Undercoating Removal - The best method yet!

[jpnovak]

I posted this on the Bird Board (PP) and thought you would all like to see this as well.

Having been through undercoating removal on several cars let me just say that it just plain sucks! The standard PVC undercoating will only come off with lots of scraping. I found the best method is the knotted wire brush on the end of my grinder. The same can be said for the tar material on the inner floorboards of a 911. This is a gooey mess that is best done with a scraper and heat gun. Slow. stinky.

I have just found the best method by far to go through undercoating with no damage to the metal surface. Bring on the Harbor Freight Multi-tool!



I bought one of these mostly to use as a detail sander. I just got it today at lunch. I looked at the metal blade and thought this might have more uses. And if it dies I am only out about $35 (had a coupon).

Watch this! I am absolutely amazed at how fast this works. Don't forget your hearing protection. This current project is my 914. It is getting the full strip down treatment.


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Here is that same section not 5 minutes later. Mostly clean metal that will easily finish with the wire brush. After a quick acid etch and degrease the surface is ready for primer.




The pile of rubble is impressive. No dust. No stringy PVC flakes. It goes through seam sealer and regular undercoating just as easily.

Here is 20 minutes of work on the DS floorboard. Almost ready for reinforcement welding.

[kenikh]

Another item that works well is the 3M blue paint remover wheels attached to a grinder. I was able to remove all undercoating from rear wheel wells in less than 20 minutes! Zero damage to the steel. These wheels will take paint, bondo, fiberglass and any non-steel coating off in seconds. The downside is that the wheels wear down, so it would take about 10 - 12 to remove the paint and undercoating from a car. At $9/ea, its not cheap, but HF just started selling a wheel that looks identical for half the price. While I haven't tried the HF wheels yet, I expect them to do the same job.

I'd think they'd be the perfect way to do final clean up after using Jamie's method.

[Bill Simmeth]

Thanks for the tip, looks good!

Here's a tip for you after watching the video: It's a lot easier if you don't work on your car inside a cave!

[jpnovak]

But if I had more light this might expose more of my secrets in the build.

Just kidding, It was late at night and the light is not great in my new garage. I will see if I can get a new video with more light.