galvanized beginning in the summer of 1970 for '71 models, and Paul Frere said in his 3rd edition that the full underbody protection continued after full-galvanized bodies were introduced ...

[PDACPA]

KTL is such a show off. But I think he said he has no wife so he can spend hours in the garage! haha

But that is what I hope to have mine looking like and then keep them that way with routine cleaning.

[TurboRuf]

So Porsche never used black rubberized undercoating on their 80’s cars? My rear wheel wells are covered with what looks like 3M rubberized coating.

Originally posted by Chuck Moreland

Your 89 has galvanized sheet metal so the undercoating isn't necessary. And it makes working on the car a pain.

Not necessary? That depends on the climate you live in and how you use the car.

It is annoying when you work under the car though. Rust protection is quite messy and sticky.

Mine has been treated with a transparent rust protection coting, but as time passes it gets black from dirt.

[HarryD]

Hi,

My 911 was originally yellow but repainted red. The wheel wells are the original yellow. I was thinking about using some of the black undercoat spray to "dress up" the wells.

Any thoughts?

[Sunroof]

I had a thread going here several months ago about wheel well protection and the concensus was that WD-40 was sufficient to repel moisture and provide a protective coating. My 73.5 has that rippled looking factory applied undercoating under the paint thats a pain to scrape and remove. They did one hell of a job back then and when you look at the original sales brochures it shows these guys in the factory slopping this stuff on in copious quantities, everywhere! Its still sticky...............

I want to kick the appearance up too, but for now I have used a can of WD-40 in each wheel well to provide some protection above and beyond what I already have.

Thats my two cents.

Bob