calpalmer

Wondering if the new coatings used on these cars including the zinc dipping done is adequate and makes undercoating unnecessary? I keep my cars a long time and, living in western Washington I have always undercoated them. I've never had a significant corrosion problem. But I'm wondering whether I should undercoat the new car.

Thanks,

Cal

tuco

I never undercoat my vehicles just up north from you in BC. There is very little to no salt used on roads here in the winter, and additional undercoating is just not necessary. If you lived in (say) Quebec where a lot of salt is used, the answer might be different. To my knowledge, Washington does not use salt.

westcoast550

Cal,what part of Washington are you from ? If Coastal I wouldn't bother with undercoating, rust will not be the problem. Undercoating does certainly help for sound , as I'm sure you know . These cars are pretty well protected from the factory............... the downside is cost and weight .The upsided is added protection and sound baffling. The dealers love to sell this due to huge $$$ margins ..

Good Luck

calpalmer

Puget Sound area. Historically WDOT and county road crews have used salt in addition to sand, but over the last 10 years they've moved to a liquid de-icer, some kind of magnesium chloride mix I think, and of course all the true sand is gone so they use sand/pebbles mix (read, Rocks) in some places. I'm not so sure the deicer is non-corrosive. I've also wondered about all the aluminum components to the suspension and body panels...

Agreed on the dealer undercoating prices, was thinking I'd look for an aftermarket shop. On the other hand I'm not going to let just any 18-year old loose under my car!

Cal

westcoast550

We spend a lot of time on the Whistler Highway, so my X5 gets more than it's fair share of all types of Ice "products", by far the biggest problem has been sand and small stones ( as you say ) I've had my X5 almost 4 year with 100's of Whistler trips and not one speck of rust ( 2 windshields and 3 stones chips though ) . I probably wash it more than average to maintain it though.............. As for that 18 year what does she look like ???

iversonm

Don't get it. At best, it's a waste of money. At worst, it is damaging to the car.

Undercoating can trap moisture and hasten corrosion. It can also affect the function of components on the underside of the car. If something fails as a result of the undercoating, your warranty will likely not cover it.

tuco

I agree that the "sand" (sand, my a$$, that is "rocks") is far worse for the cars exterior than any of the chemical de-icers used around here. Also, as W550 says, frequent washing is a good prevention for all winter problems. I use a "wand washer" mostly, and am sure to get up into the wheel wells and under the rocker panels to get the crap out of those locations.

Come on Spring, I'm tired of a messy car....

Tommi

Don't do it. I cant see any reason why you should do it with your new (european) car. I agree with mr. Westcoast the dealers love to sell you all kind of treatments. In this case you would never get any benefit from it.

pennetta

Undercoating is an old scam. Think about it, they drill into the lower body panels (destroying the factory moisture barrier) and spray a sealant trapping moisture between the undercoating and the factory coating. BMW does their rust prevention in a closed climate controlled facility, you're getting your stuff sprayed in a garage. Do not do it.

Rudy

I wouldn't get it. If you think about it, how often do you see relatively newer cars (10 years old or newer) rusted out? If you remember many years ago, seeing a rusted out car was fairly common but nowadays, with the technological advances in manufacturing and priming (electrostatically charged primer, body dipping, etc.), major rusting really only happens to cars that haven't been properly maintained/waxed. Even then, the rust is surface rust and not from the underside.

Think about it, even the auto manufacturers are offering corrosion warranties that are quite long in duration since almost all of them are using these newer technologies...