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Pinzgauer Undercoating Repair

Well I had too much time on my hands this weekend and I thought that I would do a minor repair project on the Pinzgauer.  The undercoating had chipped off in a few places and some of the edges on the front floor pans were void of any coating. I did some research and also checked with a few of the VW restoration guy in the area for some tips on products that they have used. One gentleman stopped by and said that a product called KOOL PATCH from Kool Seal (KST coatings) makes a roof sealer that is also used as an auto body undercoating. It seems that they have used it for years as undercoating on some of their restored VW buses and as an undercoating repair on other vehicles.  They say the product works wonderfully. Even after 3 years here in Minnesota the stuff is still pliable and has not cracked. I called the Customer Services people at the manufacturer and after talking to 3 reps they finally find a person that had experience with the automotive application. He said that as long has the surface is clean, dry, and free of loose material their product PN# 40-319 Kool Patch Black Patching Cement or PN#  40-777  UV Resistant Black Patch & Coat will stick on metal and old (but still pliable or still sticking) under coatings.

The web site for the product is:
http://www.koolseal.com/product_family.asp?family=patching

It was a pain to find locally but I found some in quart cans for $3.85 each and bought a couple (the 1 gallon can goes for $8-$13). After using a putty knife and a wire brush to prep the areas that needed repair, I started on my new learning curve. I used some 2.5 wide inexpensive (cheep/disposable) brushes and opened the first can.  It looked old solidified crankcase oil. The instructions state to Stir well before use. I first put on some disposable rubber gloves and then took an old screwdriver I have just for this purpose and started into it. Almost instantly the black gue turned into the consistency of Jell-O dark chocolate pudding. I brushed it on the need to repair areas. Once the area is coated I used a circular motion to make sure that the uneven surface was well covered. Unlike pudding, it stuck very well and I did not have to worry about it dripping after I was finished with an area.  In less then 10 minutes it was tacky and in 30-40 minutes it was touch safe. The pudding had no noticeable smell; this
delighted me being I was applying it in my daily workshop. I let the repaired areas dry over night and inspected them the next morning. The cure time is about 12 hours.

Well the next morning when I inspected it, it looked great !   It looked so good, I decided to recoat the repaired areas again and the front foot wells, and the front and rear wheel wells too. (I got carried away)

In Minnesota the DOT use lots of salt on the roads and I wanted to make sure that all of the body supports over the tires and metal folds got a good layer of protection.  Two to three coats on an uncoated surface are preferable. The VW guys say 2-3 coats are what they recommend but the Pinzgauers undercoating probably only needs a single surface coat to reinforce its protection. I only used just a little over 1 quart for all of the areas I worked on.  This stuff goes a long way!

Well I found this stuff so I guess I will be the guinea pig on this product and I will try to report back any Pros/Cons on its use.

I was just so impressed with how well it went on and handled that I knew that there are others of you in the same basic situation.  So I thought I would pass on my experience incase others are on a time frame for the same type of repair.

Contributed by Ken Anderson