Best automotive undercoatings according to redditors
We found 6 Reddit comments discussing the best automotive undercoatings. We ranked the 2 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 6 Reddit comments discussing the best automotive undercoatings. We ranked the 2 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
https://www.amazon.com/Fluid-Undercoating-Gallon-bottles-everything/dp/B0048770KE
Clear bra's are kind of expensive. I would highly recommend at least looking into doing a partial front hood clear bra, since for some reason Subaru's love to pick up rock chips. My 2009 Legacy is a mess with rock chips, and I touched up maybe 30 or so rock chips in the last two years alone!
Xpel seems to be the most popular and most recommended product, 3M also makes a clear bra. They are easy to screw up, so I'd definitely look for an installer near you. They have an installer locator on their website. http://www.xpel.com/locator/search/clearbra_installers/
As for coatings, you can look into a DIY coating that is easy to apply yourself, or have a pro do it if you aren't too familiar with the application process. For DIY coatings, GTechniq Crystal Serum Light is pretty user-friendly, http://www.autogeek.net/gtechniq-crystal-serum-light.html as is McKee's 37 Paint Coating, or Optimum Gloss-Coat.
For pro level coatings, you will probably need to find a pro detailer to do it for you who is certified, but CQuartz, GTechniq's higher end pro coatings, or Optimum Opti-Coat are all highly recommended.
With any coating, prep is paramount to having proper adhesion and the best outcome. Since you have a new car, paint decontamination with a clay bar, a minor surface finishing polish is usually only required, followed by a wipe down with isopropyl alcohol mixture diluted to remove any residual polishing oils and contaminants. It's a pretty involved process if you haven't done it before which is why I always recommend having a pro do it unless you are familiar with the process. You can do a further search on this sub for coating installs, many people have some great advice to share.
If you just want to make it easy on yourself this is what I did for my new car prep a couple weeks ago.
I am thinking about trying a coating in the next few months possibly, perhaps before the next winter for some added protection. This car is my wife's, so it isn't going to be a daily driver like my Legacy is. So it will only get driven a couple days a week so it doesn't necessarily need max protection that costs hundreds of dollars in polish and prep.
We get a lot of snow up here in WI and have salty roads pretty much from November through March. I believe Subaru has a factory undercoating on the chassis, so you shouldn't have to worry about rust on the chassis at least, but bolts and other parts can rust pretty fast. Check out Fluid Film, it is an aerosol spray that you can coat the underside with. Supposedly it should last a full winter season of protection. A more permanent solution would be to get a spray-on rubber under-body protection, similar to a tuck spray-on bedliner.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0048770KE Here is a link to a kit for Fluid Film.
Anyway, hope this helps. This turned into a pretty long post lol. Let me know if you have other questions!
A little late for this maybe, but my routine every winter is to coat the bottom of the car in fluid film (available in cans, but having a spray gun+compressor+gallon of the stuff is better). I make sure it gets EVERYWHERE including all over the engine bay, inside the doors/frame rails/bumpers/etc. The stuff works super well.
After that, I might give it a low pressure rinse on the underside, but often don't wash the car all winter so the fluid film doesn't get disturbed. I use the spray cans to reapply it to the wheel wells every once in a while where it can get rinsed away by road spray over time.
In the spring I give the underside a power wash and things look good as new.
Also, the key is to keep it as dry as possible. Heated garages are the devil, because the car warms up enough to get wet.
This is the tire coating I used: Gyeon Tire. It was on Amazon Prime recently, they must be out of stock now.
The shine will last about a week or until your first wash. However, it'll leave a clean & matte finish after the initial shine wears away. The protection will last 4+ weeks.
Another alternative is Carpro PERL. It can be diluted to various levels for difference in appearance. The only thing about this product is that it's very finicky to work with. As in, the tire must be 100% clean (or as close as you can get it), otherwise it'll look splotchy and uneven after it cures. It's similar to the Gyeon where it'll last about a month, the shine will go away after a week or so.
I am assuming you mean this product? http://www.amazon.com/CarPro-Plastic-Rubber-Protectant-Liter/dp/B004UM9XQG
Do you know how long it lasts, compared to Meguairs Endurance by any chance?