[Healeys] Paint flaking - Underseal it .....

[Robert Blair]

Michael,

Good question.  It is difficult to maintain good apprearance for underbody
areas with body color paint - especialy in light colors - true of most early
cars that had body color on the undersides.  Looks crappy after a few thousand
miles and goes downhill from there very quickley.  Factory should never have
done this in the first place as it deteriates in no time while driving
normally - especially in areas with less than ideal weather - which is most
areas.  And of course leads to the rust problems that we all know about.

My opinion and solution - which I am about to do on my car, which has been
painted recently in a primrose yellow, is to just wire brush the undersides
that are visible - wheel wells, underside panels, etc and brush paint them all
with a thickish black underseal material that dries with a matt black rough
finish - the kind you see on the underbody of new porsche 911 etc.  This
provides metal protection from stones/water/tar, looks visually better than
chipped/dirty/discolored body color paint, and just looks more 'completed'.
It looks like the underside of a car should look if it is driven and is not a
trailer queen.

Personally I see no sense or advantage in trying to maintain underbody color
and finish unless you intend to do concours in which case driving and
practicality are not your priorities.  I have no interest in concours -only in
driving and practical and good appearance - so I am in favor of underseal type
finishes.  Healeys are meant to be driven .......

Robert N. Blair  65 Yellow BJ8  rnbmail at yahoo.com
   



--- On Mon, 6/23/08, Michael Gladwin <michaelgladwin at mac.com> wrote:

> From: Michael Gladwin <michaelgladwin at mac.com>
> Subject: [Healeys] Paint flaking
> To: "Healey List" <healeys at autox.team.net>
> Date: Monday, June 23, 2008, 7:54 AM
> Thanks to those helping with my carb label question.  You
> learn a lot
> and fast with this forum!
>
> New question:  My car was sprayed in 1989 in Canada.  The
> paint is R-M
> Dia-mont clear oat finish from BASF ('90 corvette red
> ((code 47))
> which is supposed to be a Colorado red equivalent).
>
> Problem:  While the top of the car is fabulous the
> underside of the
> wheel arches and the chassis are flaking.  There does not
> seem to be
> sufficient paint to metal bonding.  This is patchy at
> present but has
> gotten worse over the last 5 years.  The patented, British,
> rust-
> preventative, chassis-oil-smearing system has avoided
> corrosion build
> up, but it don't look nice.
>
> Question:  without a major re-spray how do you contain this
> problem in
> a tidy way.  Is there a good brush on solution.  Any source
> material/
> recommendations gratefully received
>
> Mike
> '62 BT7 MkII
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