Is waxoyl a silent assasin?

[Red V8]

This time last year my chassis was a nice white powder coat… apart from a few bits of falking around the outriggers and rust starting to show through. Now I’m a paranoid soul and I decide to have a waxoyl chassis treatment done by the dealer at the same time as my annual service and MOT. I should have expected it really, but to my horror, I get the car back and my nice white chassis and most of the rest of the car underside, shocks, springs, driveshaft’s, and the bottom half or the engine bay are covered in black gunge, as is half of the bodywork in overspray.

A couple of days later I manage to convince myself it’s for the best, and although aesthetically horrible and not cheap either, my pride and joy will surely benefit in the long run. At this point I have to admit to being a fine weather TVR enthusiast, so my P&J has been tucked up in the garage most of the winter with a couple of hot water bottles and a blanket.. Okay I exaggerate, a little oil filled radiator keeps the place dry and slightly warm.

Anyway a few weeks back the weather breaks, blanket comes off and I go for a spin or two, join my fellow TVR Car Club chaps for a great run out… this is what it’s all about I think. Time to clean the car and I wash and polish as usual, and I happen to have a look underneath… the waxoyl is starting to come away in one or two places so I have a scrape around… F$%k it’s not just one or two places it’s all over and what’s more all that is underneath is rust and lots of it. How can this be I think? isn’t the waxoyl supposed to delay ageing, all that seems to have happened is premature ageing…. I’ve only done 2,000 miles since last service.

So this morning, time for action… up she goes on the axle stands, wheels off, scrapers in my hand to tackle the rust, and white spirit and a selection of rags to get rid of the gunge. Six hours of back breaking work later, amid constant cursing of the guy, whoever he was, who sprayed this gunge all over my car, and I’ve got one side cleaned up… not just the chassis, but the wishbones, anti roll bars, and everything else. The good news is that the chassis is actually in excellent condition, really solid, but I dread to think what it would have been like in another year if I’d just patched up the gunge.

I’ve decided to use POR15, based on lots of advice on here. I bought some last year before I had the gunge put on, but didn’t use it, seemed too much like hard work. So I’m writing this whilst having a cup of coffee, after having used it today. I followed the instructions to the letter, POR Degreaser first, followed by Etch primer, and finally the first thin coat of POR 15… looks good so far and the next coat goes on in a couple of hours.

So why am I sharing this, well just to advise caution if you think that a chassis is in good condition because it has been waxoyled, in my case this was definitely not so… all it served to do was mask the rust gremlins that are our very worst enemy.

Also, to say there’s no shortcut to doing the job right, it’s hard work albeit rewarding when you get it done. Mind you I have to tackle the other side next week, and I’m sure the gunge man’s ears will be burning once again!!

[Red V8]

griffter said:

This is precisely the problem with getting someone else to do the job.

Unless the surface is cleaned and prepped first (and preferably sealed with paint) waxoyl is just going to seal in any pre-existing dirt, dust, rust, salt and condensation. Hence why a 'chassis waxoyl' simply cannot be properly done (IMHO) for less than £200.

Completely agree... I did pay (waste) a few hundred pounds, but at dealer rates that probably only equates to 2 hours labour + materials... which I'd say to do the job properly is only enough time to clean, derust, degrease, prime and paint up proper the top and bottom wishbones on one side of the car.

DIY is the answer, that way you know what the real condition of the metal is, what the quality of the paintwork is, and if it's a bad job, you only have yourself to blame!