Dealership Undercoating

blkst · Aug 3, 2020

I recently purchased my explorer as a demo, and my experience with the dealership has been terrible.

Super aggressive and pushy sales, the sales manager lied straight to my face and told me that Ford cancelled employee pricing due to covid 19, tried to push "mandatory" window etching on me etc.

They gave me substantially more then other dealers for the trade in on my F150, that's the only reason I didn't walk away.

I agreed to have the vehicle undercoated since I live in Canada so I see value in that, and I'm supposed to drop it off next week to get this done. However I have a feeling the vehicle is already undercoated since typically dealers will do this to demo vehicles.

Am I crazy? Or does this look like it's already been undercoated and the dealer is trying to fleece me for something that's already been done?

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GTP · Aug 3, 2020

What color is your car?

Road.racer · Aug 3, 2020

Something was definitely sprayed underneath your car already. I live in Wisconsin, in the heart of the rust belt, and plan on spraying mine with cosmoline, along with using 3M cavity wax on parts I can’t spray with cosmoline.

blkst · Aug 3, 2020

My car is black, it doesn't feel like paint... Definitely has a rubbery texture to it.

Although if that's what they call undercoating, it's a terrible job.

The dealer is being super shady, so I wouldn't put it passed them to try and charge me for something that's already been done.

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KNTRDR · Aug 3, 2020

Just take it elsewhere for undercoat. You’ll probably find it cheaper and better quality elsewhere. Krown, for instance. My dealer tried to push an undercoat on me and it was going to be a tar-like undercoat, but that stuff just plugs drain holes and creates more rust than it prevents (ask me how I know). Rust Check or Krown would be recommendations, Krown being the better of the two.

GTP · Aug 3, 2020

We have Ziebart undercoating. Not sure if I will like it or not. Will let you know in 12 years.

KNTRDR · Aug 4, 2020

GTP said:

Keep an eye on your drainage holes and whatnot. Ziebart clogged up a bunch on an old van of ours and it ended up rusting out from the inside.

dolsen · Aug 12, 2020

I've never lived further north than central Illinois, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

With all of the anti-corrosion technology used in OEM automotive, I do not believe an undercoat is necessary. As long as there is no existing break in the e-coat, there isn't much need to use additional anti-corrosion. Even if the ecoat is scratched, there is still a phosphate or zinc/copper coating on the metal which prevent a majority of corrosion.

But again, never lived in Canada

blkst · Aug 12, 2020

For us poor bastards that live in Alberta, it's too cold in winter for salt to be effective, so they put gravel (pitrun) down on the roads.

It's pretty rough on the underbodies of our vehicles

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dolsen · Aug 12, 2020

blkst said:

Fair enough. I suppose I could see why you'd be more concerned. I always wondered how effective getting something like Line-X or Rhino liner would be on the underbody. That's probably the route I would go if I ever needed it.

Road.racer · Aug 12, 2020

In rust belt states, cars are destroyed by salt, the manufactures only seem to worry about getting thru the rust thru warranty period. The absolute worst undercoating is the rubberized stuff, check YouTube, it’s worse than having noting for undercoating because salt water eventually makes its way between the undercoating material and the body, looks good from the outside until the undercoating starts to fall off in chunks.

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Dealership Undercoating

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