Undercoating wheel wells

[Rich1]

My car is in the process of being painted. The underside has recieved undercoat (colored to match the 918 paint). The front wheel wells have not received any undercoating-- I am asking for trouble by just leaving these sections painted only?

[Carl Beck]

In Southern California - maybe not. Personally I'd use something like 3M's Paintable Stone Guard. A thin coat sprayed on - will flex a bit to keep the paint from chipping under there.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[240znz]

Yes, you are asking for trouble. Stones will flick up and chip the paint, leaving a area for moisture to turn into the ugly rust monster.

My advise is to stip the wells back to metal, seam seal, etch prime, one or two coats of black stone guard paint. If you like the look of body paint in the wells, then prime and top coats as per normal.

[Nissanman]

My advise is to strip the wells back to metal, seam seal, etch prime, one or two coats of black stone guard paint. If you like the look of body paint in the wells, then prime and top coats as per normal.

Good advice but could I just add this.

I have done quite a bit of rust repairs, on Nissans mainly, and if there is anything that I reckon the factory does wrong is applying seam sealer BEFORE treating and priming the seams.

I realise Nissan isn't the only Manufacture that does this but, it is the only one that concerns me;)

The number of times that I strip a panel bare and the only visible rust is in the cracks crevices and joins, from which I have picked out the original seam sealer :stupid:

So, a word of advice from my experience.

Only apply seam sealer to a seam which has been de-rusted, prepared and adequately etch primed.

The Stone Guard product is excellent and you can apply top coat colour to it and have the car look ex factory:cool:

There is a wee bit of skill involved in applying the stuff, since it has a special applicator.

However you will soon get the hang of it and depending on your desired finish, several coats can be applied.