Rustproofing..

[stuartbarriskell]

So I've had a look under my car on a few occasions and there's quite a lot of surface corrosion particularly on the subframes and other areas, decided to get my car treated here

https://preserveprotect.co.uk

Dropped it off this morning and hope to get it back Thursday Friday at latest. They send around 60 images of all works carried out, certainly from what I've seen the workshops are well equipped and modern. They steam clean underneath, strip wheels and all plastic panels off the underside and arches, remove all the rust manually, treat it with inhibitor, treat all the welded joints, then do the channels and finally the whole underside of the car.

I've opted for Bronze on the subframes and arches and clear on the base panels. I took some images when I was there a few weeks ago.

Will update as they go.. told him I wanted stage by stage pics, won't be accepting starter images then images of panels covered in body schutz, I can be quite intense when it comes to giving someone money.. so he's under no illusion lol..

The Bronze looks excellent..

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rqnGoTa5EYjoxjMZ7


Some images of various vehicles in the workshop..

https://photos.app.goo.gl/X4n7PUYBiXCqXVi76


Be interesting to see how it looks as it progresses..

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[stuartbarriskell]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/MfGmY75AqBn4M5Zg9

Pretty scruffy underneath




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[Outtlaw]

I don't think it looks too bad underneath, good to get it done though for added protection.

[taylora]

interesting. look s like the b8 is as bad as the b7.
i've got an b7 with lowish miles, but i've used it in all weathers and underneath it was starting to suffer. a year or 3 along from what your seeing, but it looks like the same sort of tradjectory

the work sort of escalated and ended up dropping the suspension, fuel tank to get at the areas where the paint was starting to fail and basically respaying the underside !! of the car. and a lot of the pipework for drc and brakes at the same time.

i wasn't expecting a modern audi to go rusty, but seems they do. and not just in the obvious places like the wheelarches where there is a lot of exposure, but above the fuel tank and so on.

upshot was that no structural work was required, it was caught in time, but a couple more winters and there would of been welding involved.

[stuartbarriskell]

That looked pretty bad, I hope I caught mine in plenty time..I'm a bit OCD at times, if I was of the mind I'd strip that whole front arm set, replace all the hoses and pipework on mine. The back plates on my brakes are rusted too, but I'll wait till I need new discs and buy a set of Aluminium backplates and get them fitted at the same time..

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[taylora]

yes it did look surprisingly ugly.

apparently most cars of this era are suffering like this, when the manufacturers moved from primer/undercoat to a single layer paint. much cheaper but not as long lived.
we'll see a lot of bmw/porsche/audi rotting out, perhaps not as dramatically as merc's did. but still a surprise to me.
i grew up with metros and fords which fizzed in front of you and thought was done with this nonsense.

We did the hoses and pipework, but saved the brakes for another day.

[stuartbarriskell]

Total cost cutting exercise from the manufacturers side, the cars are so exposed underneath and with extensive use of lightweight material like alloys together with mild steel there ultimately will be galvanic corrosion which just looks hellish !

When I served my time on Talbot and Subaru one of my first jobs as a first year apprentice was undersealing the new cars after their PDI, I loved doing it, nothing better than protecting brand new components so they stay that way longer..

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[CusterDome]

That looks like an interesting place Stuart. If I lived nearer I'd probably give it a go, I've a classic in the garage that I've had for 40 years and I'm sure it would benefit from that sort of attention. It's surprising to think of modern cars rusting from underneath, I thought we'd passed that era! Keep us up to date, it will be interesting to hear what you think of the final results.

[stuartbarriskell]

Yes, I'm quite pleased at how it's progressing, I think they are quite thorough.. here's some more images https://photos.app.goo.gl/imxEAB54JFKvdC5u9

And an update today with some of the coating, I have opted for Bronze and Clear https://photos.app.goo.gl/uFpqDj2P5dPoSdeC8

They do a lot of Classics and have a high lift bay for the big campers and tall stuff, pretty organised place if I'm honest, It was way more professional looking than I had anticipated when i booked it online, was pleasantly surprised when I pulled up in my car.. Thant Bronze looks really good actually, what you reckon ?

[CusterDome]

Yep, looking good! Sepang Blue too, same as mine.

[johnnydog]

They obviously are an experienced outfit, but my only concern would be putting a covering over existing corrosion, even if treated with chemical treatments to neutralise existing surface rust. These chemical treatments convert the surface but do they fully penetrate and neutralise the full depth of the corrosion spots? Spot welded seams corrode between the two metal surfaces, and a seam sealer on spot welded joints, if not totally rust free, will only trap and compound existing corrosion, resulting in sweating and accelerated corrosion under the so called protective covering. Having dealt with classic cars for over 40 years, any treatment applied to already previously contaminated areas sometimes does more harm than good. These underbody protective treatments have to be applied to 100% rust free areas to be effective. Just saying.....

[stuartbarriskell]

Yea, I agree to an extent, it's best applied to a brand new car, unfortunately it's 8 years old now, will it still rust ?.. nothing surer, but hopefully it will "hold together" for as long as I own it lol..

Kidding aside, they offer a no charge annual inspection, so I'll keep to that and have an underbody inspection with me present so I can personally keep an eye on it, I'd like to think the process in general does more good than harm. If it was a long term hold for me I'd be buying something really special, I'll save that for my MINT low mileage 6 when I get one. So all you Low Mileage 6 owners..keep it that way till I catch up with you.

Surprised no ones asked how much this is costing

[stuartbarriskell]

Yep, looking good! Sepang Blue too, same as mine.

It's an excellent colour, mine needs a professional polish, the swirls on it are pretty shocking.. that's a spring job.

[CusterDome]

Surprised no ones asked how much this is costing

Ha!, well it had crossed my mind. I'd like to think about £500-750, but I suspect it's probably more like £2.5K?

[stuartbarriskell]

Haha, good guess... just about 1000 all in, which I thought was OK.. wouldn't have paid any more tbh... get the car Friday so I'll get a look under when I pick it up and take some of my own images .. I'll post them up..

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