Coating my new floors

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

Just wondering what would be best as a coating for the top sides of my floors, I had a look today at the local Automotive Paint Supply place and they have basically two choices

1.) Truck Bed Liner (not Paint-able)

2.) Rubberized Ashphalt coating (it is black but paint-able)

The price difference is about $50 a gallon

What do you guys think would be better?

Nick

 

[cm23uoc]

I'd simply go with a good primer, body sealer around the seams and the patchwork and then regular paint in your body color.

 

[detmatt]

Agreed! Anything more then what the factory put on would be overkill, especially with the advances in coatings that have been made since and also the relatively limited use these cars see today.

 

[1978 NYB]

The answer would be....what would Chris do? I would probably get his opinion since he does this professionally for a living. Just my .02 cents.

 

[1970cat]

i was thinking of going with rubberized undercoating. it would help with sound,temperature and sealing out water. just a thought, not sure if it would be practical

 

[monaco75]

Ive always heard not to use rubberized stuff on the floors. Yes it keeps water out, but if water gets underneath it, it will be trapped under it. Then doing the exact opposite of what you want it to do...

 

[bluefury361]

Just wondering what would be best as a coating for the top sides of my floors, I had a look today at the local Automotive Paint Supply place and they have basically two choices

My two cents...... none of the above.

Once any rust issues are delt with the remaining surface rust areas, (if any), should be wire brushed to remove all the loose rust and then treated with a rust converter.
Next step... a zink primer and body color paint. A great option after that is to line the entire floor with a good quality sound deadner, I used a product called rattle trap... 80 mil deadner with a foil lining installed with a heat gun and a roller.
It's avaliable on ebay.... free shipping. I used 50 sq ft.

 

[thrashingcows]

Ive always heard not to use rubberized stuff on the floors. Yes it keeps water out, but if water gets underneath it, it will be trapped under it. Then doing the exact opposite of what you want it to do...

This is why I won't use any of those rust encapsulation coatings...nothing is a perfect seal! No rubberized coatings, or POR-15 for me thanks. I would just clean everything really well...maybe some epoxy primer, then some good Tremclad, or Rustoleum paint, brushed on. I have done this many times with great success. And the nice thing is, is that if you have any trouble down the road the area can be repaired, and then recoated very easily.

And this is also how I feel about those peal and stick sound deadeners....what if water gets under them? No way to tell until your floor starts to get soft. Again I'll stick with products that can be removed for inspection, repairs..or drying out if necessary.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

Here's were my thinking is at and what I have been told

Thinking:

I don't want to EVER have to touch the floors again, if I live to be 10,000 I want these floors as strong as they are today.

I'd rather have overkill than problems

I don't want to paint anything not seen body color considering the price of the paint (it ain't cheap)

What I've been told:

Dom 16 on the bottoms of the floors, followed by a few coats of Tremclad or the like

The bedliner would knock down some of the road noise and seal out the water while leaving a good strong coating.

I'm still open for suggestions. I just don't want to sink rediculous amounts of money into an unseen area when I still have so many other places that I can Use the money better.

 

[crazyboutwagons]

i have done the following to two prior wagons that i owned.

1)knock down any rust with a wire wheel
2)coat any rusty areas with a rust encapsulator
3)seal seams with seam sealer
4) top coat with two coats of chassis saver black paint (available thru NAPA arround $30.00 qt)

took me about a whole weekend to complete and was relatively cheap ($100.00)

 

[cm23uoc]

The point is to get the interior absolutely water tight so nothing gets inside through the welds windshield etc. by proper sealing. If that's done rust inside will be no issue, if not you can do what you want including the intended "overkill" and you will have severe rust issues again.

 

[detmatt]

i have done the following to two prior wagons that i owned.

1)knock down any rust with a wire wheel
2)coat any rusty areas with a rust encapsulator
3)seal seams with seam sealer
4) top coat with two coats of chassis saver black paint (available thru NAPA arround $30.00 qt)

took me about a whole weekend to complete and was relatively cheap ($100.00)

Exactly what I have done in the past. I use "Rust Bullet" and ordered from Summit along with the Eastwood Chassis paint. How long do you guys think these cars would have lasted if used and cared for as we do today from the minute they left the dealer?

 

[thrashingcows]

The point is to get the interior absolutely water tight so nothing gets inside through the welds windshield etc. by proper sealing. If that's done rust inside will be no issue, if not you can do what you want including the intended "overkill" and you will have severe rust issues again.

Well that's a nice dream...but will never happen. These cars were never designed to be water tight...not like new cars. You will always get a little bit of water getting into the car from somewhere. But most of our cars live a pampered life...so they rarely see a lot of inclement weather.;)

 

[cm23uoc]

Being a convertible this is a bit problematic, but after a thorough resto it should last for a while especially closed models. Trunk area seems to be a problem with these cars, my own experience is mostly European cars of this era.

 

['69FuryIIIConvertible]

Like I said I'm just VERY Worried about the Rust being a reoccurring issue, Especially considering the amount of work involved in this particular repair.

Nick

 

[thrashingcows]

I understand your desire to stop the rust...but this will never happen. You just have to be diligent about keeping it at bay. And for me that is having coatings that can be inspected, and quickly repaired and touched up, if, and when it's necessary.

When I restored my 68 Coronet rag, I spent huge money on proper rust repair and coatings to keep that evil monster at bay....I kept the car inside a heated shop year round, and I still had to go back and touch up small areas every year. And a lot of these areas were "New" sheet metal, but as I stated earlier nothing is truly water tight. What I was repairing was just small little areas that would have a little surface rust...or discoloration on the new painted surface. Simple repair with some light polishing compound, then oil/wax cleaner and then small spot prime and repaint. But it truly amazed me at how insidious water and humidity can be.

 

[cm23uoc]

I totally agree with the undercarriage and stone splash areas. Work is never done there or you don't care about reoccuring patina.

Just recently pulled out the carpet of a low mileage southern France car for heater-core repair, you could literally eat from those floors. Some worker seemed to have ruined a thread for a frame and decided to just drop the screw on the floor to leave there for me to repair.