Hey there. I have a question about the rust on my 63 pontiac. Some of you might have seen it at the HAMB BBQ. How do i remove all the surface rust? I have tried to take it off several times, but it keeps on coming back. I have ground all the rust/primer/paint off of the car several times. While the metal that is rust free for the moment i have sprayed primer over it, but as soon as it gets wet, it rusts up immeadietly. I went to the local paint store to see what they say, and they said to use this metal prep to take it off. So i used it, and it took the rust off after having to scrub it. But you have to wash it off with water, and as soon as the water hits the metal it rusts back up. So after having attempted taking the rust off a bunch of times I have been unsuccesfull. So what are you suggestions on removing it? Also I have self-etching primer, a filler primer, and Dp-90. thanks- Joe TDWK
all of the above (including the dp90)are very porous. next time you spray it, finish it off with a topcoat of clear. if flat is what you want, get some flatteneig agent for the clear. should last a looong time as long as the primer and clear are compatible. or just go ahead and paint the darn thing and get it over with my.02 Lux Blue
thanks. i have heard that dp90 is susposed to prevent rust from coming threw though? but how do i get the rust off that is already there?
You could try any of the "topcoats" that claim to dissove rust..such as "Naval jelly"...it will prolong the inevitable. Want to keep your car 15 years? You'll probably be re-doing the paint by then. You could spend $30.00 for a quart of "POR-15" and paint over the rust...or use Eastwood's similar paint. It will prolong the inevitable. Want to keep your car 15 years? You'll probably be re-doing the paint by then. You can "seal" it with DP90...but eventually rust will poke back thru... eventually. DP90 is a sealer, but if left for a long period of time un-topcoated, it will still allow rust to take hold. It breaks down in sun, I don't care what anybody claims... If you want the repair to last- cut out all the offending rust and replace it with fresh metal. Seal it on the backside somehow, and don't let it be exposed to the air for too long before topcoating. The only way you'll ENSURE it doesn't come back is to cut it out and replace it. That's my take on it. BTW, I live in Michigan. A lot of our cars that we try to save are "junk" to the rest of the world, so I guess I am biased. Most Michigan cars that are over 20 years old have bodies that have a mix of bondo, fiberglass bondo, and metal tape. The cars that are really cool and had people willing to pay the $$$ to resurrect them had their bodies "surgically altered" by having some sort of sheetmetal replacement down the line (hopefully). I've tried grinding off the "scale" and painting over it with rust inhibitores, etc. In my experience, within 6 months to 2 years later, it starts poping back through, regardless of how well you took care of your car. (Covers actually contribute to their demise.) Rust is water/moisture activated. Wash your car on a warm day, you may as well drink raw eggs that have sat on your counter for 2 days at room temperature- same effect. You'll puke in either case after the results show themselves. Just my .02 mercman
Sheesh. Well some of the above is true anyway... But let me be the first to answer your question & say to get rid of surface rust you need to media blast it. Walnut shells, plastic beads, whatever. Then you metal prep it (with a chemical prep), sand it (I use 180 on a DA), epoxy primer it, & paint it. If you want it flat then use flattened urethane single stage, but understand that the flatter you make it the more porous the paint becomes. The factory & myself (as well as others) paint cars with gloss for more than just to make them shine - it's what protects them from the elements. If it's more than just surface rust cut it out & weld in new metal as mentioned. Doing the above (if done right) will make a paintjob last 20 years if left out in the weather & ignored, 50+ (100+?) if kept indoors & taken care of. That's my story & I'm sticking to it! ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
Thanks "Paul The Driver". So sand blasting is pretty much the only way to really get rid of the surface rust then?
Walnut shell and plastic media blasting are for removing paint only, and will not effectively remove rust. However there is a way to remove rust that does not have the drawbacks of blasting or chemical dipping, take a look at the process on http://www.safestrustremover.com
Sand is problematic; anything with enough pressure to do the job in a reasonable amount of time will warp sheetmetal. There are folks that do "hydroblasting" - sandblasting using water to keep the metal cool but you're much better off finding someone that uses walnut shells or other media that won't warp the metal. You can also have it dipped, if the car is *completely* dissasembled. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving isn't for you.
