so im after opinions of my under chassis, to me it looks fine could do with a fresh coat of underseal though, and done tests as in got screwdriver poked everywhere and seems solid!
but when i got the car welded back in jan time they said its rotten underneath....i asked a mechanic friend and he said they lying to you to make more money! which seems about right, heres a few piccies for you....





just the last one doesnt look healthy

whats peoples verdict on this underbody? slap a new coat of underseal a bit of rust treatment too?
thanks in advance!

Mines similar to yours mate, shouldn't worry about it too much underseal will protect it though so that's an option anyway. As long as it's all solid

to be honest ive seen far worse puntos believe cause i tend to go scrappies quite frequent just to see what i can find and put on my car, looked underneath them rotten as a rotten egg
just trying to find a perfect day for me to get the car on axle stands and underseal her

where all the bubbling in the existing underseal is, is obviously rusted underneath the question is if its covered how has it rusted and has it rusted from the inside out.

in these areas you will need to scrape off the existing underseal and assess the state of the metal and treat otherwise any new under underseal is going to do nothing but cost you money

What year is your punto?

AndyRKett said:

where all the bubbling in the existing underseal is, is obviously rusted underneath the question is if its covered how has it rusted and has it rusted from the inside out.

in these areas you will need to scrape off the existing underseal and assess the state of the metal and treat otherwise any new under underseal is going to do nothing but cost you money

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i have checked these areas, and they are solid like the rest of the car, i know bubbling says rust on it but not in this case, you should see how they welded n/s seatbelt anchorage:bang: it looks awful but solid, and yes i have scraped these bubbling areas before and metal is fine. anything else?

bradthomas said:

what year is your punto?

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2000

That's really good for a 2000 mines an 02 and there's not much difference haha

benny279 said:

i have checked these areas, and they are solid like the rest of the car, i know bubbling says rust on it but not in this case,

and yes i have scraped these bubbling areas before and metal is fine. anything else?

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bubbling means rust, if you have scraped them before then recovered them it tends to suggest you either didn't treat and just painted underseal over the rust or they have re-rusted

underseal on its own is crap at killing rust and if its bubbled that much no amount of underseal is going to prevent it rusting further.

I thought the whole idea of this thread was that the metal is solid and you want to prevent it getting to a point where further welding is needed. so you need to deal with it properly now and they best way to do that is remove as much rust as is possible with wire brushes and chemicals then you have a nice surface to underseal and protect

AndyRKett said:

bubbling means rust, if you have scraped them before then recovered them it tends to suggest you either didn't treat and just painted underseal over the rust or they have re-rusted

underseal on its own is crap at killing rust and if its bubbled that much no amount of underseal is going to prevent it rusting further.

I thought the whole idea of this thread was that the metal is solid and you want to prevent it getting to a point where further welding is needed. so you need to deal with it properly now and they best way to do that is remove as much rust as is possible with wire brushes and chemicals then you have a nice surface to underseal and protect

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yeah the whole point of this thread is opinions on what the under chassis is like cause its like welder place says its rotten, and ive seen rotten and this doesnt even come close to it one bit, i did treat these areas but properly not my best effort i put my hands up to that i will rectify that and do a better job, but i just went out the car now and poked it those bubbles just burst and metal underneath still solid so thats a clear indication to scrap those bubbles off get it nice and even a bit of rust treatment there i think and go for a full underseal
can you recommend a good product for rust treatment and underseal as i cant seem to find the ones i used, probably somewhere in storage
also, would say its rotten? be honest

BradThomas said:

That's really good for a 2000 mines an 02 and there's not much difference haha

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i look after it as much as any other punto owner here as one person said puntos love tlc

Do as Andy says (wear goggles!): that is, scrape, treat and then underseal. They don't half rust, those Puntos: I've seen MR2s in scrappies with less underbody rust!

fingers99 said:

Do as Andy says (wear goggles!): that is, scrape, treat and then underseal. They don't half rust, those Puntos: I've seen MR2s in scrappies with less underbody rust!

