Underseal / Waxoyl

[petejleonard]

Hi,

I have taken my Bongo over to Campervans4fun in Macclesfield. They popped it on the ramp for me so we could take a look underneath as i wasn't sure whether it had already been sealed and whether it needed doing.

It was obvious that it had been done, but not very well. They were able to point out all the nooks and crannies that had obviously been missed and were beginning to show signs of surface rust.

I was given a quote of £425 to get it all done properly. This includes washing it all down, putting it indoors to properly dry off. They then apparently go over it 2 or even 3 times with the underseal to make sure it is done properly. They also include for taking a look at it a year later to top up any bits that need doing that were missed or scratched off etc.

I don't mind paying a little extra for it being a good job and i was impressed with them as they clearly know Bongos well and feel like the kind of place you could have a relationship with and they'll know your van.

But, is £425 just too much?? I don't really know..

Thanks for any advice,
Pete

[teenmal]

Hi,

I have taken my Bongo over to Campervans4fun in Macclesfield. They popped it on the ramp for me so we could take a look underneath as i wasn't sure whether it had already been sealed and whether it needed doing.

It was obvious that it had been done, but not very well. They were able to point out all the nooks and crannies that had obviously been missed and were beginning to show signs of surface rust.

I was given a quote of £425 to get it all done properly. This includes washing it all down, putting it indoors to properly dry off. They then apparently go over it 2 or even 3 times with the underseal to make sure it is done properly. They also include for taking a look at it a year later to top up any bits that need doing that were missed or scratched off etc.

I don't mind paying a little extra for it being a good job and i was impressed with them as they clearly know Bongos well and feel like the kind of place you could have a relationship with and they'll know your van.

But, is £425 just too much?? I don't really know..

Thanks for any advice,
Pete

Don't think this is a good advert for a £425 proper job, a year later could be too late.

[petejleonard]

I think this is meant to be over and above. The norm is to just forget about it once done?

[Gasy]

That's not a bad price
And nice to have a check up and top up included

[petejleonard]

That's not a bad price
And nice to have a check up and top up included

I have heard of quotes around the £300 mark. But it's pointless if it's not going to be done properly (as has evidently already happened on this van before).

Do you think £400ish is more normal then for a good job?

[mikeWalsall]

When .. inspecting .. a point to bare in mind is is not the parts you can see .. but the parts you can't .. most destructive rust comes from inside inner panels .. cills .. chassis .. doors .. suspension .. radiator ...supports etc:

I did my own .. I did not pressure wash mine but steam cleaned it .. I went over any visible rust with a large pressure pot sand blaster .. then immediately sprayed rust proofing etching primer .. used black Waxoil on the underside cavities .. then clear wax oil in all the doors / internal cavities ..

[mikeonb4c]

It is (i was told) necessary good practise to inspect and re-waxoyl high abrasion areas annually (high quality dinitrol can be left three years - will they be using dinitrol on exterior areas?). It should not be seen as any indication of slackness in doing the initial job. Mike's points about steam cleaning, drying, doing internals are well made and you could ask the Macclesfield people if they do all that. And you could try try Chassis Clean at Rostherne, and Rust master, for quotes also. £400 sounds very good to me PROVIDED it is a properly done job. No job delivers immortality though and remember that if any welding is likely to need doing soon, waxoyling makes the welders job harder and more expensive (they need an assistant holding a fire extinguisher!).

[Bongolia]

Hi,

I have taken my Bongo over to Campervans4fun in Macclesfield. They popped it on the ramp for me so we could take a look underneath as i wasn't sure whether it had already been sealed and whether it needed doing.

It was obvious that it had been done, but not very well. They were able to point out all the nooks and crannies that had obviously been missed and were beginning to show signs of surface rust.

I was given a quote of £425 to get it all done properly. This includes washing it all down, putting it indoors to properly dry off. They then apparently go over it 2 or even 3 times with the underseal to make sure it is done properly. They also include for taking a look at it a year later to top up any bits that need doing that were missed or scratched off etc.

I don't mind paying a little extra for it being a good job and i was impressed with them as they clearly know Bongos well and feel like the kind of place you could have a relationship with and they'll know your van.

But, is £425 just too much?? I don't really know..

Thanks for any advice,
Pete

You should have any welding carried out first before waxing. It does make any subsequent welding more difficult.
Mike Walsall is correct these vans rust from the inside out so you need to get all the internals waxed not just the underside.
I did one recently for a customer, he had the underside steam cleaned a week prior to handing it over to us. Try a commercial vehicle garage for this if you want to get this done yourself.
The time taken was between 7-8 hrs over 2 days. This included all the inner panels, doors, screen pillars, roof area, inner box sections, A,B,C,D pillars and chassis members. Just about everything really!
Materials used just under 4 gallons of wax, 1.50 galls white spirit/panel wipe (first application is very dilute to help penetration of the seams) 1/2 ltre Fertan, 1 litre body schutz for the sill outers and about 18.00 quid for sundry bungs etc.
You should be able to calculate what the job will be like from that using their hourly rate and the materials costs allow a margin for any additional s like removing side conversion panels and hole drilling to get to awkward areas.
Unlike Mike Walsall I used black on everything except the doors and underbonnet. It makes checking with a camera easier as it shows up on the screen better.
Good Luck.
P.S. we had carried out a camera assessment a few months earlier and that formed a separate charge at that time.