Best tools to remove rust?

[Dom]

I've searched a bit and found few things. Sand blasting works very well but I have 1 car garage. Also I found a post where you put the part in water, add salt or baking soda, stick a rebar in the water and then hook up battery to rebar and rusted part. Well, these two won't help me since I'm trying to remove rust off inner fenders and floor. It's not on a Z but this is the only forum I'm registed on where people have experience restoring cars. Anyways, I used a wire brush and electric grinder but it doesn't work so well. Can't get rust off uneven surfaces and corners. Some one recommended me this. How well does it work and how fast does it wear out? Anything else that's really good and fast?

[JMortensen]

This is what I've been using on my project: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=91278

 

The knotted wire wheel is pretty aggressive. Much more so than a normal wire wheel.

[Dom]

Ah yes, somebody recomended that to me before too. Thanks for reminding me.

 

Do I need any air circulation/evacuation in the space I'm sand blasting or can I just do it and sweep afterwards?

[mikeatrpi]

Those 3M widgets are supposed to be great for stripping paint- but I haven't heard of anyone using them for rust. Get a flap disc or knotted cup wheel for your angle grinder (and hold on). For the corners, you might have to treat it chemically.

[steve72z]

Be sure to treat any rusted areas with an acid mixture you can but at any local automotive paint shop. One brand I believe is called Rust-Mort. A friend of mine restores muscle cars for a living and I have had the pleasure of learning some of his tricks.

[Cruez]

As was indicated above... after getting rid of it treat the section you were working on..

 

One of the chemicals I use when coating bare steel is called OSPHO, comes in a spray bottle or gallon. http://www.ospho.com/

Spray it on and it will neutralize the rust and leaves a coating ready for primer.

 

Ace hardware carries it.

[mom'sZ]

Wire wheels won't remove all the rust. In many cases they simply polish it. Nothing removes rust totally and completly like a sandblaster. Sandblasting is the ultimate tool to remove rust. If making a giant mess is a problem, (and sandblasting will make a giant mess) they have sandblasters that have a vacuum attached so they suck up the sand as it is blow out. Expensive compared to one the same size without the vacuum, but they work well. On flat surfaces you can grind it off, but for crevices and corners its the only way to go. Try building a little tent out of plastic sheet. Also, steel (like the panel is made of) is elastic, rust is not, rust is very hard and brittle. So if you give the area a good hard rap with a hammer, the steel will spring back and the rust will pop off. (this doesn't work for surface rust) Oh, don't breath sand, wear a mask.

[preith]

Wire wheels won't remove all the rust. In many cases they simply polish it. Nothing removes rust totally and completly like a sandblaster. Sandblasting is the ultimate tool to remove rust. If making a giant mess is a problem, (and sandblasting will make a giant mess) they have sandblasters that have a vacuum attached so they suck up the sand as it is blow out. Expensive compared to one the same size without the vacuum, but they work well. On flat surfaces you can grind it off, but for crevices and corners its the only way to go. Try building a little tent out of plastic sheet. Also, steel (like the panel is made of) is elastic, rust is not, rust is very hard and brittle. So if you give the area a good hard rap with a hammer, the steel will spring back and the rust will pop off. (this doesn't work for surface rust) Oh, don't breath sand, wear a mask.

 

Amen. Living in the 'rust belt', I feel a need to chime in. Wire wheels work great on mostly surface rust, but if there's any kind of substantial pitting, etc, the only way is sandblasting (oxide blasting) aside from chemical. I don't know if this an anomaly, but there's a local place that I doubt I could have gotten by without. They rent out blasting booths, a $1.25 a minute, no mess and no repirators needed. It's great for anything you can take off the car, the booths are rather large and can fit front fenders for example.

[Dom]

Unfortunately all the rust is on the unibody so I can't get anything off and put in the booth, except maybe control arms.

 

I think I'm going to try sand blasting in my garage. I wasn't impressed with wire wheels, and I doubt those 3M discs I posted are any better.

 

 

Aluminum oxide blasting media or should I use something else?

[boodlefoof]

With sandblasting, you should wear a respirator. Breathing in all of that silica dust is no good...

 

Do you have a yard at all? When I did some sandblasting on my '68 Camaro, I just set up a wooden backing wall in the back yard and laid a tarp on the ground to catch as much sand as I could (so I could reuse it). If some of it got into the grass, it was no big deal.

 

As for a blasting medium... I stick with regular sand. I tried using "slag" for sandblasting... but even the finest grain just kept clogging my gun.

