What should I paint underside of truck with?

Can anyone help? Im building a 58 F100. total stripped the truck, back to bare metal, cab off and all. This is my first build, so lacking the experience, thought here was the best place to ask. Im doing all the metal work and cant bear to see the underside starting to rust again when it gets back on the road.
What do you guys suggest?
The bed and cab has 2 pac black all over currently just as a primer. The chassis will be finished with the same 2 pac black. I had hoped to leave the underside in this paint, and just shultz up in the arches.
Would this be sufficient? is there a better way, or product?
Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers
Leeroy

 

this may not be what the automotive world can accept...but when I built the Chevy 14 years ago...and wanted a late 50s WHITE undercarriage...I used a rubber roof sealer (Snowroof) from Home Depot which was waterbased....painted it on with a brush and so far it has held up real good...The car has been to Bonneville on the salt 8 times over the past number of years and is washed when it gets home with a sprinkler under it...

 

Rustoleum, brush it on, works good and lasts a long time.

 

POR-15. Its hard to beat. You could paint the under side with it then go back and repaint it what ever color you want. It really does work great. Make sure you use gloves!!! It takes weeks to get it off your skin. Well unless you grind it off. lol

 

Like chevyshack said go with POR-15

 

I've heard of painting the underbody with the the paint on bed liner stuff (sorry I can't remember the name), it insulates and is a good sound proofer too. The stuff is real durable too.

 

What is "2 pac black" and what do you mean by "and just shultz up in the arches"?
I did my 55 F100 with Dupont Primer and the same finish coat as the top side.

 

Walmart carries gallon can of the stuff...


.

 

You mean rhino liner? That would be more expensive then POR-15. They have some new stuff out called lizard skin that is supposed to be great stuff. I think it can be used inside and out. Well, on your floors not the body.

 

why not paint it the same as the rest of the truck?

 

the dead rapper and the guard from Hogan's Heroes?

just a guess

has anyone ever tried the lizard skin stuff i have heard of it but never got a review.

 

man , i really did'nt realize there was a question there. Now iam going to have to take my sheeeet down to the frame & see wtf.
thanx alot guys.
WHAT KIND OF LIZARD WAS THAT ?

 

First off, POR15 is for rusty metal. It won't stick well to good clean metal. Stay away from that for this purpose.

Since it's under the cab, squirt it with rustoleum. Then when it's cured either use lizard skin or roll on or spray bed liner on it. IMHO, there really is nothing wrong with enamel paint, like rustoleum, for this particular job. Then the lizard skin will protect it from rock chips and provide a sound deadening and a little insulation to boot. It works fine.

Just because it's more expensive (POR15) doesn't mean it's better at a particular application.

 

I agree with POR-15. It comes in many colors now, including white. There are a lot of POR products that help protect metal surfaces.

 

That's what I do.

 

those brits sure speak funny eh?

What you have planned will probably work ok. As long as the undercoat covers all the areas that are likely to get stone chips, the 2 part primer should hold up ok on the rest.

 

I'm not sure what 2 pac black is (maybe 2-part black, ie epoxy). When he said "shultz" he meant "shutz" which is a type of undercoating kind of product. Do a search on "Shutz gun", you'll get the idea.......

 

Undercoat with the stuff they use on modern car rocker panels. It's latex based but when it dries it'll never come off. then you can paint the same color as the rest of the truck right over it. Did this to my '54 when I painted it and man is it tough. The Orange peel is mild and doesn't scream Rhino liner when somebody looks at it.


Tim

 

I take "rattlecan" Duplicolor Underbody spray and spray everything down 1 or 2 coats. But, it dries kind of dusty flat black and almost can still wipe off even when totally dried, so just as it flashes between coats, I spray either gloss any color Rustoleum or Duplicolor Engine enamel to seal the pours and color match to my liking (Clear even works well too).

Exponentially cheaper than POR products or Roll on Bedliner, much less time consuming than brushing, and is smooth like the new rocker panel latex that TERPU talks about. Spraying over the Underbody while its still a bit tacky almost knocks the hard wrinkles down and smooths it out a bit.

Lasts relatively decent as well by sealing the Underbody Spray pours. On a budget, its a decent way to run.

 

Paint it the same as the top of the truck. If you are worried about chips and dings use the quarter panel chip guard clear on it. I would use a good etching primer under it. I'm not a huge Rhino Liner or ton of under coat guy, that stuff is flammable if you get it hot enough.

 

I just did my '35 with a POR-15 and a brush and it looks.....soooo fucking good. It's so clean and shiny and as long as the sun doesn't get to it, it should stay that way. I love por15 and use it often.

I did spend 3 weeks cleaning up the underside before painting with wire wheel....tough job.

 

KBS Coatings makes awesome paint! Their RustSeal is a lot like POR15, but kinda on steroids. It flows out really nice, covers a surprising amount of surface area, and is designed to be applied over bare metal or rust equally well. However, like POR, it is not UV-safe, so keep whatever it touches out of the sun.

Use their frame coater kit. It's around $60, and it WILL do the job.

 

Tough job is an understatement! I can't imagine how difficult it must be to paint using a wire wheel.

 

Whatever you do, make sure you don't plug up any holes where you could trap water (like the bottom of a door). You don't want it rusting from the inside out.

I used POR15 followed by 3M Underseal #08882 on a Jeep. You can paint over the top of the stuff, the rocks bounce right off, and it is UV resistant.

 

TheMoose said it ........Por-15.........you never have to do it again........Big Bad John

 

epoxy primer(black) Then bedliner.

 

I used POR stuff for years...till I had issues with rust, and it will not stick to metal that isnt rusty or blasted...epoxy primer will do a better job then chuck some cheap enamel or whatever on it...I dont waste my money on the POR crap anymore

 

I would shoot it with DP-90 or some other epoxy then paint it. I did this on my 55 pick up with good results. I too have used alot of POR-15 and have generally been happy with it but have seen it peel too. The lizard skin product is really neat and I plan on using it on my chopped duece.

 

When I get ready to coat my frame I amd going to go with a three coat system, I plan on using a inorganic zinc primer, high solids epoxy, and a aliphatic urethane. I sell this system on steel pipe that goes in the oil field for tons of abuse. Imo I've seen this system deal with whatever man or mother nature can throw at it and it works like a champ! If you have any questions let me know. Sam

 

Sorry I took an age to reply! And apologies for 'speaking funny' squirrel. I would love to paint the underside of the truck the same as the top (hot rod flatz black) but here in the UK, alot of rain, and salt on the road in the winter eats the underside, so I want to put something tough up under there. Roger Walling again sorry for the tearms confusion, 2 pac black, is just me being lazy typing, its jsut a 2 part epoxy in satin black, and the shultz is shutz, just what its labeled up as in the workshop over here. It sounds like the POR products would have been great if they were going on the rusty underside, but as it is clean fresh metal, will it stick good? The lizard skin sounds like a good shout, but a little pricy, money i would prefer to spend on the drivetrain (still only a student). Sam Navarro, you got any links to any more info on this 3 coat system? Feels like the truck is getting somewhere now, got all metal work finished on the bed, onto the cab corners next... Cheers for all the info.

LEEROY