If you live in a snowy area, do you need to have undercoating for your car?

Question

Wow this is a lot of answer lol ^_^ Thank You! Some of you say yes/no for undercoating and some say undercoating is useless because your car already had undercoating from the manufacturer etc... but one old guy told me that if you are driving a newer car then you should have an extra layer undercoating to protect your car. I have a 2000 accord 2doors and I had the bottom (not full body) undercoating done only cost me $91.00. I live in Southern Ontario and they use a lot of salt in the winter and I drive on the high way a lot too.

In the months of January and February the weather is always pretty bad and the roads usually have a lot of salt and wet snow most of the time. So I don't understand why people say keep your car wash frequently, because after you wash your car and drive on the road then your car will get dirty and salt in the bottom right away. The price for undercoating is not that expensive and you only do it once a year, but the question is Do we still need undercoating for cars that manufactured after year 2000? Because these cars use better materials and already have really good layers of protection.

Answer 1

undercoating is just a "sale pitch" ... no one 'really' needs it.

;-)

Don't let 'em hussle you!

Answer 2

Since you live in an area, that uses road salt, that $91 invested will pay off in the long run. For the floorpans, not a bad idea to have done it.

However, I wonder how much corrosion already occurred prior to the undercoating. With 5 years of winter use, the car may have already started corroding. That said, cars these days have a lot of enhancements at the factory that keep them looking great.

Recommend that you have the car's underbody flushed everytime you go through the car wash in the winter. Don't be "cheap" here. It's definitely worth the extra buck or two.

Answer 3

I worked for a Chevrolet dealership where I did the undercoating for customers, among other things. New and newer cars these days have steel body panels that have been coated with a zinc-oxide coating before they were painted. This zinc coating is capable of protecting the vehicle as good or better than after-market or dealer-applied undercoatings. In fact, the butyl undercoating can actually trap water against the under body causing it to corrode more rapidly.

The best advise for car owners in snowy areas - especially if the road commission uses salt - is to rinse the car off at least once a week during the winter months. This more than anything will protect your car from rusting out prematurely.

Answer 4

No, you don't need it, I live in Iowa where theres a lot of salt on the roads as well. Undercoating will help protect it for a year or two.. but eventually it will wear off just as anything else.. and either you can keep going back to get it undercoated which will keep taking money out of your pocket.. or let it go.. and upgrade to more efficient car down the road anyways.

Answer 5

An undercoating is a cheap insurance for protecting your vehicles floor area. Id say this- if the car is brand new, by all means YES! have the undercoating done. If it is second hand used and still new, get a discount from the original owner for not having it done (you dont know how much damage is already in there)
If it is truly old, just leave it be and use it . Just make sure your feet doesnt fall through. Thats bad.

Answer 6

With the new techniques with the coatings they use on new cars today along with changes in the snow and ice removal replacements for salt it's really not necessary for the old type undercoating these days. If you live in an area that still uses the mixture of salt and sand I do believe it is still recommended though. Better to be safe then sorry.

Answer 7

Another answer u don`t need. Had a car that ran perfectly, but had to get rid of it due to the frame and rocker panels rusting. Of course the car was 10 yrs. old, so perhaps that was the reason. I do live in an area of bad winters and heavy road salt is used liberally. I don`t know if u need undercoating, but u certainly have enough pros and cons to choose from. Good luck.

Answer 8

You do not need undercoating. Salt from snow and icy road will do the same amount of damage. Car dealers will tack that on just ot try to get more money. Now you should however wash the underside of your car every so often in those areas.

Answer 9

You have two choices in a wintery area such as yours. The first and most obvious is undercoating, or just plain out washing your vehicle. A lot of what people don't realize is it's not the fact you are driving in the snow that rusts your car, it's leaving all the road grime, calcium, sand, and other ice melting chemicals on their car even after the snow has melted. By simply washing the underside (as well as topside) of your car after EVERY snow storm, you should be able to prolong the life of the metal componets of your car.
Hope this helps....

Answer 10

I lived in Chicago most of my life. If your car is kept in the garage you don't have to undercoat. Back in the day I spent about $200.00 for undercoating a Ford Granada and it rusted from the inside out within a year but I always parked it out front, not in a garage. Now I have an old Chevy that doesn't have a spot of rust on it and it was never undercoated.

Answer 11

I have lived in chicago my whole life, never had a car undercoated and none have rusted out from the bottom. Now if I had a Corvette or something, which for some reason I drove during the winters and planned to own for eternity then I may. But for your typical daily driver don't waste the money.