[mom'sZ]

right... like play sand... for a kid's sandbox, available at the home depot or lowes or what have you. Just be careful not to heat up any area to much and warp it. I doubt it would be possible on a whole unibody, but blasting does produce heat. That's why guys use other media, it generates less heat. I always just used sand. If you had a giant three hundred pound pressure blaster and you blasted a fender you could warp it. But you average gravity feed on a unibody would be fine.

[mom'sZ]

Oh.. I didn't mention, but if you're considering sandblasting the unibody, it must be completely stripped down. Sand goes everywhere! If you don't remove the dash, it will be all up in you vents. It will take a lot of work to clean all the sand out of the unibody even if it is stripped down bare.

[JMortensen]

SAND GOES EVERYWHERE IS RIGHT!!! If you have stuff like engines, transmissions, etc that you don't want to have sand in them I'd suggest you try to get the car out of the garage for this project.

[Dom]

Thanks guys. I was hoping to take care of the rust over the winter. I guess I'm going to have to wait until spring then. Thanks again for some great tips.

[preith]

right... like play sand... for a kid's sandbox, available at the home depot or lowes or what have you. Just be careful not to heat up any area to much and warp it. I doubt it would be possible on a whole unibody, but blasting does produce heat. That's why guys use other media, it generates less heat. I always just used sand. If you had a giant three hundred pound pressure blaster and you blasted a fender you could warp it. But you average gravity feed on a unibody would be fine.

 

You can use sand, but get silca sand, and not just 'run of the mill' play sand. But I had better results with an aluminum oxide or...I forget what it's called, the black stuff available at a local builders store, Home Depot, etc, maybe the 'slag' refered to above.

 

I hear so often how you shouldn't sandblast panels, but I've had good luck with it. This is using a high pressure industrial strentgh gun too. The trick to it is be patient and don't hold the gun in one spot for a long time. Just skim over it taking small amounts, or layers, off at a time.

 

Also it seems like any used panels have their share of dings and blemishes, and I just end up putting a thin glaze coat of bondo over everything anyways.

 

EDIT I also wanted to say that I have my own perssure blaster tank from eastwood, and just about everything clogged it because I didn't have a air dryer.

[mom'sZ]

I hear so often how you shouldn't sandblast panels, but I've had good luck with it. This is using a high pressure industrial strentgh gun too. The trick to it is be patient and don't hold the gun in one spot for a long time. Just skim over it taking small amounts, or layers, off at a time.

true true... you can warp a panel with a grinder if you're not careful. I've even known people who think to hot a coat of bondo can warp a panel. The trick is to use common sense.

 

I also wanted to say that I have my own perssure blaster tank from eastwood, and just about everything clogged it because I didn't have a air dryer.

Dry air is a prerequisite

[MusPuppis]

I agree about sandblasting. If the rust is substantial and difficult to get to its the only way to go.

 

Another chemical that I've had alot of good luck with is good 'ole Naval Jelly. Thick and snot-like it sticks pretty well. I hit an area with a wirewheel and a tough wirebrush (I use the one I use for prepping metal before welding) then slather it with Naval Jelly, let it sit then wash off. Then I repeat the jelly once more and that usually gets it. The surface will of course have to be painted or treated to prevent rust from returning.

 

That method has worked pretty well for me so far. I had substantial rust areas along the weatherstripping lines and under the rear windows and a few other annoyng areas and stripping it to bare metal then attacking it with the wiresheel, wirebrush and naval jelly really seems to have worked well. I did this months ago and the areas are still in bare metal and showing no signs of re-rusting.

 

Ive heard great things about Ospho as well. POR15 is damn good to.

[Cruez]

I agree about sandblasting. If the rust is substantial and difficult to get to its the only way to go.

 

Another chemical that I've had alot of good luck with is good 'ole Naval Jelly. Thick and snot-like it sticks pretty well. I hit an area with a wirewheel and a tough wirebrush (I use the one I use for prepping metal before welding) then slather it with Naval Jelly' date=' let it sit then wash off. Then I repeat the jelly once more and that usually gets it. The surface will of course have to be painted or treated to prevent rust from returning.

 

That method has worked pretty well for me so far. I had substantial rust areas along the weatherstripping lines and under the rear windows and a few other annoyng areas and stripping it to bare metal then attacking it with the wiresheel, wirebrush and naval jelly really seems to have worked well. I did this months ago and the areas are still in bare metal and showing no signs of re-rusting.

 

Ive heard great things about Ospho as well. POR15 is damn good to.[/quote']

 

Ospho is much like naval jelly, except you can put it in a spray bottle and makes it a little easier to apply.. I think I would use POR15 as a final touch to keep it away... thats some good stuff.