Need your thoughts on what works best after stripping down to bare metal?
Refurbishing Wheel Wells (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter 88Retired62
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
micruz60
Unleaded Regular
Epoxy primer.
As a item of curiosity,
I purchased my cruiser in 1988 (2 years old) and it basically looked brand new in every way.
I took my first trip to baja Mexico soon after I got it and examined the wheel wells after the trip and noticed lots of chips in the undercoat paint that coats the wheel wells.
Seeing this damage as a sign of things to come (since I had plans to spend lots of time driving off-road in MX) I decided to coat the wheel wells with tar undercoating.
I’m pretty sure I just bought the big container of the stuff at my local auto parts store.
It was really thick and black and smelled like tar. I brushed it on really thick with a paint brush — then forgot about it for 30 years.
34 years later, after thousands and thousands and thousands of miles of baja 1000 type dirt roads, the wheel wells still looked great with no rust development under the tar that I could see.
So the moral of this story?
One application of tar undercoating absolutely protects the wheel wells essentially forever
I purchased my cruiser in 1988 (2 years old) and it basically looked brand new in every way.
I took my first trip to baja Mexico soon after I got it and examined the wheel wells after the trip and noticed lots of chips in the undercoat paint that coats the wheel wells.
Seeing this damage as a sign of things to come (since I had plans to spend lots of time driving off-road in MX) I decided to coat the wheel wells with tar undercoating.
I’m pretty sure I just bought the big container of the stuff at my local auto parts store.
It was really thick and black and smelled like tar. I brushed it on really thick with a paint brush — then forgot about it for 30 years.
34 years later, after thousands and thousands and thousands of miles of baja 1000 type dirt roads, the wheel wells still looked great with no rust development under the tar that I could see.
So the moral of this story?
One application of tar undercoating absolutely protects the wheel wells essentially forever
Is that a special tar for vehicles, or the same as the stuff I repair my roof shingles with?
How did you strip them to bare metal? I did the engine compartment side with a blaster but the inside would not come off with the blaster. Mine is an 88 and it's got same coating as under the entire body. I thought about just going over the existing original coating. But if you had an easy way of stripping it off I'll try that. I took a wire wheel to the lower part of the fire wall to make a clean symetrical line, to end the new paint I'm using on the rest of the fire wall and was amazed at how bullet proof that coating is.
I don’t recall. But way back then I purchased it at a Pep Boys auto parts store- so I guess it was made for cars. It definitely wasn’t a can of roofing tar at least on the label. Maybe its the same stuff but it was labeled to use as undercoating on cars.
- Thread starter
- #7
Panhandler….Haven’t started the “stripping “ process yet , but you’re inquiry is understood and well taken!
I have seen people use paint removers like this
QuickT SDA702K 4 1/2" Rust Paint Stripper Remover Stripping Disc Abrasive Wheel Pad Tool for Angle Grinder - Pack of 5, 7/8" Arbor https://a.co/d/2zRzAo8
Depending on what's in the well currently - wire wheel for thick stuff or stripper disc all the way to metal. Razor then wire the seam sealer... re seam seal direct to metal, epoxy primer, 3M undercoat.
diesellibrarian
SILVER Star
I just stripped the passenger side rear wheel well on my FJ62, and the only thing that worked was a knotted wire wheel. I used a drill-mounted one, but I imagine an angle grinder wheel would be just as effective. It was a miserable hour or so of wire-wheeling, but it did the trick.
