Going to Krown undercoat in a few days. Am trying something to avoid the side-effects on door rubber.

[planestrainsandcars]

Hey all. Thought I would give a report on this. A few people have reported on Krown undercoating in the past. If you don't live in the north, you don't need it. But anyone from Detroit, Toronto, Montana, or Maine can tell you what the underside of a car looks like after 12 years....people love Krown when it's done yearly. Keeps the undercarriage spotless I hear.

It also comes in at an ok price, I had called about 7 undercoaters and got quoted as low as $99 for some guy's home business, to $300 at a tire shop (eek!). Krown is $139 at the moment. And it is one of the best if not the absolute best in terms of coverage, they get every last spot. They DO drill holes, one small hole in each door frame. However, I confirmed on the phone that they do plug the holes now with a plastic/rubber "OEM style" plug. I have seen those before. Cheap but probably effective.

But there is a reported downside. Some Civic owners have reported that the rubber stripping/sealing on their doors will warp/ripple, sag, or even crumble away. The petroleum-based coating seems great for metal, bad for rubber.

So I am trying something. I'm scheduled for Krown in a few days. I have played around with my research on rubber protectants and in my playing around and searching have found that without a doubt, the best product in that category is aerospace 303. Found decently commonly at a number of places, autozone even. There are mechanics out there who have soaked a serpentine belt in 303 at 15k miles, and that same belt will never, ever crumble. Even after 300k miles. Source for that, interesting watch! Yeah whatever is in Aerospace 303...that stuff is engineered to keep rubber from ever drying out. Basically, rubber cracks because it dries out. If it never dries out, and isn't overstrecthed or abused, it can kind of last forever. Sort of.

So ahead of time, I bought a bottle and spent 45 minutes getting every last rubber strip and piece on all my doors, top to bottom, inside and out, as well and trunk lid and hood. I plan on doing this twice more to really, really protect the rubber from the krown stuff. Given...it's actually not the 100% end of the world if the rubber DOES get ruined. You can order any of the new pieces from Honda, and they go on with plastic clips. I can see them when I was applying protectant, they come out pretty easy. You don't need a bodyshop for that. The only downside would be cost, of course. I wouldn't be surprised if it cost were $400+ to get every piece replaced. So....maybe it is a bad thing if it does happen.

But taking the stories I heard here and elsewhere, I am giving this a shot. The bottle of 303 was $17 at autozone. They give you an extra big bottle there (50% more?), autozone exclusive I guess. I took a microfiber and REALLY applied well. Soaked it, and got behind, around, on both sides, in the crevices...really got each rubber piece applied. And will do at least once more. My hope is that this is enough to keep the degradation from happening. I will be washing my car (not undercarriage though) after undercoating to get the body clean. I also may apply the rubber protectant one last time.

I know it's a lot of work. For those who live up north with salt, you get it. You can lose your car to rust rather quickly. Then it's not a car...just...brown dust lol. With the price of cars now, I am willing to put in $140+$17+minor elbow grease to keep my car nice. Hoping I can keep the metal rust free and the rubber intact as well. I trust in the power of that 303 (we'll see though).

I am at low mileage, about 30k. I plan to do krown yearly but I probably won't re-apply the rubber protectant, just trying to get it this first time.

Just wanted to report, and will report back once the process is done. Hoping this experiment works!

Sponsored

 

[Car]

Thanks for the report, i like the idea of keeping the rubber supple especially around the door seals. Let us know how it goes

 

[rtypefk8]

Great link. Thanks for sharing

 

[planestrainsandcars]

Made it into Krown today, everything went well. Will update with pictures soon! Took them only like 40 minutes. They wash it off a bit afterwards (the upper part of the car).

They say the car will drip for about a week. They put plugs where each hole was drilled, they look just like OEM plugs, almost like a Honda plug. You really can't even tell it's not OEM.

They got inside the trunk lid, inside all of the doors, inside the hood, underneath the car...everywhere. Everything will be nicely rustproofed now. Price was $150 after tax.

Has a wax/oily smell, not too bad. I'm sensitive and it didn't really bother me much.

It is leaking Krown stuff quite a bit. They got it good. Will update with pictures once it settles a bit!

 

[planestrainsandcars]

Ok guys, my experiment is basically complete. Here is what I learned.

I was able to avoid rippling or warping the rubber on my Civic. But to avoid the hassle, I will give you the answer to doing this the right way.

Go to harbor freight or amazon. Spend $8. Get a trim removal tool.

Remove the bottom rubber strip from each door. Its like 4, maybe 5 clips. Pops right off. This strip is the most important strip to remove. It will ripple/warp if you don't remove it. Four of them on a Civic, one on each door. Take em home. Spray them with some Aerospace 303 to protect them. Do not put them back on yet.

Here is a picture of what strip I an talking about. This is not my picture, but below where the blue arrow is pointing at. The strip all the way at the bottom of the door bottom edge. This is where the drain holes are and krown will leak all over it.

It looks like this:

Then, go get your car Krowned. It will be a little messy on your driveway/parking spot for a few days, but the rain will wash it away. But you want to leave the rubber strip OFF. All of the krown gets on it otherwise and even with aerospace protectant, it will warp. Mine just started to warp, but I was able to save it. I removed it and soaked it with 303. Do yourself a favor. Remove it AHEAD of time. I did this experiment to save you time! Remove it, protect it. And let the Krown drip out for about a week.

Once all the Krown has dripped out, you can wipe the bottom of your doors clean, and then clip the strips back on. They will have aerospace on them to protect any possible minor excess that could be a problem. You could probably even skip protecting them but 303 is great stuff, you can use it on tires, any rubber, interior dash, it darkens without making things look shiny or oily. The only protectant I know like that.

Try to wipe/spray any other seals to be safe. These are seals you cannot remove. The trunk seal. Before and after krown. The other inner door seals. The front hood has a seal at the opening, I also removed it, unclipped it, cleaned it and protected it. I will wash away the krown before putting it back.

Ultimately, if you mess up, and the seals get warped it's not a huge deal and there is a cheap solution. Your door will look BAD like this (NOT my car, I avoided this with this guide!):

If this happens, you failed (lol), but there is a solution. Let all the krown drip out. Remove the damaged seals. Wipe any excess krown away. And go buy new seals. I priced them out on Honda/ebay. They are $10-$15 each, so $40-$60 to get new ones. Might be $100 total at the dealer because they always upcharge you, maybe Honda is better about this, I have yet to go to the parts department.

But to prevent this, take my advice into consideration. I avoided ripples or any damage, and you can avoid spending as much time as I did.


1.) Remove the seals with a trim tool.
2.) Spray them with Aerospace 303 or another rubber protectant.
3.) Go get undercoating.
4.) Let all the krown drip out for a week or two.
5.) (Optional) Wash you car. Wash off any excess krown. This stuff drips on odd places. This would be a good time to wash your car. If not, just wipe the areas that got Krown on them.
6.) Put the seals back on.


Now you have your metal protected from rust, and rubber is safe too.

If you can, maybe try to find an undercoater that uses Fluid Film. Fluid film is safe on rubber and you can skip this whole process! I'm glad I got Krown because they are the only one who gets inside doors, but that likely only needs done once. Next year, I'll probably find a fluid film undercoater. And do every other year. Fluid film lasts like 1-2 years.

Krown is good. Doesn't smell bad. I just don't want to have to remove the rubber every year, lol. I could, we'll see.

 

[planestrainsandcars]

Here is what the holes look like after they drill them. They plug each hole with a nice, clean, oem-like seal.