I beg to differ: I've seen cars blasted with walnut shells & it removed paint, primer, bondo, rust, - everything. Nothing left but clean bare metal to work with. As for "Safe Rust Remover", sounds like a good product but how the hell are you going to dip a body (& how much would that cost at $935 for 55 gallons)? ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Hey Fred; why are you dragging that chain across the floor? "Ever tried pushing a chain?"
Most places that claim to be blasting with walnut shells actually mix in some sand to remove rust. The shells WON'T remove rust by itself. At least not the real rust that happens in the north. You guys in the dry heat don't really even know what rust looks like...
Actually most businesses that do PMB (Plastic Media Blasting) use the plastic media only to the remove surface coatings, (paint, bondo. etc.) and then switch to a more aggressive media (glass beads, aluminum oxide, etc.) where rust removal is required. Walnut shells are 'softer' than most PBM, and are very ineffective at rust removal. Likely those cars Tha Driver saw blasted with walnut shells were either rust-free in the beginning or were given a 'final clean-up" in the rusty areas with something other than walnut shells. To remove rust using only plastic media would likely take 10x as long as using aluminum oxide, and still not do as good of job, simple economics require the use of the best blasting media for the particular situation. I have my own equipment and perform all of my own media blasting. If you watched the "slide-show" on Safest Rust Remover you would see that "dipping" is not usually the method employed, thus there is no need to purchase it in 55 gal. quantities.
OK; I'll buy that. I've never actually saw the walnut blasting in person, just the cars that were done - so they may have switched to something else for the rusty areas. But whatever they used it didn't warp the metal like normal pressure-blasting with sand does. As for the Safest Rust Remover, I just spent 25 minites trying to get online & open this webpage; slide shows are out of the question... ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" You talkin dirty or hep?
I remember seeing a video on a website that showed these guys rinsing off rust on the undercarriage of an old Lincoln. The chemical was said to be very enviro friendly and reusable. They had plastic draped under the car and were catching and routing the stuff back into the barrel. Now I'm racking my brain trying to remember( my memory is getting worse all the time) where I saw this and what it was called. Anybody else...?
These pictures show the body for my 1932 Ford three-window coupe project exactly the way it was when I bought it, and what it looked like after I covered the outside of the body with Gibbs Brand, gave it time to soak in, and then sanded it down with a D/A sander. It took less than a can of Gibbs to get the entire outside of the body good and wet. I then let it soak in for a couple of days before starting to sand it down. On the outside of the body, there is now no indication that there was ever any oxidization on the car. The above pictures and text are from the page I wrote about Gibbs Brand, which can be found at http://www.roadsters.com/gibbs/ Dave (602) 233-8400 http://www.roadsters.com/
A penetrant/lubricant that you can actually paint over??? Very interesting, I'll have to give it a try someday... WHat others have said is right tho, plastic media is only for paint/putty, every place that i can think of will spot treat the rust with aluminum oxide (same stuff that they make most sandpaper with). I've used lots of acid in the past but it was mostly small stuff so it was easy to get the rinsewater off before it started to rust. And then I usually go with some kind of zinc-based primer, like DuPont's veri-prime, followed by epoxy. There's quite a few rust removers out there that are acid-free and dont require a rinse, tho I haven't used any myself so I can't really recommend one right now.
Well...I guess if I'd read the whole thread I'd have seen that Jessie J. already posted it...D'OH! http://www.safestrustremover.com/default.asp
What is so great about the Safest Rust Remover method is that no disassembly is required, and it can get into those tight restricted areas that would require total dissasembly to sandblast, this alone can save hundreds of hours of labor.
Thanks for this information. So it only took a couple of days to remove all the rust? And then you sanded the paint down? -Joe
I have some rusty cars . Yea that's a shocker. I wonder who all has used the safest rust remover product? Did it work well? Any drawbacks? I like the idea of less sanding and less metal removal. Testimonials anyone?
I know how to keep it from coming back...Tell your brother to stop f*cking around and paint it already...!
Here is a clue. Paint the damn thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some primers are not as good as others. You want to get a primer with a thicker vicosity. No can spray primer's either. I had the same thing happening with the wagon and just recently sueded it. KNUX!
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