How much are dealers charging for undercoating these days?

[metroplex]

A local dealer wanted $299 to undercoat a Mustang GT. 3 years ago, it only cost $179 to undercoat a Ford E-250. 6 years ago, it was about the same to undercoat my Crown Vic.

How much are dealerships charging these days (fair price)?

 

[bigcat]

its a waste IMO. you can do it yourself for MUCH cheaper, but i like it without undercoating.

 

[metroplex]

What type of undercoating product is good for a DIY'er?

 

[bigcat]

3M heavy duty rubberized undercoating. i dont have a part number handy, sorry.

 

[Marine One]

I live at the beach so am very interested in undercoating. When I spoke to someone at my dealership about it (the bodyshop manager) he told me not to have it done there, as all they would do would be to use the spray on stuff. He recommended that I have the car treated at Ziebart. The closest Ziebart store is 350 miles away, in northern Va. It's also about a 45 minute drive from my parents house, so I drove the car up today and have an appointment at Ziebart at 9 a.m. tomorrow. My 76 year old Dad, who taught me to drive in his 66 Coupe, absolutely loved the 07 GT Convertible. I am concerned as I understand that to do their full rust treatment they drill holes in body panels so that they can spray their stuff inside then they cap the holes. I'll decide tomorrow after talking to them exactly what will be done to the car. I may just go with their undercoating. I'll post tomorrow.

 

[The Fang]

I stopped one day to check out a 66 forsale on the side of the road. Looked good outside and the for sale sign in the window said in little letters "rusty" then a phone number. My first thought was, oh no, it must be rusted out and sure enough I looked under it and man it was beyond any sandblasting.
LOL, Turns out the guys name was Rusty.

 

[bigcat]

I live at the beach so am very interested in undercoating. When I spoke to someone at my dealership about it (the bodyshop manager) he told me not to have it done there, as all they would do would be to use the spray on stuff. He recommended that I have the car treated at Ziebart. The closest Ziebart store is 350 miles away, in northern Va. It's also about a 45 minute drive from my parents house, so I drove the car up today and have an appointment at Ziebart at 9 a.m. tomorrow. My 76 year old Dad, who taught me to drive in his 66 Coupe, absolutely loved the 07 GT Convertible. I am concerned as I understand that to do their full rust treatment they drill holes in body panels so that they can spray their stuff inside then they cap the holes. I'll decide tomorrow after talking to them exactly what will be done to the car. I may just go with their undercoating. I'll post tomorrow.

they do drill holes in your car, thats why i will never have it done. they have a little want that goes into the hole, and sprays out of the tube at 360*, but they dont know exactly where all the stuff goes. personally, i would do that yourself as well. pull all the interior panels, and spray a wax type rust proofer into all the seams. well worth the work to not have any holes in your car. plus, they usually start to rust from the holes they drill.

check into their warranty also. most of the time it is only for RUST THROUGH, meaning unless there is a hole in the rust, they wont warranty anything.

 

[metroplex]

I've never had dealerships drill holes into my doors to do the undercoating. The undercoating is only sprayed on the wheel wells, underbody, fuel tank, and other surfaces.

Anodizing, AFAIK, cannot be done on steel. Most of the cars these days are made of steel. There is powdercoating on the frame rails that peels off very easily. Then there's the phosphate finishing that they use on the steel body panels below the primer, paint, and clearcoat. This is similar to blued steel on guns. Overall, the undercoating will seal off the steel from the environment. I've requested the undercoating from the dealerships (not the other way around) for new cars in the past.

 

[bigcat]

i was referring to the ZIEBART rust proofing where they spray the wax into the cavities of your car....

 

[Marine One]

they do drill holes in your car, thats why i will never have it done. they have a little want that goes into the hole, and sprays out of the tube at 360*, but they dont know exactly where all the stuff goes. personally, i would do that yourself as well. pull all the interior panels, and spray a wax type rust proofer into all the seams. well worth the work to not have any holes in your car. plus, they usually start to rust from the holes they drill.

check into their warranty also. most of the time it is only for RUST THROUGH, meaning unless there is a hole in the rust, they wont warranty anything.

Had it done to the car yesterday. I asked upfront about the hole drilling issue. The guy at Ziebart came out and looked at the car. I told him that I didn't want any holes drilled in the car. He said that they could get their wands in through the weep holes at the bottom of each door. There is also a rubber bumper at the top of each door jam that they were able to remove and insert the wand through to get the rusproofing solution into the car. I am guessing that as a result of my no holes requirement that the coverage of the rusproofing solution wasn't as good as it would have been otherwise, but my real reason for going there was the undercoating.

 

[tr7driver]

Most rustproofers require inspection at some interval, like every 3 years, for the warranty. Don't let that slip by.

 

[steedastang06]

my GT came undercoated but i bought it through the AAFES Overseas New Car Sales guy on base.. I guess the military does it for all vehicles going overseas.. but they do a CRAP job... missed loads of spots and hit spots that they shouldnt have...