kcroberge

Picked up my 2003 TL-S yesterday. The sales manager told me that the car did not have any undercoating, and then tried to sell me some. I assumed that the car has to have some undercoating in order to meet the warranty. Do I need to go aftermarket and purchase an undercoating or is what it has good enough? I will most likely have this car for 7-8 years.

Second question, They gave me a certificate for a free oil change at 3750 miles. Should I wait that long or bring it in sooner? I was thinking more like 1000-1500 miles. What do you think?

FLAcuraTLS

KC..undercoating?? don't worry about that, and DO NOT listen to your manager at the dealership, they generally know nothing about cars, and this case is a good example. All they want is MORE of your hard earned money. Your car is warrantied to 50,000 miles and you have the option to extend it, so dont worry about it. Plus if your car is supposed to have undercoating, then it probably does or else they wouldn't put it on a lot and sell it.
And yeah, it's ok to wait until 3750 to change your oil.

corey415

I am not sure what an undercoating is. It's probably BS. But it never hurts to change your oil early. Same goes for the tranny fluid.

go-types

for my knowledge, the undercoating is the black coating underneath the car & which is an anti-rust protection. i believe that our car has come with the 100,000miles (not sure if the no is correct) anti-rust warranty.

Saintor

If you live in a salted area and plan to keep it for more than 5 years, TAKE no chance.

1. Have the car oil-sprayed at least every two years.
2. Wash the car in winter at least once a month, make sure to clean under the car.


You know, there wasn't supposed to be rust problem with Honda in the '90s and I can tell there are a lot.

I saw an Accord V6 1995 lately and its rear well was obviously rusted through., a large 6" area. What a pity. And '92 Civic that became a rust bucket are not rare here.

Clearly a poor design in rust protection.

My friend with its 210000 miles '91 Accord SE has no rust on it. But you can guess it; he "took no chance".

just_a_tl

new cars dont come with undercoating. if you look under it, youll see bare metal. a car with undercoating will have this thick black film on it

Ruski

I thought by now most people would have learned the tricks of car salesmen.

kcroberge

I know the tricks, I didn't buy it. But the statement just had me wondering. I traded in a 1990 Integra with 130k miles on it. It had no signs of rust. My wife and I together have owned 4 different Hondas/Acuras dating back to 1985. I have never bought additional undercoating and have never had a rust issue. It just struck me as odd that the delaler said it had no undercoating at all, he was not just trying to sell me more.

Thanks for all the responses. I'll probably wait a year or two and then put an additional coating on.

pianoman41

If I'm not mistaken, Acura's rust coverage is 10 years, unlimited mileage. However, they only cover rust *through*, not surface rust. So if you get paint bubbling up and rust spots on the surface of the panel, it's not covered. But if it rusts through so you can see daylight from the other side, then Acura replaces it under warranty.

zesta

I have what appears to be a grayish coating on the underside of my new '03 TL. Almost like silicone caulking. I didn't get close enough to check it out completely, so I don't know what it is, and the dealer did not say anything, or charge me anything. Could it just be something from the factory?

-Randy

lilboykorea

i got it done for the piece of mind, i live in a heavily snowing area... its fuken snowing rite now...30 cm today... damn
it also reduces road noise by a lil tad bit..