Sorting rust

[Jim K..]

eBay is your friend...

[Lee Nowell]

Hi all

I have an old trailer which has a fair amount of surface rust on the chassis where the original paint has come off. I have it propped against a wall now so thought I might as well have a go at fixing it. The floor is also a bit poor so will look to replace that too.

I have been recommended to

- wire brush most of the rust off

- use Kurust on what's left

- cover it all in waxoyl

Any other / better suggestions? I used waxoyl years ago and seem to recall it just stays as a grease like substance. May not work so well on the top surface of the chassis below the new floor as it will squeeze it out and if the floor is wood maybe stain the wood?

Thanks

Lee.

[T i m]

<snip>

Depending on the level of 'rust' and how 'stripped' the trailer is, use a flapdisk thing (in an angle grinder), along with a wire brush (had / drill) to take it back to bare metal and re-paint with a decent red / grey oxide type primer and a couple of coats of a chassis paint (or Hammerite if you have some to use up).

Cheers, T i m

p.s. Sand blasting then galvanising would be the *best* solution. ;-)

[Steve Walker]

I prefer a twisted-wire cup-brush in an angle grinder. Good protective clothing definitely needed though as wires come off at some speed when they let go.

SteveW

[T i m]

Quite. Additionally, whilst they can be very efficient, the 'risk' (for me anyway and including the wire 'bullets' that have gone though several layers of clothing) outweighs the advantages.

But then I have watched (then later felt) one catch the ground, fly into my knee and after going though my jeans, push all the skin up to one end of the slot ... then after about 30 seconds, start to leak profusely. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[Chris Green]

My favourite rust treatments are "Vernis pour rouille" and "Owatrol" which are fairly similar products. They are like a clear varnish that you paint directly onto rusty metal. You only have to remove really loose rust. They even advise that a little bit of rust is *necessary* for them to work properly. You can paint over them with ordinary paint if required.

They seem much more available and popular in France (etc.) but I think you can get Owatrol in the UK.

[tabbypurr]

A wire disc in an angel grinder gives the greatest linear speed & thus rust removing ability & speed. Cup brush comes 2nd.

OP options are to grease it somehow (oil, oil & wax or brand products) or strip & paint, or both.

NT

[Bob Eager]

Sounds much like Jenolite (UK) which is what I use.

[Chris Green]

I thought Jenolite was a rust remover - maybe they make more than on product.

A quick search seems to confirm what I thought, Jenolite is a rust remover or rust converter.

[alan_m]

Phosphoric acid is a rust converter and probably much cheaper than a branded product. Available on Ebay at various strengths and quantities.

[Marland]

A lot of these products are phosphoric acid based with a few additives to turn that into a proprietary product tailored for the end use. Products for Rust conversion will have a fairly large proportion of acid, Others like Coca-Cola where it is used as a flavouring will only have a small amount.

Phosphoric acid can be purchased a lot cheaper than the branded products if you have a suitable supplier like an agricultural supplier near by,unfortunately delivery charges may skew the economics if you haven?t.

GH

[Chris Green]

Yes, but my suggestions of "Vernis pour rouille" and "Owatrol" are quite different, they are not rust converters or anything like that, they simply penetrate the surface of lightly rusted metal very well and seal it completely. I've used them quite a lot on our canal boat in France and on odd bits of ironware at home and I've found them pretty effective. They certainly seem to work better than any of the 'galvanising' primer sorts of paints I've tried.

[Bill]

In message [e-mail]>, Chris Green [e-mail] writes

I have used "Owatrol" in the past, and agree it was far better than the galvanising -type primers.

Alternatively, I have used a rust converter on my trailer and then overpainted with some epoxy-based paint I had spare. This seems to have worked reasonably well.