With what and how to protect wheel arches of the car

How to properly and what to treat the underwings of the car

Hidden cavities in the car start to rust and rot invisibly to the eye. Arc grooves are especially destructive- dirt and dust are accumulated there. These surfaces are now wet with water, now they dry out. This creates ideal conditions for corrosion processes. To prevent premature deterioration of car arches, they are lubricated with special protective compositions.

What method to choose

There are several ways to protect the arches from the negative effects of water, dirt and stones. These surfaces are covered with undercovers, but even they cannot provide 100% protection of arches from dirt and corrosion. Treatment with special compositions is necessary, the choice of which depends on the preferences of the car owner and his willingness to bear the financial costs.

How you can treat the arches of the car:

1. Spilling with used oil. If you do it yourself, this method does not cost a penny, but instead you have to count on the loss of time. In order to provide protection against rust, you have to pour oil 2-4 times a year. The disadvantage of the method is that the used oil has toxic substances, which, when evaporated, have a harmful effect on the driver and passengers.
2. Lubrication with inexpensive domestic means. They are made on the basis of bitumen, lithol, motor oils, kerosene, olive oil, anti-corrosion additives. Frequency of treatment is once a year. It is more expensive than used oil, but less time and effort consuming.
3. Using expensive imported agents. Experienced car owners consider that the only difference of such compounds is that they need refreshing less often. In principle, they do not differ in any way – they just protect metal from corrosion. But no anticorrosive will not remove existing rust and will not make up all the holes in the metal.

Wheel arches of European-made cars begin to spoil after 3-4 years of exploitation, while Chinese cars – after 1-2 years.

What compositions are offered by manufacturers?

In the range of anti-corrosion products, given its diversity, it is not so easy to understand. To understand what compositions manufacturers offer, helps to classify on the basis of what is made.

Bitumen

Bitumen mastic is a viscous material with excellent waterproofing. They are used for processing the bottoms of cars and arches. Bituminous lacquers can be mixed with petrol, solvent and white spirit.

Features and advantages of bituminous preparations:

• moderate cost;
• good noise insulation;
• a wide range of operating temperatures;
• frost resistance;
• excellent anticorrosive properties;
• allows different variants of application – by trowel, brush, spray gun;
• Sold in different containers: you can buy the composition in a plastic canister, iron cans or spray cans.

In turn, there are several types of bituminous mastics:

1. Slate. Made on the basis of bitumen. Plasticizer – mineral oil. The color of the coating – black. Minus – a low range of working temperatures. Extreme lower limit is -20°C. For regions with cold winters this composition is not suitable.
2. Polymer-bitumen. They contain polymers, are plastic, have a high level of adhesion, last longer than other bituminous compositions. These mastics also contain rust inhibitors, rust converters and solvents. The composition is applied at room temperature in 2-3 layers. Drying time is 24 hours. Keeps its properties in a wide temperature range – from -50 to +100°C.
3. Bitumen-rubber. Bitumen provides moisture protection, rubber prevents cracking in frost. Well withstand frost – can withstand temperatures up to -60°C. They are viscous mixtures, which, drying out, give great shrinkage. They are quick-drying, inexpensive, but have a thick consistency.

There are two types of bitumen-rubber mastics – cold and hot. The latter cost less, but require heating. They do not create shrinkage during curing and have a high drying speed. It is recommended to apply it at negative temperatures.

Popular brands are Kerry, MasterWax, 3ton, Oil Right, Barrier and many others. Any polymer (polymer-bitumen) or rubber (rubber-bitumen) composition will do for treating arches. Usually they are packaged in 0.5-1 L cylinders or 0.8-3 L cans. Unit price varies between 100-800 rubles.

Epoxy .

Such means are considered the most resistant among mastics, but they do not withstand shocks, cracks and splinters at low temperatures. Epoxy mastics can be applied directly to oily areas, but they must always be washed and dried.

Often the mastic is supplied with a solvent, which is added before application. The recommended thickness of the layer is 2 mm. Completely the composition dries within a day. For wheel arches, for example, NoiseLIQUIDator mastic is suitable.

