Is this a normal maintenance thing I was unaware of?!
Ok so, this was actually just over the border in Germany. I was at the selbstschrauberwerkstatt where I had assumed people go to do normal repairs/maintenance/pimp their ride. A guy with an uninterestingly old Merc comes in, lifts it on the ramps then proceeds to spray the suspension arms, brake back plates etc with a can of paint without masking anything off or anything. Each to their own I thought as I was mounting neon underbody lamps (only joking). After that a guy comes in with an old Beetle convertible. He puts it up on the ramps, takes a can of paint and sprays stuff under the car with it.
Are you sure it was paint? Might it have been chassis soap, rust preventative or some such?
I know people who spray a stripe of fresh tar to keep the Pine Martens away.
It smelled like paint and covered everything black. Could have been some chassis paint I guess but still, just randomly on bits and bobs under the car?
Was it Waxoyl perhaps? That's black and helps to prevent rust.
I've used it on a chassis before. I've got a can of it in my cellar.
Not waxoyl (which I haven't seen here). Looked and smelled like paint. The first guy did his brake backplates, suspension arms, then he got carried away and did the exhaust pipes between the boxes. Wish I'd had a sneaky look to see exactly what it was now.
Under-seal? The Germans swear that the winter salt on the roads ruins their cars and they do an under body car wash followed by spraying on under-seal.
It's not just the Germans...
it would have been Dinitrol
Sounds like a quick fix over rust before selling the car or something. Normally you need to do some preparation work etc. before spraying that stuff, otherwise it'll fall of. And certainly it is not intended to protect exhaust. Did he look turkish? If yes probably the Merc was for sale as rust-free specimen the next day
One was a Merc, the other an old Beetle. Both guys looked very German complete with broom-end style moustaches. Neither masked off any areas or anything, just spraying on brake backplates and hence also the balljoints, brake lines etc. On the Merc it was definitely black. I guess next time I'll pay closer attention. I think both had come straight from the TÜV. The Merc guy also adjusted his fog lamps but at 6 feet off the ground without any reference lines.