Painting the floor

[skamanfrank]

Righty, well now I'm getting old I'm starting to think about some of the more boring things about cars.... namely heat/sound insulation and preserving the (solid) floor.

For the last few years FAF has been without carpet, but now I wish to paint the inside of the floor/under the rear seats etc, in preparation for putting some insulation down and carpet.
I intend to remove all the bitumen as well as any dirt/grime, but I do no intend to take it back to bare metal.

1) What should I use to paint? I want something that will offer some sort of protection, but I am not worried about colour. I will be covering with carpet and the entire vehicle needs a respray anyway, which it ain't gonna get from me any time soon. So, colour is irrelevant, but want something that will be hardwearing (won't be getting carpeted for a little while) and offer some rust protection. Also- I do not have access to a compressor, so brush on or spray cans please.

2) How is the best way to go about cleaning and drying the floor? Need to remove all grime, grease and oil, as well as any water. Newspaper I'm told is quite good, as is cat litter? What do you guys recommend?

Cheers
Frank

[mk1fish]

I have just painted the underside of my escort with POR 15

Brush on, went on with purpose and now it dry it is solid as a rock. And resistant to everything apart from UV but if you are going to have carpet over the top then that's not a problem. £40 a tin great reputation and would recommend.

[MrSpeedy]

I didn't get the results I expected for POR15 tbh. I used it on the Sprintfire and it started lifting after about 12 months! Maybe it was just bad prep, but I followed their instructions!

For the Vitesse, I just threw (almost literally) plenty of Smoothrite. Just as hard wearing as POR imo and a damn site cheaper.

No carpets in mine and none of the paint has worn through yet

[skamanfrank]

Out of curiousity... what about bitumen based paint that is commonly used on roofing for damp proofing and the like?

[penrhynrallycentre]

Clean the floor properly,dry it thougherly use a heat gun if required rub it down well with 180 grit DRY hover the dust off,grind or wire bruch any rust on it,primer it with a couple of coats of Metal primer and then paint over it with a decent meatal paint shuch asachenery enamel this should gove you a good protective coating.Forget the idea of bitemen paint as can be a pig to remove if so desired at a later stage

Dave

[Bob the Fish]

Don't like POR15, falls off smooth metal, pricey, fussy. Using Jotamastic 87 nowadays, 2-pack but non isocyanate. Rated "below waterline" (it's marine paint). Brush or spray. Tough as anything. Using it on the undersides and floors & boot insides etc, basically anywhere except topside bodywork.

Like any epoxy primer it will degrade in UV eventually, usually talking years more than weeks though.

[akku]

I'm not a massive fan of POR15 either.

I've heard good things about Bondaprimer from so many people that I'm probably going with that on my next project. Is it brushable? hmmm

Keeping the water out of your footwells will be a serious rust prevention mechanism. so thats screen and door seals etc. keep the car dry any you'll make it 1000 times easier for whatever you paint with to do its job!

[Copey]

How about bed liner? That stuffs tough as nails!

[akku]

has to be sprayed on though?

[Copey]

ahh i missed the part about not having a compressor! derp!! ok, ignore me