The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Surface Rust Remoal

I am starting to restore a 55 chevy. I am looking to start by removing the surface rust and prime all surfaces to protect them.

I am wondering what is the best way to remove the surface rust? Should I take them in somewhere to have someone do it or should I do it myself (sand blasting or something)?

It all depends on how bad the rust is, what equipment you have and how much effort you want to personally put into it. Also just priming the bare metal won't protect it. You'll need to apply an epoxy primer.

Pitted surface rust is almost going to need to be sandblasted to get the rust out of the pits. Light surface rust you could clean up with a DA Orbital sander and 80 grit.

John

I would suggest Scotchbrite disc pads, less aggressive and conformable .

4 parts water, 1 part vinegar, scrub with red scotch brite, let set 15 min, wipe off with wet towel, dry. Rust pits turn black. Epoxy prime.

I think if there are pits that need to be cleaned out it no longer qualifies as "Surface" rust...

Vinegar (Acetic acid) is not the same as Ospho (Phosphoric acid)
Acetic acid, the active ingredient in vinegar, will form iron acetate on contact with steel. Can anyone show any good info on the effectiveness of iron acetate as a passivation layer, or on its effect on coating adhesion?
In contrast, the properties of iron phosphate conversion treatments and zinc phosphate passivation layers are well known, and actually compatible with epoxy. (edited/paraphrased from a post by crashtech on a painters forum)

Ospho or no, it still needs to be properly neutralized for the premium grade epoxies to work properly.

Here we go again. My opinion is anti-chemical. Liquids get into all the cracks, nooks, crannies. You don't need that. Sanding and/or blast. As Tiny said: it depends on how much surface rust you have in pit form. We have just had this discussion and it's all over the place. Everyone has a different opinion on this subject. When we get done with you, you won't know what to do. You are correct about removal and prime. There are primers that you can fill (as in: bondo) over later.

x2 bart - If you are not sandblasting, good old stiff-wire wheels seem to work the best in pitted areas.

Good luck

Yes, I forgot that.

It's not that I advocate for the oshpho first approach but I recognize some will find it the route they want to go.
I just want to make sure they know there are dangers in having paint failures down the road from it but they can be avoided.

I personally prefer sandblasted to white metal, blow it off and spray/roll my epoxy.