Cheap underseal service

Hi all,

A little advise?

I have been looking around for a local (birmingham) company to underseal my landie. Ive emailed a few companies and am thinking about the bloke below.

"Hi Mate. You would need to get it steam cleaned before i done it. Any loose bits of rust or paint i will scrape off before treating with rust paint such as bonda primer then the whole lot can be wax oiled. I use wurth wax oil or hamerite wax oil. They usaully start from £250. As an offer i can do it for £225 all in reagards"

Does this sound right?

Any recommendations?

It's probably £100 for the product if you were to buy it yourself off the shelf.

£125 labour for half a days ****ty work scrapping and brushing and getting covered in under seal. I day it's worth it.

done my d2 es In 1 day inc total underbody shotblast,then total underbody glassblast followed by airline in every nook /cranny & finally about nearly 2 gallon of waxoyle in/out of everywhere cost about £50 in all but did loose a couple of jobs due to tying up me 4 poster

+1 on the other 2 replies, a ****ty job, it's all in the preperation, the guy ain't making that much money on your job at that price.

Is that exactly how he replied to you?
Spelling mistakes and calling you 'mate'?
Sounds like a proper class outfit, up on the ramp, quick blow with an airline and splurge black crap all over making sure to get some on the exhaust and brakes.
Then watch it all drop off and rot away a year later.
Do it yourself, its a crap job but you'll do it with love..

Flossie said:

Is that exactly how he replied to you?
Spelling mistakes and calling you 'mate'?
Sounds like a proper class outfit, up on the ramp, quick blow with an airline and splurge black crap all over making sure to get some on the exhaust and brakes.
Then watch it all drop off and rot away a year later.
Do it yourself, its a crap job but you'll do it with love..

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More likely it will stay on and rot away underneath due to poor prep!

Agree with all the above.much better to do it yourself. You can do it outside. Warm weatther is ideal, helps with the drying after washing.

Sadly the anti-corrosion protection industry is amongst the most controversial in the motor trade, with probably more cowboys than there are professionals. If, like me, you are unable or unwilling to do this filthy & time consuming job yourself then the price you pay is generally a good indication of the quality of the workmanship.
Frankly, in my own opinion the price you have been quoted tells it's own story. Try asking yourself - if the outfit is one of the 'pros.' why doesn't the bloke do all the all-important prep. (inc. steam cleaning & drying) himself & what sort of come-back you have in the event of a poor result.

Thanks all,

I too was a little thrown by not having it cleaned beforehand.

Does anybody know a good reputable company near Birmingham for this as I don't really have the resources or time to do it myself.

You could also play devils advocate and prepare a contract stipulating the processes and materials to be used, the levels of finish / standard to be met, a rust breakthrough warranty period (with a requirement for him to rework any defects free of charge), making good any damage he may cause to the vehicle while it is in his care and also the fixed price for the job with VAT receipt.

Just give him the idea that you wont accept a second class job, make up some fictitious story about having to take a previous garage to court for shoddy workmanship (hence your requirement for the contract). If he understands that, and is still willing to sign the contract, and you think the guy seems genuine then give him a go. if all goes wrong you've always got the contract to hang him up by!

if its a relatively rust free car waxoyling is an easy job, which is when it should be applied as long as internal ofchassis has pleny put in, if its as most with flaky brown rust, waxoyl after a good steam clean will help, i do quite a few a year with top ups done the next,which is what most offer id think, but obviously as wil2813 has done is the only thorough way removing all rust ,but few will have the means to do that ,and then paint would be better with waxoyl over the top once fully dried

Flossie said:

Is that exactly how he replied to you?
Spelling mistakes and calling you 'mate'?
Sounds like a proper class outfit, up on the ramp, quick blow with an airline and splurge black crap all over making sure to get some on the exhaust and brakes.
Then watch it all drop off and rot away a year later.
Do it yourself, its a crap job but you'll do it with love..

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*YES* Spot on I'm a professional restorer (not mainly Landys) and reckon to do a proper job to the best of my ability. I'm currently preserving the chassis on my 110 CSW and I have the benefit of a 4 post lift and full workshop equipment as well as trade only products. So far I have literally bare metalled the chassis between the rear cross member up to and including the rear out riggers. I've got into every nook and cranny and the whole area has been phosphated, red lead oxided (yes, real red lead believe it or not) and top coated with Tractol. Time spent so far 30 hours with nearly 50 quids worth of paint and materials. I'm about halfway there with the chassis paint but there will still be the matter of treating the inside with Dinitrol after that. (Edit: I forgot - I did a trade with a mate who spent another 5 hours on my chassis in return for some work on his series 1 so that's 35 hours on the chassis so far)

I'm lucky because I have the facilities to make the job easier, but the point is this: My 2A Station Wagon has been done to the same standard by the previous owner. He did it outside in the street over the course of a fortnight. 10 years later and it still looks great underneath.
You are right it's a crap job but it's very satisfying and when you take your pride and joy out in the mud, snow or salt you'll do so with an easy heart!

Cheap under seal job will be ****ty under seal job.

The problem is even going to a specialist and paying an arm and a leg is no guarantee of a quality job.

blue beasty said:

The problem is even going to a specialist and paying an arm and a leg is no guarantee of a quality job.

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No your exactly right. Hence why I did mine myself

flat said:

Cheap under seal job will be ****ty under seal job.

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most offer a waxoyl application not a corrosion removal which is a much bigger job and comes more in to restoration

blue beasty said:

The problem is even going to a specialist and paying an arm and a leg is no guarantee of a quality job.

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My customers would find it very hard indeed to convince me to take this sort of job on for any vehicle which isn't having a total strip down restoration. Doing this job properly on a fully assembled Land Rover takes long enough that I couldn't possibly charge all the labour out at full rate so it would involve both a large bill for the customer and a below - minimum - wage income for me. It's a lose - lose situation!
For this reason I wouldn't pay anyone else to do my Land Rover either because I know that if they are working to the standard I'd want then either I can't afford to pay for it, or else Mrs. Claus is going to be very cross with them when they get back to lapland with a staggeringly dirty Santa suit

Kwakerman said:

You could also play devils advocate and prepare a contract stipulating the processes and materials to be used, the levels of finish / standard to be met, a rust breakthrough warranty period (with a requirement for him to rework any defects free of charge), making good any damage he may cause to the vehicle while it is in his care and also the fixed price for the job with VAT receipt.

Just give him the idea that you wont accept a second class job, make up some fictitious story about having to take a previous garage to court for shoddy workmanship (hence your requirement for the contract). If he understands that, and is still willing to sign the contract, and you think the guy seems genuine then give him a go. if all goes wrong you've always got the contract to hang him up by!

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I'm liking this idea!

Whatever you do don't think even a good job will stop your vehicle rusting, it only slows it down.
When it eventually does need welding it makes it a proper ball ache of a job.

Kwakerman said:

You could also play devils advocate and prepare a contract stipulating the processes and materials to be used, the levels of finish / standard to be met, a rust breakthrough warranty period (with a requirement for him to rework any defects free of charge), making good any damage he may cause to the vehicle while it is in his care and also the fixed price for the job with VAT receipt.

Just give him the idea that you wont accept a second class job, make up some fictitious story about having to take a previous garage to court for shoddy workmanship (hence your requirement for the contract). If he understands that, and is still willing to sign the contract, and you think the guy seems genuine then give him a go. if all goes wrong you've always got the contract to hang him up by!

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You could also ask for the moon on a stick.

nobber said:

You could also ask for the moon on a stick.

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Its nothing more than you would expect from any business that you were paying for a service, it's just that it is in writing rather than a verbal agreement.