I just bought a 2000 OB via Ebay. It came from Syracuse NY and while the body looks fine my mechanic told me today that there's a fair amount of rust on the undercarriage but that it's pretty much all surface rust.

Is it logical/feasible to undercoat or otherwise treat this at this point? The car is now living in Charleston SC and has 82K on it. Seems in fine shape otherwise.

 

Advice on how to treat this would be appreciated even if it's "do nothing".

 

Thanks,

John

Hm...yes I have an '00obw in the same general area (Buffalo) and yes it is rusty underneath. I used this diy undercoating kit from jc whitney that uses your air compressor. It sprays this tar like stuff that is really sticky and then dries to a rubbery coating. It has been working fairly well.

 

Other than that probably any rust proofing place might be able to help. Around here, a number of people like to cross the peace bridge and get the Krown rustproofing in Canada. I think their stuff is similar to amsoil heavy duty metal protector, which is what I use in the doors.

The absolute worst thing you can ever do with rust is ignore it. Spend some time with a wire brush if its bad. Knock the flaky stuff off. And use some sort of rust neutralizer. Then prime, paint, and undercoat the entire undercariage of the car.

The absolute worst thing you can ever do with rust is ignore it. Spend some time with a wire brush if its bad. Knock the flaky stuff off. And use some sort of rust neutralizer. Then prime, paint, and undercoat the entire undercariage of the car.

I live in VT...in the heart of the Rust Belt. I've seen and used a lot of different approaches to rust through the years. I would agree whole heartedly with the wire brush/rust converter/prime & paint approach. I've got mixed feelings about undercoating. The problem with rubberized undercoating is that if/when it fails, it creates a layer that traps moisture. A lot of folks around here swear by annual 'oil undercoating.' It's an environmentalists nightmare but seems to be very effective.

You also might consider applying a product called Silver Bullet. It looks compelling and I will be giving it a shot this fall.