How much did this cost, if you don't mind me asking?
I'd really like to get this done on my 20 year old daily, as it appears to have been done before but is starting to look like it needs doing again in some areas. It does minimal mileage so I would like to get it done before any serious issues arise but have no idea regarding prices or who might do it locally that is competent/recommended.
As my Toyota is in the category of large vehicle it cost £900. I know that for smaller cars it would be half of this but looking at the hours and prep work you can see where the money goes!
The following is an extract of the procedure:
Cleaning
Firstly the vehicle is pressure washed using a specialist degreaser and an industrial steam cleaner underneath using our dedicated spray off ramp – this removes the majority of the lose dirt and debris under the vehicle.
The vehicle is then put up on jacking beams, the wheels are removed and any wheel arch liners removed. The vehicle is then steam cleaned which removes any grease and oily deposits. This means that the product will stick fast and hard to the underside of the vehicle.
Rust Removal
After this the vehicle is left to dry. Compressed air is used to force air out of any cavities which may be harbouring hidden water. We have a special high volume fan which is used to speed up the drying process.
Next, loose surface rust is removed with a combination of abrasive wheels or hand tools and a strong degreaser.
At this stage we categorise the preparation of each vehicle as follows:
Red – Very poor condition. 5+ hours preparation required. Heavy surface rust.
Amber – OK condition. 3 – 5 preparation required. Moderate surface rust.
Green – Good condition. 1 – 3 hours preparation required. Minor surface rust.
The vehicle is fully masked up for spraying to prevent any over spray reaching the paint work. This also includes the suspension, drive train, exhaust, heat shields and any other items underneath such as off-road protection parts like steering guards.
Dinitrol RC800 or Dinitrol RC900 is applied at this stage to any areas which are actively corroded. This goes some way to reverting the damaged metal back to good strong metal. This product takes 24 hours to fully cure.
Protection
The next stage is internal chassis protection or sill protection if your vehicle is of unibody design. Dinitrol ML is an oil based produced and is applied to the inside of the chassis using a 360 degree lance. This is left to dry before the next stage is started. It is also applied to the inside of the doors, bonnet, body frame and the bulkhead of Land Rovers.
The main component of the Dinitrol family of products is then applied. The Dinitrol 4941 is then applied over all surfaces to be protected.
On some high impact areas, a high strength Dinitrol 445 or 447 application is applied to protect against for example stone impact in wheel arches.
The bulk of the protection is now complete. This is left to dry before a final check of the application and the vehicle is reassembled.
