Best, cheapest way to remove rust from car?

NewFolder

My car is starting to show it's age now, and I've noticed a few areas of rust on the bodywork.

The car isn't worth much as it's rather old, but I want to keep it in a working and roadworthy condition for as long as possible, so I'd like to know of a method that I could use to either remove this rust, or to protect it and prevent it from spreading to other parts of the car, before it needs welding, etc.

I don't want to spend too much, and I'd rather do it myself than take it to a garage or workshop, mainly because of the cost.

It doesn't matter too much if it looks a bit of a mess afterwards as the rust is in quite a well hidden area.

Strider590

Wire brush the affect area and paint over with Hammerite, that'll definitely stop it.

Joe_Horner

The cheapest (and best) way to remove rust is one of these:



The problem is, it leaves you with the more difficult (and expensive) problem of getting rid of the resulting hole

Short of that, sand it back down to clean metal (or as clean as you can get) using emery cloth. Treat the metal with Kurust (or similar) to kill off any remaining rust then use a light skim of body filler to level everything off.

Flat the filler and smooth using progressive grades of wet & dry paper through to about 600 grit, then prime and paint.

Total material costs to get started should be under about 25 quid and a typical rust bubble (assuming it hasn't gone through) shouldn't take more than about 30 minutes of actual working time - plus the time for filler and chemicals to do their job, but you can be starting on the next one while that's happening.

Even if you don't get a great finish, it'll look better than rust (or Hammerite :P )

alastairq

I used one of those......ended up having to get a new car to surround the hole!

Flying-High_2

Rub the rust back... Treat it with Jenolite then paint it. Failing Jenolite theres a good Rust treatment BiltHamber make but can't for the life of me remember what its called.

Quietmanc

Is this the one? http://www.bilthamber.com/dynax-ub

Flying-High_2

No that's a cavity wax... Similar to Waxoyl. It's the Hydrate 80

Retrogamer

Strider590 wrote: »

Wire brush the affect area and paint over with Hammerite, that'll definitely stop it.

It'll stop it for a few months if you're lucky.

I removed rust from my wheels using an angle grinder with wire wheel to bring them back to the bare metal then painted with Hammerite direct to rust paint.
Stored them in my shed for a few months (winter tyres on them) and they had rusted through again.

Kurust will slow it down a little more, but again you won't even get a year out of it.


The best method i'd found is
Angle grinder with wire wheel (or cordless drill with wire wheel for smaller areas)
Treat with Dinitrol RC800 - 2 coats (expensive but it's one of the best out there)
Then if it's underside or out of sight use Ronseal No Rust and if ont he bodywork use bodyfiller then spray over with primer ect.

I spoke to someone who restores classic cars and does a lot of sailing. They painted their boat trailer with Dinitrol and Ronseal years ago and no sign of any rust yet so he's been using it with success on classic car restoration.

redux

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Short of that, sand it back down to clean metal (or as clean as you can get) using emery cloth. Treat the metal with Kurust (or similar) to kill off any remaining rust then use a light skim of body filler to level everything off.

Flat the filler and smooth using progressive grades of wet & dry paper through to about 600 grit, then prime and paint.

Total material costs to get started should be under about 25 quid and a typical rust bubble (assuming it hasn't gone through) shouldn't take more than about 30 minutes of actual working time - plus the time for filler and chemicals to do their job, but you can be starting on the next one while that's happening.

Even if you don't get a great finish, it'll look better than rust (or Hammerite :P )

One problem is that the filler can hold water, causing the same problems of rust and bubbles in the paint to happen again later.

So if the filler has been wet-sanded, which is usually the case, it's worth some time and heat to make sure it gets better than just touch dry

demystified

Not worth the bother in my experience. If theres rust you can see there will be rust you can't see. Won't make one iota of difference when it comes to MOT time anyway. Its purely cosmetic.

Ectophile

There's a liquid called Kurust that you can paint onto bare rust, and it turns the rust into a purple-black hard surface.

It works well to stop surface rust. But if the problem is that the metal is rusting away from behind, then it's only a very temporary fix.