The most reliable element of wheel arches protection is a polymer underlayer that protects the metal surface from corrosion. The material of this element is neutral to salt and other reagents that are sprinkled on the roads.

Wax

A distinctive feature of such compositions is the absence of color. Compared with bituminous means, wax analogues are characterized by higher fluidity. A plus of such mixtures is high resistance to frost. Wax mastics contain corrosion inhibitors, but they only work when the anti-corrosion agent is in the liquid phase.

When the product dries, turning into an elastic wax film, the inhibitors lose their anti-corrosion properties. A disadvantage of wax compounds is their low mechanical strength. They are more suitable for the treatment of internal cavities.

Liquid undercovers

Manufacturers offer a new approach to the treatment of arches. Polymeric rubber compositions are durable and strong, they are often used as an alternative to underpads. The new funds, as the manufacturers assure, have a unique formula. The product molecules are able to penetrate directly into the structure of the metal. Sold in spray cans, these “liquid winglets” are used.

The application of such funds, unlike conventional polymer-rubber compositions, is very simple and does not require special conditions. The liquid is sprayed on the surface of the arches before installing the usual fenders. The disadvantage of such means is insignificant noise isolation.

One example of “liquid fenders” is “Rast-Stop”, which is applied by spraying. It is a black or dark brown liquid based on oil of high purity, contains various inhibitors, thanks to which acquires a unique penetrating and impregnating ability.

While ordinary oil always floats on the surface of water, Rust Stop mixes with water to form a stable emulsion that settles on the metal surface and literally “grows” into it due to special physical and chemical bonds. Such agents may be used on any car with different mileage and condition.

Preservatives

The most popular product in this category is Mauville. It is well known to experienced motorists and is popular among them. Its name comes from the cities of Moscow and Vilnius, where the research institutes involved in its development were located. It consists of Cerezine, oxidized petrolatum, linseed oil, imported corrosion inhibitors and white spirit.

Mauville completely seals and insulates metal surfaces. It is affected neither by air nor moisture, and it contains an inhibitor that actively fights rust traces.

The uniqueness of Movil is that you can safely apply it directly on the mastic or bituminous insulating coatings. After treating with Movil the metal gets additional moisture-repellent protection. A disadvantage of the product is the impossibility of combining it with synthetic mastics: it loosens them. Instead, MOVIL is compatible with all types of paint coatings and has no adverse effect on them.

Procedure for treatment

When processing wheel arches with anticorrosive agents, follow certain rules that allow you to achieve the desired effect:

1. Rinse the surface thoroughly. If you miss this point, all further work will be useless, as the protective compositions will not adhere to the metal.
2. Dry and degrease the surface. If traces of grease or moisture remain, the effect will not be sufficient.
3. Deburr the metal from rust. Since the used compounds are used to protect and not to remove rust, to treat the wheel arches of the car, you must necessarily grind the metal from traces of corrosion.
4. The arches should be thoroughly cleaned. Do not skimp on the protective preparations. In the instructions, read the treatment area for which the product is designed.

If you follow the above rules, the effectiveness of treatment of the arches increases at times.

How to treat arches

To cover the arches from the inside, you do not need a hoist, like at the service station. When doing the work with your own hands, it is enough to have an inspection pit or a jack.

1. Dismantle the wheel and underlay.
2. Coat the washed and dried arches with a protective composition in 2 or 3 layers. After each coat take a break for 10-20 minutes to let it dry a little.
3. When the last layer dries, put the wheel and the fender back.
4. Repeat for the other 3 wheels.

For the job you will need 5-6 hours and a quality protective composition – bitumen or wax mastic, or other protective agent.

Tips for the selection of protective composition

On the market are sold dozens of different anti-corrosion means for processing of arches. They differ in price, composition, effect, duration and other features.

