A fine day to get covered in black stuff

[SeanR]

Anyone else bother at all with undersealing ?, one of those jobs i hate to do but just cant help but do it, hate to see surface rust building up.

Done it on a few cars but never had any of them long enough to balance out the hassle of doing it!.

Looks ok underneath, bit of surface rust, wheel arms and suspension components mainly.

Not sure how long i might own this one, as it may be a good while may as well do it..

Suppose it does help with a resale after all.

Anyone know if these cars have any issues behind any of the plastic?, not wanting to go crazy though.

Been quoted some daft prices in the past for undersealing, around £550, thats a no go.

[Mr Vlad]

Blimey I can't remember last time I undersealed a car lol. Was definitely a BL car so looking at the 90's. I have however used Kurust on a couple of cars suspension arms and brake calipers, looked quite good to. Anyway enjoy your painting. 

[Vintagesixtysix]

Good luck Sean!

Cant do any harm.

There was a recent thread around rust on the fuel tank area…. But that seems to be exceptional.

My areas of focus over last couple of years have been wheel arches and bottom of the doors inside around the crimps.

Seeking out the condition of the electrical grounds might be worth a look.

brings back a few memories….. with the spray pump etc.

I know I’ll never rust….. as I always seemed to be covered in the stuff.Lol.

[Linas.P]

I would say it isn't necessary. Undersealing mainly protects the underside of the car from stone chips which then can propagate into rust, as bottom of IS250 is almost fully covered by plastic, and the parts which are not covered are already undersealed or have covers (like wheel liners etc.). So to be honest it is pointless to underseal IS250 as very little of metal is exposed in the first place and it does not actually rust under the plastics. The only places where I would do it is the lifting points as they likely get scratched when lifting the car.

However... in my experience Lexus (as most modern cars) uses zinc treated metal and doesn't rust for very long time even when compromised. Just check your lifting points which are 100% are scratched and you can see there is very little surface rust even after over 12 years being exposed. I have been under my car for many times over the years and to be fair I haven't see anything that would justify any additional rust protection.

Things that rust are exhaust, but that is just how it should be, then anti-roll bars which are powder-coated which over the time cracks and rust and some bolts holding underside panels. There was never any rust on the car body itself. Most of suspension components are actually aluminium and they not rusted, but just covered with brake dust. There are few points under bonnet that needs attention, Battery tray in particular (for obvious reasons), tops of shock towers (usually rust around bolts), some ground points and that is about it. 

In summary, IS250 in my experience do not rust and thus do not require any additional attention. One exception - if there is damage on the car, then the areas will rust over the time e.g. on my current car previous owner scratched corner of front arch and that corner is starting to rust. But for 17 years old car that is not really exceptional and just sign of negligence. 

[SeanR]

Thanks all, here's my findings, some of which coincide with what Linas said.

Dont ask me why but i bought 2 tins (2.5l) of waxoyl at £22 each from Halfords. I gets home with the 2 tins and finds a big full tin in the shed lol, along with 3 tins of the spray (what an ***** i am)

I hardly used any of the brush on stuff, mainly spray and not much of that either.

Suppose if a garage had charged me £500, now dont feel too bad about the £44 , it will get used eventually.

 

Anyways the car. 12 years old. 

All track rods (bits and bobs) etc needed doing, corrosion getting a bit worse than i want it to be.

At the end of the plastic trim under the car, rust, needed doing.

Jacking points and surrounding area, rust, needed doing, not bad though.

Plenty of points under the car that needed doing, the ones not covered by any plastic and showing rust.

Took trim off under engine to take a look, what a pain those plastic clips are!, all bolt/screws that hold it on severely corroded, need replacing really.

As mentioned, anti roll bar under engine needed doing, bad rust at the ends. Wire brushed, rust converter and paint. Aint pretty but will do.

Nothing serious besides that, glad i did it though, took from 7.30am to 4pm. Mainly because front callipers were becoming pitted, so did a rapid respray of those.

Rear brakes and discs need doing, how much will a garage charge?

Bottom of engine shiny, added a few pics, anti roll bar i was talking about.

Should make it last a bit longer.

 

Cheers.

[Jaystar77]

There's nothing quite like a bit of rust-proofing lol

My axle stands, trolley jack and garage floor aren't going to rust too much after the last messy session 😆

One thing to add if you haven't already blasted it is the fuel filler pipe to the tank.  Not sure if it is metal or plastic on the IS but will be a common issue on a few models once they get older. Well worth tackling now, even if you don't keep the car - at least you're doing a good turn for the next few owners!

[Bluemarlin]

Mine just has a bit of surface rust, so last year I set about it with a pump sprayer and a bottle of ACF-50. Took about 30 minutes. Will do the same again before winter. I also use a cheap lawn sprayer attached to a hose to rinse/wash the underside during winter and every few washes.

[SeanR]

Good stuff ACF 50. used use it on the motorbike.

I use a jet washer a few days before, bought an attachment with a 90 degree bend, great for getting in hard to reach places. Saying that though, you will find places it missed and will have to go over again with a brush and degreaser.

Thinking about it, there were areas where the original rust proofing had come off and was showing signs of surface rust, behind the front wheel on the driver side,  one side of the car was a bit worse than the other.

Loads of contradictory advice online about what to use and how to use it. One good tip for the brakes just to get it done fast, get a plastic bag and cut a slit in it and stretch it over the calliper, worked well, better than masking it all off.

Read to do it properly you cant just spray over old factory failing rust proofing, it has to be removed first. The reality is that would be a huge headache.

If these firms that charge £500 or so to do it properly, i kind of get why they would charge these prices. Taking off trim and removing old protection etc.

The question is whether or not they just take your money and skip over stuff

I came to the conclusion that doing a bit at home is better than nothing, its good to take a look under the car and find out what needs doing and being able to sort out any obvious issues before they get worse.

Helps get through the old MOT.