My car has undercoating from the ShockTower back and although I am sure it helped the car survive the last 33 years it will now be a Sunny Day driver and show car and I would like to remove it. Is a heat gun and scraper the only way or is there something better? Dan
Yep..heat gun and scraper work well, and so does a wire wheel on a angle grinder. Those are about the only 2 things that I know of that'll take it off. You might try coca-cola on a rag to soften it up. Seems to me someone told me once that it would soften it so a scraper will work easier.
Getting off the under coating There is a solvent made by Auto Magic, used to remove road tar, tree sap and the hardest of road film. You can put this stuff into a spray bottle and spray the entire underneath of the car or wherever the undercoat may be. Let it sit for a day or two and and it should wipe right off. I do alot of cars that have been undercoated, and this is what I have to use to get it off the under sides of the rockers and lips of the wheel wels clean. But in my case I have to sit there and rub my arm off, seeing that I cant keep a customers car for that many days. Or deisel fuel will work also, but its a little stinky and not very safe, but works to the same degree as the solvent. Another good thing about the solvent is that you can use it on any painted surface on your car without hurting the paint. Even on old cars the crap on the outside of the body will wipe right off. It can also be used on stickers on your paint, glass and bumpers. It will even take off shoe scuffs on your door panels, but if you try this, be carefull that it isn't taking off the color. This is especially true on brand new cars, alot of plastic parts are just dyed. This is the link below for auto magics home page. Contact them and they will tell you where there is a distributor in your area.:bananaman fhfdl.com
I found heating it up makes it real messy. I scraped/chipped mine off with putty knives and screwdrivers. Came off pretty good that way plus the chips sweep right up. If you heat and scrape, it sticks to the floor real good. What little residue was left was removed with a sand blaster.
I also used a screwdriver, gasket scraper, and a putty knife....and lots of manual labor. Heating it up would make a sticky mess. Once you get all the big stuff off....spray with PB Blaster and let it soak....then wipe it off. Repeat as necessary.
They make a little air scraper that works great for that. Makes it a lot easier than scrpaing by hand. I have seen some cheap ones for around $20.