Protective compositions for arches should have the following features:

1. Heavy-duty. Anticorrosive compositions for wheel arches are regularly “bombarded”, they experience constant abrasive effects of sand and fine gravel, so they must retain high strength characteristics during the entire period of operation.
2. High thixotropy. Created protective layer resists abrasion. The composition does not crack or chip, but liquefies and dampens the impact energy.
3. Salt resistance. The arches are exposed to de-icing agents. Only salt-resistant products will provide reliable protection in winter.

The main condition when choosing a mastic is that it reaches a solid state when drying.

High viscosity rust-preventive compositions are applied with the help of special guns, which allow you to put a layer of the desired thickness on the surface, foaming it to increase the noise properties.

Each motorist decides for himself what is better to treat the body of his car. If you plan to use your car for more than 5 years, regularly treat arches, bottom, hidden and internal cavities with protective substances. And to apply them effectively, select an anti-corrosion composition with regard to the regional climate and driving conditions.

Start treating bodywork! Rear arches! Methods, technology, materials! All about saving the car’s metal!

It’s been a long time since I wrote anything! Couldn’t find the time, so I did not write it! Much has been done, a lot of photos, information, and such a volume discouraged me to sit down for this record! Since we need enough time! But here I decided to print it out, and tell you what I managed to pull! Wanted to do for a long time rear arches and the bottom, the restoration and prevention of rotting! This is a problem for many cars, including newer ones than my Primka! But I was lucky that the condition of the body on my prima is very good! But as the “autopsy” showed, I got there in time! Through holes did not find, except for one place! But first things first!

So, after restoration of the front end, I started the most unpleasant and long action!

And also took a video before the work, in order to see the scale of what needs to be done!

Anyway, the body was covered with freckles underneath, and it was necessary to get rid of them!

Since it’s limited to uploading photos here on the Drive, I decided to break it up into several parts! In this part, I’ll tell you everything I did: stripped, what treated and painted! Plus I’ll show it with the example of the rear arches! And in the other just show what was the state of the other elements, after processing and painting!

I started scraping with the rear arches! Wheelbarrow, drill, a lot of brushes, sanders and other stuff was to help me! It was not easy at first. I had to figure out how and what was best to grind with! In the arch is especially awkward and difficult! There is also the biggest layer of factory sealant! After the first day of cleaning, I got dross in my eye, even though I was wearing safety glasses! The next day, an eye doctor took it out! Replaced my glasses with full-closed glasses and was back in action, the same day! It took me 3-4 days to clean the first arch! But I practiced my sweeping technique on it!

I was sweeping the right arch! In addition to goggles used mask 3M 75-series and overalls JetPro! Otherwise, there was no success!

That little bit of consumables I used in the sweep! Later on, I had to buy a lot more petal circles and new squeegees!

The technology was simple. I used a grinder with a flap wheel for the rough stuff, and the one that was slightly turned out! It was more convenient! Blade wheel perfectly removes the factory sealant and especially the rust with the “roots”! Anything I couldn’t get with the grinder, I cleaned with the drill and different types of squeegee. And in the most difficult places I just sanded with a sandblasting gun! Yes, I had to buy a sandblaster, otherwise without it, I would have to close my eyes to some unpleasant things, and I did not want to do that!

Matrix gun with an immersion hose! Plus specifically for him bought in Leroy Merlin container for powder! Set the hose to the desired height, so that the bottom was 1-1.5 cm, and secured ties! Got here is such a handy thing!

It is not a good sandblaster, but it helped me a lot! And most importantly, it is this kind of gun, allows you to get anywhere! Thanks to the hose, the container with sand stands in a convenient place, and the gun itself I was getting into all sorts of pockets and hard-to-reach places! I used regular dry sand, running it through a sieve! That was enough for me! I was not looking for slag.

It only took me 3-4 hours to do the left arch, that’s how long I got used to the cleanup! Why did I decide to demolish everything? The answer is simple! The places where the rusts were, at least they were visible. But there were places where it seems and the coating is intact, but under it has already formed a film of rust! And guess where it is, and where it is not, just not real! Scraping the first right arch showed that it is necessary to scrape everything, and that is up to the bare metal!