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and mouth mask? im pretty sure rust or anything that comes off wont taste nice
its all good doing that but all i want is my final answer, apart from those areas all good

benny279 said:

and mouth mask? im pretty sure rust or anything that comes off wont taste nice
its all good doing that but all i want is my final answer, apart from those areas all good

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The "anything else?".

Cavity wax would be a good idea.

fingers99 said:

The "anything else?".

Cavity wax would be a good idea.

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yeah what im getting at is i was told back in jan time when car was welded that its rotten and should be thrown in a scrappy, not my words the welders words which is why ive finally posted this thread after months from welding, cause i want opinions from other people, despite ive had opinions from various of garages and said just wash it under there treat any areas and slap a new underseal on, and as ive said ive got a screwdriver and poked with moderate force and its all solid, so how can it be rotten if its solid and going through like a rotten car should do? ive seen rotten cars and poked them and straight through the screwdriver goes

your verdict is what? rotten? or good as long as bubbling areas are treated correctly and new coat of underseal?

benny279 said:

not my words the welders words which is why ive finally posted this thread after months from welding,

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when you try and weld on rusty metal all you do is blow holes in it, its impossible and contaminates the welds (so in the future they will rust quickly too) we can only go from the photos obviously the welder has more experience of the real state of your car

I'd just do the work.

A cheap MOT place will give you a second opinion.

Alternatively, MIG welding is easy. Just about any idiot can do it (and many do!).

AndyRKett said:

when you try and weld on rusty metal all you do is blow holes in it, its impossible and contaminates the welds (so in the future they will rust quickly too) we can only go from the photos obviously the welder has more experience of the real state of your car

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while i respect your comment and view but surely you know some places tend to talk out of their a-holes tell the customer their car wont see anymore life after mot. im no expert on underbodies nor am i an expert on treating rust etc i just follow the guidelines of how to do it and i do it when necessary, which as you notice is required to do now before any rust actaully appears and the car will then be classed as 'rotten' and would need further welding.

while the welder had my car for what half of week and says the car is rotten which in theory yes cause it needed welding to make it safe to be on the roads, but at the same he is saying the floor pans are rotten and unsafe and would need further welding later in another 12 months, now i'd happily agree with him if that was actually true but it isn't because i have again, poked these areas where he says are rotten even from inside the cabin (e.g. pulled carpet back) and poked and still solid, which says to me that isn't rotten its more like solid as steel should be etc.

despite all of this, i will be spending one weekend restoring the under chassis to a good standard as possible, i have a wire brush i just need the products and of course goggles, mask and axle stands and then its all manual labour time

I'm answering on direct painful experience on this one, having spent a lot of time under mine sorting it out.

I'm minded to agree with your welder at first glance, that looks fairly rotten, but as everyone else says, it's hard to tell from pics.

Here's the places you have to poke hard to see what's going on:

1. Inside sill edges where floor pan turns down and is spot welded on. Your underseal looks totally shot there. Probe all way along, from front to back of car.

2. Around all the rubber bungs, and d tabs. Again, your underseal is looking pretty worrying there.

3. All round the floor pans, rear in particular, but also fronts at sill edges.

4. Boot floor pan.

5. While you're in the mood, take the back wheels off and poke about the bodywork facing you, as well as the arch inner skins, petrol filler neck, clips, and body mounting point.

Also, use a Stanley knife to knick any bubbles. If they weep water, you're probably in trouble.

The thing about the punto factory underseal (probably like many other cars) is that it is quite rubbery, and looks passable when in fact it's had it.

Btw, forget using a hand wire brush, you'll be there for ever. Get an angle grinder with a twisted knot wire wheel on it. Just watch your car disappear....

Gloves, good goggles, ear defenders and I use a good quality p3 halfmask otherwise you'll have every facial orifice full before you know it

fingers99 said:

Alternatively, MIG welding is easy. Just about any idiot can do it (and many do!).

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It's not just the welding though. You'll need to get some mild steel, cut it, maybe bend it, tack weld it round to avoid distortion, seem seal it,....none of it is hard, but the time, cost, and learning curve is quite a big investment for some DIY mechanics.

Personally, if I had a mig, I'd find fun things to do with it. If I could find space in the garage to keep it beside the landscaping tools, ramps, paints, power tools, furniture, lawnmower...