I guess today they use better metals and coatings? I do think you can fully remove the rust if you work hard enough but as long as oxygen can get to it, it will come back. Water and salt make metal rust quicker, so the coatings just make the oxidation occur must slower. All things eventually return to earth. Isn't that the law of entropy or something?

 

I'm no expert but what I do to slow down the rusting process is to:

First scrape and/or wire brush as much of the rust off as I can get to.

Second, spray Ospho, either by spray gun, spray bottle, or brush to all rusted areas I can get to. Then let dry for a day or two.

Third, Paint over that with POR 15.

Be careful with the Ospho, put plastic under where you use it. It is an acid and will make your garage floor ugly. With the POR 15 it is just about impossible to remove once cured so be careful with that too. Lacquer thinner does a good job cleaning it up if you catch it before it dries. The POR15 is not UV resistant so if you use it where sunlight can get to it you need to topcoat it with a regular black spray paint.

 

Hahaha. I've got a thick wire brush attachment for my drill, two nylon ones, and I've gone through like 15 various stainless dremel parts.

I've had stainless wires sticking out of the top of my head like a porcupine (dremel-forgot it was set on 20,000 RPM when I turned it on- OOPS!) and I've probably gotten 6 stainless splinters in my foot, my wife's had about 3 and each of the kids has gotten one. Everyone has learned that you don't walk in the garage without shoes on.


I DO own the wrong generation Corvette for hating rust. I've addressed everything in front of the radiator, the exhaust system, and anything reachable around the rear wheel wells (I'm embarrassingly OCD...) and now I'm addressing from the engine bay back. In 2-3 years when I pull the engine to have the bottom-end rebuilt and made a stroker, I'll do the engine bay. -If I ever get in a rear-end collision, I'll remove the rear bumper and get in there right before I have a Custom Images Corvette rear chrome bumper conversion put on. (I love that thing, but just can't remotely justify it now.)



I find the Eastbay kit that gets the INSIDE of the frame to be just an oddly satisfying thing- it's stupid, who's ever going to look inside the frame? But I just want all the rust gone. It's a literal cancer to my car.


Adam

 

I've read that acid sprays just accelerate rusting and metal degradation- causes pitting that gets down deeper into the metal and just causes the damage to get worse way faster. I'm going to stay far away from any acid treatment.


Adam

 

I removed all the rust from my calipers, too... I planned to paint them with a high temp caliper paint, but I go back and forth on whether I'm going to want to get Wilwood aluminum calipers once I have 75% more torque and HP, so I'm holding off on that one. Agree they look great!


Adam

 

The phosphoric acid rust treatments I used say to wait 24 hours after application and then wash off with water and dry. I would think that would stop any continued metal degradation.

 

This is a reasonable plan after seeing results I've done, now after 8-9 years.

For step 3 - I am reasonably pleased using Eastwood Rust Converter (chemically converts rust to a non-rust paintable surface).

For step 5 - I have not been pleased with the longevity of Rustoleum paints. The Eastwood paints look great and have lasted reasonably well.

I have just also recently tried the VHT Epoxy Paints and am very pleased (as "Chapter2 had already recommended). The VHT Roll Bar and Chassis Paint comes in Satin or Gloss Black. Apply two light coats followed by a medium coat. It goes on nicely and looks great. The VHT Epoxy Paint is also very good. If it's a small part, like bolts, brackets, etc., let it dry 24 hours, then one can accelerate the epoxy curing process by putting it into an oven at 150 degrees for 30 minutes. That, I've seen, hardens the epoxy coating quickly and when you screw the bolt back in and tighten it down, there is NO scraping/flaking of the coating. Amazing.

 

I'm only guessing that Chapter 2 and I are talking about the same thing !

What I use is called Ospho and I've used it for years !

This stuff does not accelerate rust and does not pit the metal !

It's one and only function is to take iron oxide and chemically change it to iron phosphate which is inert ! Essentially it kills it !

If you tried to use it on what mine looked like it take a lot more applications than one ! And if you did get to the point there was no rust left you then would have to sand the metal clean before you put on primer and paint !

On mine I removed all the rust , then I put a mist coating of Ospho and blew dry with compressed air ! This was only to kill the rust that was forming on the metal from moisture in the air and the metal being exposed!

Then I quickly primed and painted to seal the metal from oxygen so that it wouldn't rust again !

I also have a 77 Harley LowRider that was redone in 2002 that has 0 rust or pits on it to this day ! That frame was sandblasted, sprayed with Ospho too !




Al I know is that it has done a great job for me for years !