• Under-coatings are chemical compounds usually applied to the undercarriage of a motor vehicle,
  hence the name 
• Under-coatings may also be applied to other areas such as the trunk, wheel wells, etc

Q.  I don't use mycar when there is flood. Would it still need Under-coating?

• Many people think that undercoating only protects against corrosion or rust, but that is only one function of undercoating. Under-coatings are used for the following :
  
  
1. Corrosion protection
2. Abrasion resistance
3. Sound deadening
4. Cover welds and minor repairs

       Even though you never use your car during floods, your car will still benefit from undercoating.

Q. What is corrosion protection?

• Simply put, corrosion protection is protection against rust.
• What actually corrodes metal is oxygen present in the air. Water and other corrosive chemicals such as salt, battery acid, etc., speed up the reaction between metal and oxygen. This corrosion creeps onto the car from the inside and from the outside. The most dangerous kind of corrosion is often not discovered until it is too late. 
• The extra protective layer of undercoating prevents contact of metal with air, preventing corrosion.

Q. My car has several layers of paint when it was applied in the factory; that should offer ample      protection, shouldn’t it?

• Your car would have good protection against corrosion. 
• However, paint could not resist abrasion, and because of poor road conditions, unprotected paint would suffer from stone chips, scraping against humps or rocks, pitting from gravel, etc. Eventually, a lot of paint would peel or scrape off to expose bare metal to corrosion.

Q. What is abrasion resistance?

• Abrasion resistance is the ability to resist scraping. Abrasion (scraping) removes coatings, which exposes metal to corrosive conditions.
• Rocks, humps, even gravel moving at high speeds, could have the worst abrasive effects on your car’s undercarriage.

 Q. What if I just use my car during good weather, that should prevent it from rusting, wouldn’t it?

• Regardless of weather, your car will be subjected to abrasion, which peels paint off, and eventually exposes metal to corrosive effects of the environment
• Undercoating becomes more important because you don’t normally see what is going on under your car

Q. Then if I have my car undercoated, I don’t have to worry about rust at all?

• It would be wise to have your undercarriage checked occasionally 
• Even the best undercoating could not stand up to constant abrasion from scrapes and harsh grinding against sharp rocks and humps, or severe road conditions 
• A good undercoating will protect your car against rust for many years but this is not permanent-when you have your car checked, have the undercoating condition inspected and retouched if there are exposed areas

Q. What is sound deadening?

• Sound deadening means reducing noise.
• Undercoating, because of rubber content, muffles external noise from normal vibration during high speeds, and from adjoining parts moving against each other. This is an added benefit of undercoating - a quieter ride.

• As important as the undercoating itself, the substrate (surface) on which undercoating is applied should be properly prepared
• The area should be thoroughly cleaned to remove dirt and grease, and then completely dried to ensure a good foundation for the undercoating

      A good undercoating should have the following properties:

1. High rubber solid contents:  This will make a flexible, chemical-resistant coating.  A flexible, not brittle, coating will bend with the car metal during normal stress and will not crack. Chemical resistance offers protection against salt water, solvents, oil, gasoline, and other corrosive chemicals.
2. High coverage:  This means a denser coverage of the surface. There are no “pinholes” wherein rust will begin to attack.
3. Tough finish:  A tough surface offers better abrasion resistance.

Q. What are internal coatings (Internal Panel Protection)?

• Internal coatings are wax-like compounds containing rust preventive chemicals, and are applied to areas inside cavities of a car, such as the space inside the hollows of doors (door skins), fenders and frame rails.
• They work well in areas that are difficult to reach with undercoating. Internal coatings are soft and non-curing; they have to be so because they are applied in special areas such as window channels where an ordinary undercoating would cause clogging of the window mechanism.

• These areas are prone to have water trapped in them during rains, or even just after a car wash
• The trapped moisture becomes an ideal place where rust would start if the area were unprotected

Q. Is rust proofing a combination of undercoating and internal coating?

• Rust proofing is a combination of undercoating and internal coating.  But then it’s more than that.  It’s an investment to protect your car.

Q.  Wouldn’t it cost a lot to have my car rust proofed?

• Let’s say you invested on a car for as low as Rs 2500.  How much would you pay to protect the ORIGINAL metal that was used to make the undercarriage?  10%? 15%? 
• A good rust proofing procedure would just be about 2 % of the cost of your car, perhaps even less.  If you spent Rs. 500,000 on a new car, the cost on rust proofing would even be less than 1%.  For as little as that, you protect your investment, save on worry about rust, and prolong the life of your car.  When it is time to sell your car, you get a higher appraisal, a higher resale value!

Q. My brand new car has been rust proofed already with another brand, when it came out of the     dealership.  How does it compare to Tata Approved Anti Rust treatment?

• A lot of car dealers offer this package service to brand new cars. There are brand new cars which only have undercoating on areas visible to the eyes, such as the surface near the wheels.
• There are undercoating that are dry on the outside, but soft inside (like wax). This type does not have good abrasion resistance, or good sound deadening properties.

Tata Motors thus strongly recommends use of Anti Rust Treatment which shall not only provide safety to your vehicle against corrosion during your ownership period, it shall help increase life of body shell of your car.

Areas that shall be covered under Anti Rust treatments

Bonnet	Front wings
Rear Wings	Rear Wings
Boot Lid	Door
Door	Sills
Under Body, Side Members and Cross Members

Other Benefits

Upto 60 months warranty & upto 10 free checkups available for Underbody Treatments.

Please demand your warranty card from the dealer on availing the Antirust treatments  »  Have a look at the copy of the warranty card here.

Sound Deadening Pads

Door vibration deadeners - These pads when stuck on the insides of the sheet metal increase sheet metal rigidity, reduce vibrations and increase riding comfort.

Benefits

• Used for reducing the sheet metal vibration in a vehicle.
• Product to be used once in the life of the vehicle - Life Time Warranty.
• Effect is Life long i.e. until & unless pads are physically removed.
• Negligible increase in Weight & hence no effect on fuel consumption.
• Areas covered - four doors, rear quarter panels & dicky. In case of diesel vehicles, can be used in the bonnet.

Engine Wax Treatment

Engine Wax is a beige coloured transparent lacquer coating on the engine compartment. It's features are  :

• Corrosion Prevention for the Engine compartment
• Neat, Clean and New Look to Engine compartment
• No effect on MPFI vehicles
• Engine wax can withstand upto 200 degrees temp
• No need of cleaning the engine compartment with diesel once engine wax is sprayed
• Life of over a year