undersealing my bongo?

[mickjagger]

Can anybody assist with help and advice regarding the above? Particularly what are the advantages of Waxoyl over Dinitrol? Which is better? Are there advantages/disadvantages of both? Or have they roughly the same effect. I have been quoted £460 by a firm called Chasis Clean in Cheshire, however, even they cannot commit to how effective their treatment (Dinitrol) will last for. Can anybody recommend others in the Greater Manchester/ Lancashire area? Anything to watch out for? I want this done but am a novice so any help is appreciated.

[Bongoplod]

Not sure about Dinitrol,but i believe waxoyl "creeps" if its surface is broken.

ie,if a stone is flicked up from the road onto the cars underneath,and chips a bit of waxoyl off,the surrounding edges will creep back together and seal the break. (what im told,may be duff gen,check its website?)

Not sure if all the other underseals do this

Worth checking with the garage as to which product they use and research it on t`interweb

Brian

[veebug74]

Personally would waxoil in the summer/hot weather, now so the underside can be cleaned off and dried before applying anything.Otherwise ur trapping moisture into potential rust pores in the metalwork.
Waxoil is pretty much the standard stuff cheap as chips used for years,can be applied yearly etc.
If ur stuck im based in manchester have workshop/ facilities .
No guarantees against rust on a previously un waxoiled /second hand vehicles ,All u can do is slow it down any different and its a sales yarn.
Have dipped vehicles in acid tanks and ecoated will still rust eventually .Inspecting often for paintwork penetration,mud build, (up rotting arches out) underside cavities is recommended in our climate.

[bigdaddycain]

Mike at Wheelquick will underseal a bongo, i get mine done there every year.

[helen&tony]

Hi
Waxoil came in around the mid 60's , and sold by Finnigans Paints, who sold "reflective" paint, Hammerite, and so on....Dinitrol has been around a lot longer, and was developed from Swedish expertise. There are different varieties of dinitrol for different applications, so you must use the right one for the job. Dinitrol also do military spec. stuff, and I believe epoxy paints for chassis work in complete vehicle restoration , as in "ground up" restorations....If you have a fairly rust-free Bongo, cleaning and waxoiling will do, and if , as BigDaddy suggests, you have it re-treated, you should be all O.K......with the emphasis on SHOULD
In the end analysis, water is water (nowadays more acidic ), and steel is steel...pure school chemistry tells you that you will get corrosion if you put the 2 together....GUARANTEED...and anyone guaranteeing that a few splodges of waxy stuff will stop this time-honoured chemical interaction is not going to be in business for long if they offer a no-corrosion guarantee......But you can delay it with a bit of well-placed oily stuff. If you use either waxoil or dinitrol, you should be OK, but if you wish for a cheap alternative, just any old oil will do if you can be bothered to splash it on regularly....it is only a film!
Cheers
Helen

[mikeonb4c]

Had mine done by Chassis Clean and am very pleased with it. I found them excellent to deal with - a genuine 'family' type business. My Bongo was not waxoyled when I got it and had been in UK for 2yrs. It had a v. light rusting to it, just enough to provide a good key for the Dinitrol, and not too much that the coating couldn't passivate it (waxoyl and Dinitrol are supposed to arrest/passivate mild rusting). 3 yrs later and it appears as good as when the job was done. Somewhere along the way I found a completely rusted through bit of chassis behind the n/s front wheel arch - something that had clearly been there before the Dinitrol job was done. It was easily and cheaply patched with a welded on piece of steel (big thanks to Wheelquick in Wigan). Just lately, the v. slight rust (2 x v. small paint bubbles on o/s/ arch, and a small area at front of n/s rea arch) got my attention. Removing the plastic cubby holders from the inside trim allowed me to see the seam between the rear wheel arch and wing. I could see a v. thin line of rusting where the interior waxoyl (I think CC use this for the interior work, Dinitrol for exposed / high abrasion exterior) spray had been unable to get right into the seam. I decided to drip Kurust along this as far as I could access it and hope that it would wick/run down the seam by gravity. This should inhibit the rusting. I followed this by dripping (clean) engine oil on the seam in the same manner. I'm hoping this will do the trick.

I chose Chassis Clean because:

* They pressure wash and then use a hot room to dry the car out for a day before applying materials
* They are likely to be more thorough than a cheaper garage in removing bits and pieces in order to spray less accessible areas
* Unlike waxoyl, which is soft and likely to be washed off over time by road spray and grit, Dinitrol is tougher and resists abrasion. This means that I don't have the cost and inconvenience each year of having to have the exterior checked and re-waxoyled (though even CC recommend a 3yr check-up)

From the above tale, you can see it is still best if you take an active interest in checking your car over to ensure weak spots have been properly treated. CC didn't treat the member underneath my radiator (they were new to Bongos then - probably wiser now) but were happy to take the car back in and do it on my request. The reason they didn't do it was they never imagined it would be a trouble spot (though we now know it can be!) and were keen to avoid risk of spray getting on the radiator matrix and clogging it. I trusted them though, and they did an amazingly neat job.

Another area to ensure gets done properly is the area behind the rear bumper. Make sure the spare wheel is removed and the area there treated properly (although again you may have a pre-existing problem on an old Bongo).

I can thoroughly recommend Chassis Clean as a worthwhile investment if you are planning on keeping the Bongo longterm as a camper/MPV. Also invest in a low coolant alarm so you don't have a rust free Bongo with a blown engine

Oh and welcome - whereabouts are you based?

[andyfb78]

Another vote for Chassis Clean.
Basically as per Mike's comments. Really friendly helpful and a very thorough job done. They took me down the pit to show me when I came to pick up.
Although it means nothing in law, they also gave me a certificate for the job, which helps should I (ooh I feel ill at the thought of it) ever sell the bongo.

My check up will be due next year, so far so good, but I have fitted a new interior floor, so made some holes in the floor pan, a secondary fuel tank and diesel heater since and got quite alot of the stuff all over me, and I can confirm it is VERY sticky, oh and a errr well a errr new tailgate, a-hem, so a check up would be a good idea.

Yes it was more expensive than 'a waxoyl' but it took them three days, to strip out all the bungs, undertrays, covers etc, steam clean, dry for a day and then apply dinitrol, then re assemble...
They must know what they are doing as they are not covered in it, and the underside of the bongo is..... it looked like new when I picked it up..... it's kinda muddy and salty again now....

I guess only time will tell, and given my inability to stop fettling I have scraped some off and attached it permanently to my hands, face, knees, elbows, eyebrows, ears, hair, nose...............the spring will tell when it (the bongo not me) gets a damned good clean...Yeesh I hate cleaning cars in the winter....