The trouble is you won't know if all that work paid off for another 10 or 15 years. Keep us updated as to the condition of the undercoat and if it stays on through the years. I hope all the work pays off, I used Fluid film in all my cavities, I hope it works too.

 

The trouble with these kinds of undercoats, is what happens if an opening is created. Through that opening, water (+ salt?) gets in, and gets trapped. That actually makes rusting worse.

 

Exactly. Which is why you use a self healing product and prep re-apply it when need.

 

This isn't a normal coating product, and i don't think it will chip at all. I can beat it on it with a hammer with no wear. Also, the fluid film will become my yearly rust proofing process, and since this coating is epoxy, it can take the abuse of pulling push pins in and out so fender removal will no longer come with the risk of pulling paint off thin sheet metal. Here is a pic of where i went with the undercoating.

 

Or not, cant get this image posting to work.

 

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1qhZxINlokGxQ2Su1

 

I work offshore in the Oil field operating and maintaining ROV's. We use Coal Tar on hydraulic pumps that go subsea. The stuff is really tough and is the best stuff we have used to prevent corrosion of the pumps. It is very nasty to deal with and extremely thick, we dont really put much concern into how it looks but i can attest to the brush strokes it leaves. We have to recoat our pumps every 6 months or so but the conditions out here are a bit on the extreme side. I really cant believe you spent the time to paint the whole underside of the Jeep with it, I know you had to be extremely worn out after the application.

 

All these high tech rust inhibitors sometimes just make me roll my eyes. It's not that there's anything wrong with them, I'm sure they're fine products. It just seems to me that people are constantly searching for some stuff that comes in a magic bottle and there are many companies out there willing to try and sell it to you while there has been a product out there for many years that has been a proven performer in rust protection, it is inexpensive, and when you're done spraying it all over the underside of your vehicle it makes the parts look better, as to opposed to a shinny or asphalt tar mess these other magic can products tend to do to your under side.

Anyone interested to know what it is?

It's called "Paint".

For some odd reason everyone expects "Paint" to protect the outside sheet metal of your vehicle, but at the same time keep searching for some Magic can to protect the underside. I can't figure out the logic in it, so maybe someone can explain it to me.

So how's the magic tar look? Can you post some pictures?

 

Coal Tar is more or less a paint, its not a high tech rust inhibitor. It is a very tough epoxy coating. I really cant believe he did the whole underside of his Jeep that stuff is very hard to apply. Its a tough job just applying it to our hydraulic pumps.

 

Wow thats terrible im glad we dont have to deal with it in the South.

 

I'm 48 now, kind of developed my own system over the years of owning cars since I was 16. In my area, it comes with the territory of owning a vehicle if you don't want it to rust away.

Every spring after the winter constant wetness and road salt, I crawl under it and look for any surface rust starting to form. I spray any rust and the surrounding areas down with this rust reformer.

It will stop the rust, and prevent it from bleeding through the truck bed coating and create a paintable surface.

After that dries, which takes less than 1 hour, I then go over the top of all the parts with the truck bed coating. The truck bed coating, adds a durable protective layer and sprays on thick, and no real concern with over spray. It's all pretty simple to apply. My index finger gets tired is the worst of it, so I may buy a $3 can trigger to add to the mix.

Both items can be found at Harbor Freight. Costs me $3.50 a can for the rust reformer, $5 a can for the truck bed coating. My 1st time applying took me 3-4 cans of rust reformer, and 5 cans of truck bed coating. My usual spring follow up maintenance now takes me 1-2 cans of reformer, and 3 cans of truck bed coating.

 

As an added note. When I say I do spring touch up. It's not a lot of work. The truck bed liner is pretty durable like I mentioned, but if I drive over something hard like a rock that rubs the axles or frame rails, it will obviously scrape the paint.

Here's kind of the stuff I'm looking for in my spring touch up. Maybe a rock skipped up and chipped the paint off on that axle control arm bracket. I go around looking for things like that just to make sure I catch them before the rust starts to spread and get bad.

 

Lets see if this pic will work.

 

Nope, best suggestion for the pics is that link i posted up there. Or here.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipO73F48r3EdTYXodZxZPRinK7nFtmxFsn5cFDF000X704bjZDOHdM1dIepJQaZQ5A?key=cHhtRnVuUWRNZm43YmZiRzlOWGRkS05SVDdFeGdn

 

Nope, best suggestion for the pics is that link i posted up there. Or here.
New photo by Kirk Johnson

So being a few years later, how has the coal tar held up? Would you do it again? Looking to sand blast a frame and possibly use similar product.