Also during the stripping I wondered about the original coating! The problem is that sometimes the stripping time exceeded a couple or three days, and exposed bare metal, as many know, has time to oxidize in a matter of minutes-hours from humidity and other factors! That is, all this work can turn out to be a failure! I looked through a lot of stuff, read a lot, asked many people what to do, but some kind of 100% point has not been extracted for myself! Suddenly I remembered something I had used once before! Namely Neutral Converter Conferum KF-58PR . For me it was a real way out! This converter is low-acid on tannins. The thickness of penetration into the metal is several times less than the acidic, only 70-150cmcm against 250-450cm (depending on the product, the same Demexid-58PR from Conferum, penetrates to a depth of 450μm)! But I didn’t need much penetration, because everything was scrubbed off perfectly! The converter was only to help remove the oxide! Plus the ease of use: no need to rinse it off, no harsh smell, very low consumption! For me this product was a salvation! Because I wanted to apply the epoxy primer to all elements at once, instead of painting one arch and so on!

And a little information about Conferum KF-58PR!

Neutral rust converter “KF-58PR” – a complex composition based on tannins, inhibitors (retarders) of corrosion and functional additives. Plant tannins interact with rust, converting iron oxides into corrosion inactive compounds that have excellent adhesion (bonding) to the metal and ensure good adhesion of paint and varnish coatings. Effective inhibitors inhibit corrosion processes under the film. Thanks to special additives it impregnates rust layers up to 70 μm thick. At the same time the conversion process is neutral media.

Some information from the community:

“If we consider Desoxil-MPR the best rust converter for cars, then the best converter in the primer, in our opinion, is Ifhan-58PR. This opinion is shared by many of our customers. Suffice it to say that the builders of auto racing circuit of international level – Moscow Raceway (Istra-Volokolamsk), after numerous tests, stopped their choice exactly at our Ifhan-58PR. A fact that speaks for itself.

“Then the question: what is the best rust converter, the answer will be appropriate – the cheapest. The company Conferum offers to buy a rust converter KF-58PR” What is IFHAN-58PR: “Same eggs, only in profile. Conferum can not after the change of leadership IFHE RAS use the trademark IFHAN (Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), but the founders are the same persons – Golovin, Kuznetsov) Leading anti-corrosion workers. It is important that the production of the Conferium.”

Some people begin to be puzzled that the description of KF-58PR prescribed the treatment of metal structures and rebar in concrete! There is a reasonable question, but can it be used in the car? Of course you can! The producer writes about it, it’s understandable and logical! It’s just that this particular neutralizer is ideal for rebar into concrete, because you can’t use acidic ones! Acidic media is destructive to concrete! And for us car enthusiasts, it is convenient that it does not need to be washed off, it can serve as the main coating, without the effects of atmospheric precipitation and other things! That is, the part can paint KF-58PR, and defer to the application of the primer, and for an indefinite period!

Understand correctly, I am not a supporter of acid converters. All the same, it burns through the metal, and it is not good! It must be washed off, and here, too, I do not like the method! I do not like the fact that rinsing with a soda solution, or even just water, we again cause oxidation! Also not a supporter of acidic primers. I will not describe why! I found my version, and it works!

Here is a can or bottle, whatever you want to call it, of neutralizer! There are also display icons on the side in the application. There’s also a car badge, which says it’s acceptable for automotive use!

After it is completely dry, be sure to go over the scotchbrite and degreaser before applying the primer! After the scotchbrite, you can trace this kind of yellow tint to the type of primer!

It is recommended to apply 1-4 coats. After fully drying there is a dark blue pollen and a rough surface on the surface! Before applying the primer it is necessary to go over well with a scotch-brush and then degrease! Then you can safely primer!

Also it happens sometimes that red spots appear as a consequence of the neutralizer on the rust! In those cases, you have to scrape it off and apply the neutralizer again. All until everything is the same color! But I didn’t, and couldn’t have, since everything was thoroughly cleaned!

