adriantr4 Posted December 31, 2023 Report Share Posted December 31, 2023 At some early point in its life, perhaps the US dealership, a bitumen-like underseal was applied to the wheel arches and surrounding area of my '4. Whoever put it on did a great job as the steel is intact but I am having huge trouble in removing it. Some of it flakes off but generally I am hammering it off in tiny sections, it has a terrific grip still. The picture shows my efforts with hammer and big screwdriver, the curved wheel arch section took about an hour plus I am pock- marking the surface. I'm attempting to refurbish the body so planned to re-underseal the underbody with the appropriate product. However, am I wasting my time? If it's on so well perhaps just leave it? Or some vicious chemical? Nitromoors (sp?) Comments please ... Regards, Adrian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BlueTR3A-5EKT Posted December 31, 2023 Report Share Posted December 31, 2023 Hot air paint stripper gun any use with a narrow scraper? I did that job on the underbonnet area of my car and it took me a week. I washed and rubbed with petrol soaked scotch brite to get the last bits off. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew W Posted December 31, 2023 Report Share Posted December 31, 2023 I sprayed mine with white spirit from a garden sprayer. Give it a few hours to soak in and it scraped off easily with a wooden spatula. The residue wiped off with a white spirit soaked rag and left the paint unmarked. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
iain Posted December 31, 2023 Report Share Posted December 31, 2023 12 minutes ago, Andrew W said: I sprayed mine with white spirit from a garden sprayer. Give it a few hours to soak in and it scraped off easily with a wooden spatula. The residue wiped off with a white spirit soaked rag and left the paint unmarked. +1 or petrol. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted December 31, 2023 Report Share Posted December 31, 2023 Hi Adrian, I used a 1" wood chisel and hammer + hot air gun to soften it. White Spirit to clean the surface. Nitromors is quite useless these days - Have a look at StarChem SynStrip HERE Do a search fore it. Itr can be as cheap as £30/5Litres. Be careful it really works - especially on skin. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SirHector Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 17 hours ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said: Hot air paint stripper gun any use with a narrow scraper? I did that job on the underbonnet area of my car and it took me a week. I washed and rubbed with petrol soaked scotch brite to get the last bits off. Just bought a TR6 and for some reason my bonnet underside has been painted with under seal I think …..a) why b) how can I get the stuff off or does it serve a purpose? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John Morrison Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 Morning Sir hector - Sir, doffed cap etc.! Welcome to our forum, seen this before it was probobly Ziebarted when new, horrible looking but will satnd you in good stead, if its still on the rest of the car. OR, is could be an attempt at spayed on sound deadening John. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
iain Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 Just remembered, if you soften with White Spirit……..be patient, you can then use a plastic body filler applicator to remove the goo! The benefit being it won’t scratch the underlying paint, which if the stuff has done it’s job will be in good condition. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 22 hours ago, adriantr4 said: At some early point in its life, perhaps the US dealership, a bitumen-like underseal was applied to the wheel arches and surrounding area of my '4. Whoever put it on did a great job as the steel is intact but I am having huge trouble in removing it. Some of it flakes off but generally I am hammering it off in tiny sections, it has a terrific grip still. The picture shows my efforts with hammer and big screwdriver, the curved wheel arch section took about an hour plus I am pock- marking the surface. I'm attempting to refurbish the body so planned to re-underseal the underbody with the appropriate product. However, am I wasting my time? If it's on so well perhaps just leave it? Or some vicious chemical? Nitromoors (sp?) Comments please ... Regards, Adrian I suspect what they used is Raptor coat its typically used in the US for pickup truck bed liners, hot air gun and scraper is probably one of the better ways to remove but not a five minute job. I once had to strip the entire underside of a TR5 shell before having it blasted, it took me a week! Stuart. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hamish Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 3 hours ago, stuart said: I suspect what they used is Raptor coat its typically used in the US for pickup truck bed liners, hot air gun and scraper is probably one of the better ways to remove but not a five minute job. I once had to strip the entire underside of a TR5 shell before having it blasted, it took me a week! Stuart. Stuart. Looked like it worked though Stuart ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
glasgow4a Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 Strip carefully using a hot air gun and for the curved sections use a shavehook best of luck Ian. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
adriantr4 Posted January 8 Author Report Share Posted January 8 Thanks to all responders. I bought a hot air gun, but also tried painting on with white spirit. Both approaches work, but white spirit is very fumy so breathing it in probably not the best idea. However, it's hard going. Where my underseal is a thin coat it peels off ok when given a good blast with the heat gun, but when on thickly its like scraping chewing gum. Anyhow, I'll persist and use the spirit to clean up. I don't have to get it all off and where my the underseal is on well and difficult to access I'll just leave it. The goal is to tidy up the bodywork, and I 'll brush on paints or products for the interior and underneath areas and let the professionals paint the exterior. Thanks Adrian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rcreweread Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 Adrian - if you are not worried about the paint under the underseal, then I found the easiest way was to use a 1-1 1/2 inch steel flat bladed scraper and just round off the corners a bit so they don't dig into the steel, and then chip the underseal off with a sort of stabbing operation using the corner to get under the underseal, and then it sort of flakes off leaving the paint underneath intact apart from scratches from the stabbing operation. I tried the heat gun and solvents approach and ended up with a gooey sticky mess - the above method is completely dry ( wear some goggles) and actually quite quick once you get the hang of it -I found it best to use a fairly stiff bladed scraper to get maximum impact. Hope this helps Cheers Rich Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stillp Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 If you have access to the back of the panel, apply the heat from that side, so you're softening the layer of underseal that's stuck to the panel, rather than trying to soften the whole lot. I found a kettle of boiling water over my inner wheel arches helped strip the underseal in large chunks, rather than turning it into 'chewing gum'. Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Keith Wigglesworth Posted January 9 Report Share Posted January 9 I just saw a USA web site post that suggested an infra red heater lamp would warn a large area for scraping the under seal off. They seem to have this problem a lot in the USA because of the enthusiastic application of this type of goo by dealers in the past. Keith W Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fabrice5925 Posted January 10 Report Share Posted January 10 Salut Adrain J'ai utilisé mon outil multifonction avec raclette regarder la photo et j'obtiens ce résultat sur la couverture et sur d'autres parties du corps vous avez la plaque d'identification du corps sur cette zone Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fabrice5925 Posted January 10 Report Share Posted January 10 Sorry for this mistake it's write in french Hi Adrian I used my multi-tool with flat spatula and i get this result on front cover and other body parts you have the body identification plate on this area Quote Link to post Share on other sites
adriantr4 Posted January 13 Author Report Share Posted January 13 Fabrice - Thanks very much for the information. It is appreciated. I'm going to do some more scraping tomorrow. Regards, Adrian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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