dave88sw Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Hi, I know the title is a bit weird but can anyone help with effective rust treatments for an area of bodywork that is on show? I have a 96 Discovery and have a bit of rust appearing around the alpine windows, last year i took both windows out and cleaned the whole area back to metal with a wire wheel in a drill and primed it, then had a professional painter come and spray it the original oxford blue. I was confident i'd gotten all the rust and that would be the end of it, i tiger sealed the window seals to the roof to prevent water getting behind them (i'm sure that's what causes it in the first place). Anyway, less than 12 months later the rust is coming back through and to say i'm annoyed is an understatement. Is there anything i can do to treat this properly that will still allow me to give it a nice spray finish in the original colour? The only luck i've ever had with rust has been a heavy brushed on coating with good quality oil based paint. i don't really want to do that as it will look awful but if it cures the problem and prevents me having to do a substantial repair to the roof then it will have to do. Thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 the problem is you missed a step. you need to use a good rust neutralizer between wire brushing and primer. like this. http://www.rust.co.uk/fe-123-rust-converter/c28125/ otherwise itll just come back, as you found out. ive had good results with hammerites 'Kurst' too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 I'd also not use sealant (it makes getting the seals out intact difficult or impossible) and brush in some waxoil with the seal prised open before fitting the retaining strip. It'll keep the metal protected while allowing creep, rather than splitting like sealant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanuki Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Truth is, any kind of 'treatment' on rusty metal will only ever be a stop-gap. Slugging it with an air-powered needle-gun to get the rusty crusts off (You can't really get the grot off with a wire-brush...) then pickling in 'Molar strength' Phosphoric Acid [seriously strong... it devours both rust and human flesh with equal enthusiasm...] is about the best you can do with the existing metal; for a long-term fix you need to cut out the rusty metal then use a 'joddler' to form a step then MIG in new metal, before acid-descaling and a Zinc-Chromate acid-etch. A relative was senior corrosion-chemist for Britoil north-sea rigs in the 1980s: he always said it was much easier to control corrosion on his oil-rigs than on his late-1950s magnesium-alloy-panels-over-steel-tubular-frame Bristol road-car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave88sw Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 Thanks guys, forgot to say i did kurust before priming but i've never liked the stuff, it has never seemingly helped in the past but it's always hard to say because it could have come back much sooner without it? With the window seals, i'm confident they'll come out again, they're on an edge not pushed into a groove or anything so they can be eased off quite easily, very little surface area is actually in contact with the roof. I guess it'll be a case of rubbing it all back again to the best of my ability and trying some of these other products on it, maybe even applying a brush on finish that's overpaintable and just do as good as i can. I know a lot of people who've just smeared heavy amounts of tigerseal over the whole area and to be fair it's gotten no worse in the last few years, it just looks terrible to me and the car is otherwise very tidy. Any further suggestions are very welcome. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffR Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 On the mobile heap of ferrous and ferric oxide that pretends to be a family hack we have at the moment, I tend to wire wheel back to bare metal, then rust killer, then etch primer, then normal primer then top coat. Seems to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveG Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I've had good results with bilthamber's hydrate 80. As above, applied, then etch primed before adding primer and top coats. cheers, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave88sw Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 thanks guys, taking it all on board, very similar to my previous attempt, however, i just used a basic steel primer, perhaps etch would help it adhere better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landrovermanuk Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I've had good results with bilthamber's hydrate 80. As above, applied, then etch primed before adding primer and top coats. cheers, Steve I'm using hydrate 80, then a coat of electrox, followed by bilt hamber 2 pack epoxy mastic paint, then top coat... Hopefully that will last a few years... For the bits I cant get to I am soaking the parts in 9/1 water-molasses, then after a good wash and rub down with a scourer any bits I can reach, finally soaking them in 4/1 phosphoric acid - water... Warnings... Phosphoric acid when mixed with water is pretty harmless unless you get it in your eyes and it stings like buggery if you have a cut, I have been working with bare hands without problems... The 2 pk paint is a hard to get off your hands and needs xylene to clean up, so wear gloves... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmerfred Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Battery acid is a good rust curer, after removing rust in metal even back to shiny metal the worm is still there and will eventually rear its ugly head again unless you use something, like battery acid, to eat right into the metal but you do have to clean it off before doing anything else or, like the rust, it will keep eating the metal and you won't be any better off. Hammerite Kurst is a good rust inhibiter between metal and primer, brush it on the area, let it completely dry and then you can paint directly over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave88sw Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 I'm using hydrate 80, then a coat of electrox, followed by bilt hamber 2 pack epoxy mastic paint, then top coat... Hopefully that will last a few years... For the bits I cant get to I am soaking the parts in 9/1 water-molasses, then after a good wash and rub down with a scourer any bits I can reach, finally soaking them in 4/1 phosphoric acid - water... Warnings... Phosphoric acid when mixed with water is pretty harmless unless you get it in your eyes and it stings like buggery if you have a cut, I have been working with bare hands without problems... The 2 pk paint is a hard to get off your hands and needs xylene to clean up, so wear gloves... I've ordered hydrate 80 and electrox this morning, if it's half as good as the blurb says it is i'll be happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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