Next, my head was bubbling over which primer to choose! Compressor, paint gun, everything I needed was on hand! I knew I needed 2K primer! But the truth I did not know what brand of epoxy to choose! But with the help of an inveterate Primavod Pasha aka ghostraider44, restoring the body of his second car Nissan X-Trail, I realized what materials are worth paying attention to! For that Paul, as always, kudos and many thanks) Paul used and spoke well about primers and enamels manufacturing company CUMIXAN ! But unfortunately I did not have time to order my small quantity from them as he did! The company only worked with large deliveries of at least 100kg! I looked around a lot, called many companies, buy a small amount was not possible! But one manager suggested a local company “Construction Technology Siberia”! Found them in 2GIS, went to the site, found all the potontsialno necessary soils, and began to learn about them!

So I came to the primers and enamels company VMP ! Moreover, it turned out that both companies Cumixan and VMP are in Yekaterinburg! And Kumiksan was formed by one of the technologists who left from VMP! That’s such parallels)

What are the primers and enamels company VMP:

Scientific-Production Holding “VMP” – one of the leading manufacturers of anti-corrosion paint materials in Russia.

Following the traditions of academic science in the creation of its products, developing its own materials technologies and providing impeccable service, VMP has been a leader in the market of anti-corrosion coatings for over 25 years. EFFECTIVE ANTI-cORROSION PROTECTION VMP (site)

I pick up the products I need in the catalog, and see what is available locally! So I chose IZOLEP-Mastic – epoxy primer – thick-bed primer-enamel. It was in stock and the most important – in small package!

What’s so great about these primers? Simple:

The purpose of IZOLEP-mastic primer-enamel is used for protection of metal and concrete structures operated in atmospheric conditions of all macroclimatic areas, types of atmosphere and placement categories according to GOST 15150, when immersed into the ground.

Primer-enamel of silver-grey color is designed for corrosion protection of the outer surface of pipelines of heat supply networks under the heat insulation at the channel method of laying. CHARACTERISTICS of IZOLEP-mastic primer enamel

Tolerant to surface preparation (preparation degree St2 and St3 is permitted), including the remains of tough rusty layers and old coatings GF-021, FL-03K, VL-023. It can be cured at negative temperatures; The brand with aluminum powder has increased protective properties (powder contained in the primer-enamel creates additional barrier protection and prevents the penetration of moisture to the painted surface). The coating

Resistant to spills of oil, oil products and chemical reagents. IZOLEP-mastic is used for protection of oil and gas facilities, chemical industry, metallurgy, power plants, as well as in transportation construction. It is allowed to use for corrosion protection of steel structures of buildings and structures of agricultural complex, including the mode of wet disinfection. It is also used for additional protection of galvanized metal surfaces.

Part of the description of the primer, and of course a link to it – IZOLEP ®-mastic ! It has all the tolerances, GOSTs and a lot of useful information!

In my words: For me it was important to do thoroughly and reliably so that the primer was strong and resistant to all kinds of salts and alkalis! That’s important considering what we have in the winter, they dump on the roads!

Plus I was very pleased with the price! For one kilogram of soil I paid 700 rubles! And if you take a big barrel of 25 pounds, then for one kg goes 500-550 rubles! Considering the prices in the car dealerships for not the most popular and cheap brands of epoxy primer, VMP was much cheaper!

In general, the primer is 2-component thick enough. According to TDS can be diluted with solvent up to 10%, which I had to do. Recommended nozzle size for the application of 1.8-2.2 mm! But I had a gun with 1.7 mm! After a test paint, had to go buy another gun with a nozzle 1.8mm plus with the obligatory location of the tank from below! Because the arches and the bottom was impossible to paint with the top tank! In many places just could not reach, it was constantly bumping into everything, and often grabbed the air! With the bottom tank was just great to work with! For the first layer, I needed 3kg to fill the rear arches, the back of the bottom and the cavity under the tank! Next day, when the primer dried, I plastered all the seams and joints of the metal with Polyurethane sealant!