Wow, it’s starting to look great. Today I started with a steel wheel brush on my electric drill to start removing the surface rust that was present. Once I was done with that, I used MasterCoat Metal Prep to remove the remaining surface rust. You’ll definitely want to wear rubber gloves, eye protection, and a safety odor mask for this job. Here are some pics:
Right after I used the steel wheel brush (below)
Driver side Metal Prep completed (below)
Both sides done with Metal Prep (below). Squeeky clean! NICE! 🙂
Here’s what I used to do the Metal Prep work (below)
I have a question for you…why is it called a “Rear Luuggage Shelf”?? The luggage goes in the front and the engine is in the rear??? I am confused?
Why was it important to remove the undercoating? Wouldn’t you want that on, especially since it’s new home is Michigan?
Bill – Well, calling it the “rear” luggage shelf is probably a little inaccurate. It sort of implies there is a “front” luggage shelf. There is only one luggage shelf on the Beetle and it’s behind the back seat. I guess I’m being overly descriptive by saying “rear luggage shelf” for readers/viewers that might not know where the luggage shelf resides on the car. The front area you mention is really just a storage compartment. Not sure how much luggage you could get up there (maybe a small duffel bag?). Can’t really get much luggage on the luggage shelf either though. LOL!
Undercoating can work well, but when it gets old it can become dry, brittle, and crumbly. If it gets a scratch in it, for whatever reason, water can get up underneath it too. Once that happens, then it can start to rust the metal underneath the undercoating and you’d never see it. The rust will spread underneath the undercoating too. The MasterCoat Silver and ag111 topcoat I plan to put on will help with this. If it gets a scratch in it, it won’t allow any rust to go beyond that scratch. I think this will be useful under the luggage shelf because it’s not an easily accessible area on the body for regular inspection. Now, with that said, the old/dry undercoating I removed did a pretty darn good job over the years. The pan/chassis is in GREAT shape for being original. Of course it lived in California for the last 45 years too, so that helped as well.
I’ll be putting the MasterCoat Silver Primer and ag111 topcoat on the pan/chassis as well. I wish I had a lift in the garage to park it on so I could regularly admire the nice high gloss black coating once it’s done. 🙂