ALFAGTV6.COM

[mjr]

Hi all.

Does anyone know what is or where you can get hold of the original rubberised under body sealant. The one that is a pain in the butt to remove. Had to take it all of for some repairs, so now need to re apply.

thanks

[x-rad]

The truck bed liner stuff??

[5yearplan]

I think he means the waxy, tar-like junk. At any rate, I would use truck bed liner instead of that. It works so much better without the mess. I am in the process or restoring my car, and that is what I will use to coat the whole under-body.

[mjr]

truck bed liner? never heard of it. who makes it? the waxi tar like stuff is simply underseal, which will certainly not be up to stone chips and rocks. I am talking about the rubberised sealant that is applied directly to the metal primer.its white/beige in colour and can be found under the black wax.

[5yearplan]

There's more sealant under the black wax! Great, more work... Haha, j/k my car didn't seem to get much if the sealant, as it's pretty rusted. at any rate here are a few links to the truck bed liner that comes in spray cans, otherwise there is rhino liner which you would have sprayed professionally.
http://www.nonslipcoating.com/
http://www.grizzlygrip.com/
http://www.stylintrucks.com/parts.aspx? ... |944084477
http://www.sevenmile.net/sprayliner.htm
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Black-Tr ... dZViewItem
http://www.rhinolinings.com/ --this one has to be sprayed at a dealer.
Also, you can buy the cans at most hardware chains, Menards for example carries it for $10 a can (the size of about a can and a half of paint). It may even be at Walmart, haha

[tmundy]

Sounds like I am at the same point as you, repairing some areas of rust on the underside. This envolved removing the tar like stuff first then removing from the wooden floor, carpet on the stairs, cats fur and my hair, god I hate that stuff as dose the wife.

Now I have almost finished the repairs I am trying to find a supplier of the rubberised solution, me thinks the rubberised solution is Schutz (tetroysl) or similar. Brown Brothers here in Blighty do it is black, grey or white. Mine looks like it was yellow originally. My plan is to remove all the tar then treat areas of rust, coat with schutz then spray with top coat (alfa red). Meeting with Alex Jule tomorrow so will ask his advice, will post answer tomorrow.

[mjr]

hey 5 year plan thanks for the help with the links really much appreciated. come to think of it, I think this extra beeffy rubber underseal may have been an addition to european cars because of all the rust problems we had on them. looks like your could have done with it too eh?

Tmundy. yes sounds like we are at the same point. I have removed all of the rubber from the under inner seal/ rocker plates as there is some bad behaviour in the way of surface rust going on underneath, so I have to sort it before it eats the entire car! I have heard of Schutz teroysl before I think. Alex Jule? do you mean Alex Jupe? I take it you are in the UK too. where abouts? I am in near Horsham West Sussex.

thanks

[tmundy]

Yep, I did mean Alex Jupe, must learn to spell! I took my dion tube, watts linkage & roll bars down to Alex, he has a guy who blasts then powder coats them.

The extra protection was put on by most if not all UK dealers before selling. Horrible stuff that gets every where, but did it do its job? Debatable!

I removed, from the front wheel arches, all the underseal and Schutz. Cleaned all the rust and recoated in Zinc primer then stone chip(picture attached of current state). Next job for the front is to Schutz then top coat (red). My current job is getting the middle and back of the car to the same position.

I am based in Woking, Surrey so not far away from you. I was on a 6 month contact in Horsham a few years ago working for Novartis.

Cheers, Tony

[mjr]

nice job , how the heck did you get all of the underseal and shutz off though? its a bitch to get off! I have been thinking of doing the same thing with my dedion, but cant bear to have the car off of the road for that long, so just a good clean up and hammerite smooth instead.

The extra protection put on? hmm very debateable. According to a frind of mine whom worked for a dealer, many pocketed the subsidy and rubber stamped the certifcates, hence why so many suds and sprints fell to pieces within 2 years. the salt killed them within months. I think 5 year plan's car (which doesnt seem to have schutz) proves that the sealing did help a lot.

[5yearplan]

my car is pretty rusted, alot of what saved it was the fact that it was in a barn for almost a decade. I think the main problem with the tar-like stuff is that while it displaces most water, it stays supple so osmosis of water can occir actually trapping water between the car and the undercoating!!!

[mjr]

True, but the real issue was alfas lack of attention to metal surface preparation. the key is for the metal to be very well primed and painted, which alfa never did.
I spoke to a mechanic that knew all about the Arese production methods today, and he confirmed that the white, pale rubberised sealant was not an addition by dealers, but a standard factory coating, which was sprayed straight onto the metal (ie most of the under side metal on the car isnt primed with Zinch chromate). Alfa stopped using the coating by the time the 75/Milano came along, because it was found to be Hydroscopic (absorbs water), because the compound did not self seal, instead it retained porosity.

I tested this today, putting and old piece in died water, and sure enough after a few hours, I cut it in half, and it had absorbed water. this explains why the early gtvs, suds, sprints etc rusted from the seams first, having sucked in water through the sealant, and then burst the seams over time. He advised that the best route is to prime all the bare areas with a good quality Zinc chromate etch primer (as T mundy has), then a good high build primer, a top coat, then Shutz. Ie don't re-apply the factory spray on rubber compound.

[tmundy]

MJR, I'm not in complete agreement with your mechanic friend. Yes the factory applied the Shutz like coating but it was not on to bare metal. On my GTV6 when you remove the Shutz your get to a new panel like coating. Think of a new wing for a ford for example, it comes coated in a black coating (not sure what this is called) alfa were covered in a similar coating but cream in colour (mine anyway).

How did I get the old Shutz off, heat gun and an old chisel. Took almost 1 day per wheel arch. Contemplating doing the same for the underside. Below is the current state of the underside. Thankfully all the rust I found was superficial, except one small piece which I will have to weld up. All the rust has been removed and coated with Dinitrol Rust Converter RC900.

[mjr]

Hi, its looking good. I agree with you too, my mechanic friend is wrong about the bare metal(mainly) I too found the same thing today (just finfished for the day 10 minutes ago) whilst under the car, mine has a black primer on to bare metal, but not on all the panels strangely, I found the very lower inner wings had no metal primer at all!

I will have to try the heat gun, the chisel on its own is giving me a blister anyway off to scrub all the underseal and filth off of my face now. yugghhh!

[elbilly]

I think you can use the black thing the use for roofing. what you think, that is really weather proof.

[mjr]

Well I finally decided on an under surface preparation for mine, and Im very pleased with it. I took off the factory stuff, to bare metal. treated surface rust with dinitrol Rc900 converter, then painted the entire under surface and inner wings with an aircraft fuel tank sealer, ruber compound called PRC by a company called Desotto. Its impervious to grease , grime, water, salt, grit , stones, and 10 times stronger than the factory white stuff, and has quietened the road noise down too. I then spray painted that once dry with factory black matt, and sprayed the whole under neath with Dinitrol under body flexible brown sealant.