Removing rust

Y

YoBro

New member
I just picked up an 02' Acura 3.2TL Type-S. I spent last weekend detailing it http://community.webshots.com/album/351147701iCwmwd



I found one spot on the corner of the trunk lid where the paint is chipped and has rusted. Whats the best way to remove the rust before using touch up paint?



While on the topic of rust this was a northern car and alot of the metal brackets and bracing around the brakes and steering has rusted any tips on removing?



Thanks as always
 
There are a number of ways to tackle rust for both sheet metal (body panels) and steel parts.



1) Sand blast the effected area, clean off the metal and treat it, prime, then repaint



2) Cut out the rusted piece of panel and weld a "patch" in, then fill to level off, sand, prime, repaint



3) Hand or Machine sand the rusted area till you think you've got it all, treat, prime, then repaint. A wire brush works well here too. Either by hand or on a die grinder.



4) Use a wire brush to take out the "flaky" loose rust, treat the metal, then apply a coat of rust preventive or encapsulation paint (Zero Rust, Rust Bullet, POR-15 and Eastwood products come to mind.



The mistake most people make when treating rust on body panels is not realizing that there are two sides to the panel, so the rust can start from either side.



The second is not realizing that the rust you see may only be a small part of it, you may need to extend the area out past what's showing to see the full scope of the damage.



So you go through all that work only to see the rust start to bubble up under the new paint.



It is for those two reasons that body shops will usually go with 1) or 2) when dealing with rust on body panels.



For the steel parts you mentioned if it's not worth your time to take them off sandblast and coat with one of those rust products I mentioned, then you can go with 4) with the parts on the car. Be careful of over spray.
 
The rust spot on my trunk lid is about a 1/2" long scratch. Is there something that works for a small area? I would hate to put a wire brush to that.
 
You could try something like Picklex to get rid of the rust.



You will still need to sand down the affected area, touch prime, and apply touch up paint/clear coat.



I looked at the pic's of that ride, sweet.., and thought about why would a 4 year old car start to rust on the panels.



The only thing I could come up with was a deep scratch or dent of some kind that was not taken care of at the time of the incident.



Visit the forums over at the autobody store for some more tips on effecting a small repair like this one.



Or get an estimate from a couple of body shops (including the dealership).



Sometimes you'll find that when you add up the cost of doing a small repair like this yourself you weren't far off from having it professionally done.



Esp. if you don't have the means already at hand to do so.



Rust on body panels is a PITA, if you don't remove it completely it will show up again under the new paint in time.
 
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