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Sealants & Undercoats, oh my.

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nongenre

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
We bought our Patriot tonight ($900 below invoice! woohoo!) and I got a visit from the up-sell guy while they were detailing the car. I fully expected this, and said no to all the offers to add a couple hundred here and there for sealant, undercoat, and the like.

But the one thing that threw me was this talk about EPA-approved water-based paint for the cars. Sealants and the like have always been a BS add-on for dealerships, but I wonder if these supposedly new paints do require special treatment I don't know about.

I'm not that concerned about maintaining high resale - this thing is getting driven into the ground - but I'd still like to avoid pitting my paint job from commonplace hazards like bird poo and bug splatter. anybody know anything about this?
 
#3 ·
There's nothing the dealer will add to the paint job or undercoating that will be any better than the factory puts on. If they are insinuating that the paint job won't last or it will rust out (that's the implication), then just say "I guess I ought to find another car that WILL last" and see what they do.
 
#4 ·
My dealer never mentioned additional stuff like undercoating and this is what he should have done. It is my understanding that the unibody is immersed in a zinc bath for rustproofing and this is really all you need for normal protection. I say "normal" because we live in a salt air area, near large bodies of water and salt spray does get into the air around here, but they use sand on the roads not salt. My Subaru Outback is 11 years old and shows NO rust. I gave it to my son-in-law. It had no undercoating. I also sold my 90 Legacy after 14 years of use to the kid across the street. he kept it for two years then sold it to a local garage. THEY turned it over to a guy who raced it in the four cylinder class at the raceway out here and it won three races. It also never rusted out. I hope to get the same rust proof ability from the Patriot. On the other hand, I had an 83 Subaru GL that I had rustproofed and it disintegrated from rust. I think the new zinc treatments are the answer.
 
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Discussion starter · #5 ·
Thanks, all. I knew I smelled a pile in there, but everything else about this dealership was on the relative up-and-up as dealerships go, and I hadn't heard some of what this guy was spouting.

It seems my doubts on the veracity of the guys' statements were probably valid.
 
#6 ·
Soon after I bought the Patriot, I applied two coats of something called NuFinish Car Polish. I have had great success with it over the past 20 years or so and I enjoy knowing the effort that was put in to doing a good job was mine. It's a peace of mind thing. Maybe I am just old school. Bird doo-doo is a paint job's nemesis.

Conversely, I cannot effectively do undercoating. I will leave that to the pros. The dealer didn't offer this. I have faith in the zinc thing for the main metal but all the add-ons (brake lines, fuel lines, emergency brake cable, etc.) are exposed.
 
#8 ·
The other goodies under there won't benefit from the undercoating. Fuel lines are rubber, so corrosion is a nonissue. Brake lines and the emergency brake cable won't corrode through unless you park the thing in salt water every night. Any kind of cursory undercarriage inspection will show any deterioration long before you run into failures of those parts.

Modern vehicles don't need any additional rustproofing. Rust-through warranties on body parts are usually 10 years/100,000 miles, and it is a rare vehicle that will show any problems even then. If your area uses salt on winter roads, just be sure to get the thing washed soon after the snow melts.

Nowadays, rust isn't what makes folks get rid of a vehicle, it is an engine or transmission that is finally giving up the ghost.
 
#9 ·
I live in Ottawa Ontario. Here and Montreal have the highest usage of road salt in North America. Plus all roads in most of Ontario and all of Quebec use salt on almost a daily basis when the roads are iced over. Freezing and thawing in the winter months is a major problem when it comes to road salt. I had my Pat rustproofed by the dealer for a lifetime warrenty against body rust perferation. I don't know of anyone who does not get their new cars rustproofed. I would imagine that there are many States that have the same conditions. Alot of car owners have their vehicles sprayed with an oil based anti corrision solution each year. I'll have the underbody sprayed each year. During the winter months my cars have always been through the carwash with underbody wash and have an anticorrsive spray. So anyone to says that after market rustproofing is not needed must be living in place where I'd like to buy a used Patriot. I'd then have it rustproofed.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I double the endorsement of NuFinish

I have used it for over 15 years. I won't use anything else. I only apply it every 6 months and it beads water all year long and holds up to washing.

MikeV, I disagree with you about the after-market rustproofing. I live in Wisconsin and I'd be willing to bet that the local governments around here as well as the state rival that of where you live. I have actually seen "rustproofed" vehicles rot out more quickly than their factory counter parts. One of the reasons is that they aren't careful about the application and the plug up the drain holes in the body work. Moisture gets in, but it can't get out. Besides, the mfg already gives you 100,000 rust through warranty. Also check your contract. I bet that lifetime warranty only covers the original buyer. Less than 1 in 10 keep a car longer than 6 years so their warranty means little.
 
#11 ·
MikeV said:
I live in Ottawa Ontario. Here and Montreal have the highest usage of road salt in North America. Plus all roads in most of Ontario and all of Quebec use salt on almost a daily basis when the roads are iced over. Freezing and thawing in the winter months is a major problem when it comes to road salt. I had my Pat rustproofed by the dealer for a lifetime warrenty against body rust perferation. I don't know of anyone who does not get their new cars rustproofed. I would imagine that there are many States that have the same conditions. Alot of car owners have their vehicles sprayed with an oil based anti corrision solution each year. I'll have the underbody sprayed each year. During the winter months my cars have always been through the carwash with underbody wash and have an anticorrsive spray. So anyone to says that after market rustproofing is not needed must be living in place where I'd like to buy a used Patriot. I'd then have it rustproofed.
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I agree with your theory sir,but the one thing I stay away from is specificaly the under body wash.I belive the under body wash will slowly but surely remove the oil based protection.I would use the under body wash only if there would be no protective layer of oil.
 
#12 ·
I've seen alot of different types of rustproofing used. The type used by my dealer is not the sticky type that you can touch and have is still tacky. It was sprayed in the door panels through the drain holes not by drilling in the in the sides of the door. I checked the drain holes and a very small ammount had come out. The holes are open. The spray in and around under the hood and engine compartment as well as around the outside bottom door panels and rear door has hardened. As for the undercarriage, I drive on dirt roads and get alot loose gravel flying all over the place. I don't expect the undercoating to be a 100% after awhile. All the car wash places here have the underbody wash with anticorosive spray. As a rule of thumb we go through the wash every week in the winter when they start using road salt. Over the pass few years the dirt roads are salted with calcium to keep the dust down! They used to use oil but that is not used now. Years ago when they used oil we never got alot of rust on the undrcarriage. I guess it is one of those things where we all try to keep our new vehicles as protected as possible. I'm not saying that anyone here is wrong. It's one of those things that can drive you a bit crazy trying to the best thing to maintain a rustfree ride. We plan on keeping our Pat for a long time and at over 5,000km we have had no problems at all and am pleased to report so. I gave my first Patriot salut the other day. I honked my horn at him, he looked puzzled and then return the thumbs up along with a big smile.:) Thanks to you all for your kind consideration on this topic.
 
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MikeV
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