New floor pans! Coatings for the interior and exterior?

My Super Beetle project is slowing moving along.  I'm hoping to get to the point where I put the new pans in soon, and have been thinking about extra protection for them.  They have some black paint on them that seems reasonably durable, but I'd like to improve upon it.  Here's my current thoughts

Exterior:  Brush on some Rustoleum professional onto the underside (except where there will be some welding) beforehand.  After they're installed, spray the same paint over the welded area, then apply seam sealer.  Should I also hit the underside with spray undercoating?

Interior:  Some form of roll on bedliner, after spray painting and seam sealing where it is welded to the chassis.  I don't intend to put carpet into the car, so I'd like something to protect the floor a bit, but still somewhat easy to clean.  I'm also kind of tempted to drill a few holes in the floor and put in rubber plugs that can be removed, so I can just rinse out the floorpans if they get too muddy/dusty.

The car should not be seeing salted roads anymore, so I'm thinking the undercoating wouldn't be too bad.  But it will still see a lot of dirt and water, obviously, so maybe I shouldn't use it.  Any other thoughts on what paints/coatings I should consider?

I did truck bed liner on the interior floor pans of the Neon and it has worn through in the "heel spots" on the driver side.  I was actually thinking about re-coating it and maybe putting down a section of that non-slip stair tread stuff where the feet go to keep it from wearing away again.

I don't have any advice, but I like the idea of drilling holes and putting rubber plugs in them.  I might do that on my baja bug.

That may be a good idea.  I wonder if putting it down while the bedliner is still setting would make it stick into place better.

Por-15 is by far the hardest paint I have ever used. That's where I would start. Then use paint of choice as a finish coat. 

Toyman01 said:

Por-15 is by far the hardest paint I have ever used. That's where I would start. Then use paint of choice as a finish coat. 

 

Does it actually adhere to clean surfaces?

eastsideTim said:

Toyman01 said:

Por-15 is by far the hardest paint I have ever used. That's where I would start. Then use paint of choice as a finish coat. 

 

Does it actually adhere to clean surfaces?

Nope.

And the black e-coat on the pans is porous, so it WILL rust underneath it. 

On the elky, when i did full pans, i ground away where i welded. Scuffed the rest with laquer thinner and a scotchbrite pad. Sprayed john deere blitz black over the ecoat and bare metal. Seam sealer after that, and underside got bedlinered with duplicolor bed armor. Interior got valspar rust tough over the ecoat/john deere/seam sealer before sound deadening and insulation. 

That method held up to 30k and a 50mph honda.

I fiberglassed the pans on my beetle which then filled up with water the first time it rained. Drain holes are recommended.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Sounds like I definitely need some sort of paint coating inside and out.  Large scale spraying is not going to be an option in the garage during the winter, but I should be able to put the pans on sawhorses, and brush something on one side, let it dry, then rush it on the other.  With the bedliner, how did you apply it?  It seems like brushing it on the underside would be pretty impractical once the pans are on the car, but if I do it ahead of time, I'd still have to get under it and coat the welded/seam-sealed areas afterwards.

In reply to buzzboy :

Yeah, right now, this thing doesn't have any glass, except for the windshield.  That should change, but I don't harbor any illusions about it becoming completely weathertight.

I used the rattle cans. If i had to do it again, id use the bedliner gun the parts store sells and spray from a gallon. 

Unless you meant the paint.  Again, rattle cans underneath, but brush up top.

+1 on forgetting over the counter bedliner. I am not a fan. 

I'd do seam sealer on the welds. primer, then rustoleum Inside and out if there is no rust. I'd brush or roller it on. Seems like a good idea to do as much as you can on the bench. 

The above is an opinion

I've had good luck with Eastwood chassis black.  I haven't tried the Deere stuff, so I don't have a great comparison.   The Eastwood stuff seems to hold up way better than paint on Rust-Oleum (at least the newer stuff) in my unscientific observation.