I recently purchased a '71 Road Runner from the original owner in Chicago. The car is covered liberally with Ziebart, a product widely used in northern states and Canada to prevent rust. My car has it everywhere and I would like to remove it in some places. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to remove this stuff. I visited with Ziebart staff people and they didn't have a suggestion. I've tried your regular solvents, etc, with no luck. I'd appreciate any ideas.

Is this inside the panels or underneath the car? Challenger1 has a steam cleaner or power washer that removes undercoating without scraping.

See his restoration thread

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...e=5#Post3854481

Are you talking about the undercoating or the rustproofing crap they spray inside the doors etc? If it is the stuff they spray in the doors and such, WD40 will take it off without hurting the paint.

Ziebart is typically sprayed through holes drilled through places on the body, such as under sill plates, etc. They also spray it up into the wheelwells, etc for protection. The previous owner of this car must have told the guys that did the work that if "x" amount of product is good, "2x" must be better. It is all over the place. The whole inside of the trunk was sprayed with this stuff. It is under the hood, on the ram air assembly, inner fender wells,... It's crazy. What I have removed is very labor intensive. The sheet metal is solid as a rock, but at the pace I'm going, it will take forever. Car otherwise looks great. 53,000 one-owner car. Red with black interior. Just need to clean it up a bit. Thanks for your replies.

I just tried applying some WD40 to this stuff. Didn't affect it much differently than other stuff I've tried- mineral spirits, acetone, etc. Thanks for the suggestion. I will spray some on a couple of spots liberally today before I leave my shop and see how it does in the morning.

I've found gasoline works the best, but I wouldn't recomend it on a assembled car. A heated pressure washer will do the job, a bada$$ one.

Do you soak the undercoating in gasoline? If so how long?

I have been in the coatings industry for years and have done alot of work with ziebart dealers. A heat induction unit work best with a putty knife. See if a local body shop or Rhino Linings dealer will rent you theirs.

The stuff they give you for overspray works to soften it. Surprise its just kerosene

took mine off complete with air chisel set at low psi knocked that stuff right off .

Thanks for all the suggestions. I appreciate it very much.

This will work


Seriously, what about diesel?

I second the Steam cleaner as the ultimate factory undercoating removal tool. I like the fact that you don't remove anything but the undercoating and grime, the original paint and primer remains intact unless you actually try to remove it as well (which you can).

With aftermarket Ziebart drilled and squirted into doors and other inaccessible areas dipping the car would be about the only way you'll get rid of it all.

.02

Probably the best way doing it at home. I've seen Scott's car first hand and his blaster did a good job getting all the crud off the bottom of his car.

Another option is dustless blasting. (One note. If you go with the dustless blasting option don't do it at home. Creates a big mess that has to be cleaned up. Do it at the vendors location.) We went with that and it took us two days to clean up the mess.

In the early 70's I was given a test kit for Tectyl. It was made by Ashland Oil part of Valvoline. The guy gave me test metals. One bare and one coated with their product. I was instructed to sit them outside for 2 weeks. Of course the bare metal rusted and the coated sample did not. After 2 weeks he I was instructed to scrape off an area of the coated piece and put it back outside. The area I scraped off never did rust. The claim was that the product penetrated the metal. It sure seemed to. The Ashland Oil rep. mixed up a case in aerosol cans to match my silver 68 RR at the time and gave it to me. As a daily driver in Pa. winters it never did rust where it was applied. He said that Tectyl is chemical name of what was marketed as Ziebart. I recently had a 69 RR that had a very rusty trunk floor, upon removing it I could still see and smell the Ziebart in the frame rails. They were still perfect. I cannot offer any advice on how to remove it if it did penetrate the metal.