Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67' - NCRS Discussion Boards

Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

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  • Dave K.
    Very Frequent User
    • January 23, 2013
    • 278

    Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

    Did the wheel wells originally have rubber undercoating? My 67 appears to have undercoating in the wheel wells; however, not the entire wheel well. What is the best way to gets this off? I was thinking a heat gun and scrape it off.
    Dave
  • Craig O.
    Very Frequent User
    • July 31, 1983
    • 207

    #2
    Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

    ck your 67 technical information manual & judging guide for a full explanation

    Comment

    • Gary B.
      Extremely Frequent Poster
      • January 31, 1997
      • 6973

      #3
      Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

      Dave,

      I believe the undercoating was placed there by the factory primarily in line with the width of the tire to protect the underside of the fiberglass from kicked up rocked, with the purpose of preventing cracks in the body paint on the top side. Why do you want to remove the undercoating? The original undercoating is on my '66 and I just want to freshen it up since it has taken on a lighter gray hue in spots after I cleaned off the grime and dirt.

      Gary

      Comment

      • Dave K.
        Very Frequent User
        • January 23, 2013
        • 278

        #4
        Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

        Gary,
        I'm doing a frame off restoration. Not sure the media blast guy will try to get it off, for fear of being too aggressive?? Thought I would try myself. If there's a getter approach I'm all ears. This is my first time restoring a car so I rely heavily on this website and reading material. I'm still struggling between media blasting and soda blasting.
        Dave

        Comment

        • Gary B.
          Extremely Frequent Poster
          • January 31, 1997
          • 6973

          #5
          Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

          Dave,

          I'm doing a frame-off on my '66 as well. For cleaning areas like that I start with Simple Green or something gentle, before progressing to things like acetone or a heat gun and scraper. But I'm definitely not going to remove that undercoating since it has the texture and coverage exactly like the factory did it, because the factory did do it. I just want to make it look dark gray or black again, rather than the lighter gray that parts of it took on from my cleaning.

          Why does the media blast guy have to remove the undercoating, unless it's not original? I don't see the need to get down to bare fiberglass under there, presuming you can restore what is already there.

          Gary

          Comment

          • Monte M.
            Expired
            • December 31, 1990
            • 687

            #6
            Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

            Dave,
            I used a heat gun, as you are thinking of doing, and scraped it off the best I could. Then, I used a plastic bristle brush to loosen up what else I could and then got ready for the messy part.

            I got a roll of paper towels and some acetone. Soak a half of paper towel in acetone and as soon as the undercoating loosen up, wipe it with a clean paper towel.
            If you just keep rubbing with the first towel, all you will do is smear it around and get it deeper in the glass.
            This method actually cleaned it up to the point you could not tell it was even there after hitting the fiberglass with some light sandpaper.

            Best thing to do is: do a small spot to make sure the results are satisfactory to you. It takes a little time, but it actually goes pretty good once you get the hang of it.

            Best of luck,
            Let me know how it works for you,

            Monte

            Comment

            • Timothy B.
              Extremely Frequent Poster
              • April 30, 1983
              • 5177

              #7
              Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

              Originally posted by Gary Beaupre (28818)
              Dave,

              I'm doing a frame-off on my '66 as well. For cleaning areas like that I start with Simple Green or something gentle, before progressing to things like acetone or a heat gun and scraper. But I'm definitely not going to remove that undercoating since it has the texture and coverage exactly like the factory did it, because the factory did do it. I just want to make it look dark gray or black again, rather than the lighter gray that parts of it took on from my cleaning.

              Why does the media blast guy have to remove the undercoating, unless it's not original? I don't see the need to get down to bare fiberglass under there, presuming you can restore what is already there.

              Gary
              I agree with Gary, why do you want to remove the factory undercoating? Have you considered chemical stripping the paint just doing a small piece at a time.

              Comment

              • Alan D.
                Extremely Frequent Poster
                • December 31, 2004
                • 2025

                #8
                Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

                And I'll third that! Leave the original undercoating (assume its original).
                If you remove then the next step will be trying to find out how much undercoating needs to be put on again.
                If the color is a little light from aging there are other ways to get it back.

                Comment

                • Page C.
                  Very Frequent User
                  • January 31, 1979
                  • 802

                  #9
                  Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

                  The original undercoating is very hard to duplicate. Years ago I would have done as others have suggested on ways to remove it, but now I would just clean the wheel wells and leave the original undercoating.

                  Comment

                  • Jim T.
                    Expired
                    • February 28, 1993
                    • 5351

                    #10
                    Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

                    Dave I have removed my 68's and 70's Corvette's original paint using a chemical stripper, did not even consider blasting the paint off. Used Captain Lee's Spray-Strip 1-800-421-9498 or 615-883-5707. The spray-strip only removed the color coat of paint and left the factory primer which was easily wet sanded off to bare fiberglass with non-aggressive sand paper. Took my time and only did one section at a time. One convertible and one coupe.

                    Comment

                    • Gary B.
                      Extremely Frequent Poster
                      • January 31, 1997
                      • 6973

                      #11
                      Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

                      Originally posted by Alan Drake (43261)
                      And I'll third that! Leave the original undercoating (assume its original).
                      If you remove then the next step will be trying to find out how much undercoating needs to be put on again.
                      If the color is a little light from aging there are other ways to get it back.
                      Alan,

                      What do people use to return the color to near black? The color on mine is definitely lighter gray, especially on the min-peaks of the mountainous texture.

                      Gary

                      Comment

                      • Paul J.
                        Expired
                        • September 9, 2008
                        • 2091

                        #12
                        Re: Wheel well rubber undercoating; 67'

                        Originally posted by Gary Beaupre (28818)
                        Alan,

                        What do people use to return the color to near black? The color on mine is definitely lighter gray, especially on the min-peaks of the mountainous texture.

                        Gary
                        Gary, the original undercoating should have been asphaltic based. Asphalt consists of oils, resins, and bitumen. Ever noticed how a freshly paved black road becomes gray over time? This is mainly because the oils have oxidized and became resins and the resins are also becoming dry and hard. If you replce the oils, it would turn black again. There are methods of taking a rapid cure asphalt and greatly thinning it so it is not viscous and flows very well. This technique is used to seal cracks in roads.

                        If you can find an asphalt roofing cement without fiberglass in it or an asphalt truck bed coating or an asphalt automotive undercoating, you can thin this with petroleum solvents to spray or brush on your old undercoating. This should rejuvenate it, but you have to put it on very thin and I don't know how long it will last. You may even be able to find an asphalt driveway crack sealer at the home center. While it's worthless for filling cracks, it would be easier to thin down.

                        Paul

                        Comment

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