Grinding and cleaning

P

Phoenix

New Member
Guys.... I am now starting to work on my car and am looking for some tools to enable me to clean the rust off the sills, panels, underbody etc.

Of course there are the trusty old traditional wire brushes but I would like to look for something that will work that little bit faster. What would you recommend to clean off the old paint and rust down to clean metal? Also what products would you apply to kill off the rust, prime and then top coat the cleaned metal?

I am aware of POR-15, Dinitrol and Eastwood but what are your preferred products and in what order would you apply them?

I am obviously aiming for a clean rust free surface so that I can apply a nice looking and strong topcoat that will hopefully last for a number of years.

I am sorry to hit you with so many questions but it has been many years since I did work such as this and of course new products come along and old ones change.

Regards
Steve
 
A good tool to get is a 4" OR 4 1/2" angle grinder with a variable speed control,that you can attach a wire brush head to, or a flapper disc to it,which is basically lots of bits of h/duty sandpaper on a disc.
 
Hammerite Kurust is pretty good in my opinion. You still need to mechanically clean up the metal but it's a good treatment to ensure any light rust or corrosion in the pores of the metal is neutralised. Can be painted over after 24 hours.

I normally apply Zinc 182 primer over that.
 
You can get a sand blaster for under £20.00, and unlike some of the mechanical/elecrtical tools, it will get into tight corners.

Make a god awful mess though :?

I am going to trry POR 15 when I get to repainting the underside
 
I've found hammerite rust remover gel really does work well, but takes time and is messy. Also, those small dremel things with a diamond coated/tipped whatever burr thing on the end can work wonders in tight spaces.

Simon
 
I use a wire brush mounted on a decent drill - i.e. a Makita with bearings that can be replaced. This sort of work wears out the bearings on cheaper drills.
Haven't tried it yet, but I've just bought a tub of Deox-C from
http://www.bilthamber.com
I'll report back once I've seen how it works.
 
There are numbers of companies out there who will chemically clean your panels to bare metal in a bath. The P6 is particularely suited to this approach! Say around £250 for a car set of panels, and all done in a couple of days.

However you achieve it, once at bare metal then the hard work starts. The quality of prep and materials used is crucial. As an example of good paractice this is what we did to my Thai car:

BARE METAL PRIMED WITH 2 PACK EPOXY BASED 80% ZINC PRIMER

OVER COATED WITH ICI EPOXY AHDESION PRIMER P565-895-1

FILLED WITH PLASTIC PADDING ULTIMA POLYESTER FILLER

SPRAY FILLED WITH UPOL REFACE SPRAY FILLER

FINAL PREPARATION FINESHED WITH 320 GRIT DRY PRODUCTION PAPER

PRIMED WITH 2 PACK EPOXY PRIMER SURFACER

WET ON WET STRAIGHT OVER THE EPOXY PRIMER WITH FIRST COLOUR COAT. (1.5 COATS OF COLOUR)

WET FLATTED WITH 1000 GRADE W/DRY (3 COATS OF COLOUR)

WET FLATTED WITH 1200 GRADE W/DRY (2 FINAL COATS OF COLOUR AND CLEAR COAT 50% MIX)

COLOUR USED THROUGH OUT IS DE-BEER 400 SERIES 2K SOLID COLOUR BLMC ARDEN GREEN 1965-1974

FINAL COATS MIXED 50% WITH DE-BEER 103 2K CLEAR COAT.

FLATED AND POLISHED WITH 3M SUPER FINE WET AND DRY AND COMPOUNDED WITH FARECLA G3 COMPOUND AND FINESHED WITH 3M FINE COMPOUND.

You'll spot that there should also be waits for the various coats to go off between events, and great care needs to be taken to get the chemicals used for stripping out of nooks and crannys!

Hope that helps

Chris
 
I would go with a wire brush on a decent variable speed grill. I have used wire brushes and flapper wheels on angle grinders but find them a bit too vicious and the brushes/flappers tend to wear out very fast. If you have a variable speed drill you can easily adjust the speed to suit the size of brush and rust removal rate.

As well as stiff steel brushes, you can also get smaller brass ones that are better for tight spaces and not quite so abrasive.

The only rust treatment I have used reently is Kurust (think Hammerite make it). It is easy to apply and seems to work well. Only drawback is that it is a bit messy as it has the consistency of milk! So long as you get all the loose rust off, it works well. I painted the "hot box" on my exhaust manifold with it last year. I didn't apply any paint on, just the Kurust and so far no rust has broke out and it still looks fine despite being subjected to high temperature.
 
buy a cheap angle grinder from b&q roneo corner and a "Zip wheel" from Cars in Selinas Lane. Take the angle grinder in to get the right wheel ... this will take all the bad metal out and leave only the good stuff. Jenolite liquid is good to kill any minor traces that the zip wheel has not gotten rid of. Try Sovereigns in brentwood road for a bottle.Then prime and paint..... I can of course do all of this for you at a competitive rate.
 
Great info guys, I was going to be asking the same question. When I get time I'll be pulling the sill covers of my old girl and see what horrors there are...
 
I have just bought a Black and Decker Powerfile, like a belt sander but the thickness of a finger - £48 from B&Q

I borrowed one off a friend and was so impressed went and got my own. They are good for intricate areas, wide flat panels and taking click rivets off - it just eats through them.
 
TwinPlenum3500S said:
buy a cheap angle grinder from b&q roneo corner and a "Zip wheel" from Cars in Selinas Lane. Take the angle grinder in to get the right wheel ... this will take all the bad metal out and leave only the good stuff. Jenolite liquid is good to kill any minor traces that the zip wheel has not gotten rid of. Try Sovereigns in brentwood road for a bottle.Then prime and paint..... I can of course do all of this for you at a competitive rate.
Click to expand...
Jim.... thanks for the advice. I have to give you due, you are a good salesman :D :wink:
 
quattro said:
You can get a sand blaster for under £20.00, and unlike some of the mechanical/elecrtical tools, it will get into tight corners.
Make a god awful mess though :?
Click to expand...

You could always use Sodium Bicarbonate and hose it off and squeegee it out the door. The abrasive medium suppliers should stock it in industrial grade and quantities. The aircraft industry uses it quite a lot because it can be washed away with water and leaves no residue.
 
chrisyork said:
There are numbers of companies out there who will chemically clean your panels to bare metal in a bath. The P6 is particularely suited to this approach! Say around £250 for a car set of panels, and all done in a couple of days.


Chris
Click to expand...

I am considering this and have a quote for 4 wings, 4 doors and the 4 front and back bits (Not boot or bonnet) for £1,070. But that does include dunking it in an electrophoretic tank which electrally bonds a coat of paint into every nook and cranny, including inside of box sections.

Where did you get the quote for £250.00?
 
Interestingly I contemplated this when we were deciding what to do to the Thai car. I was talked out of it on the grounds that galvanising anything other than a brand new panel will leave moisture trapped under the tin. It then can't breathe and evaporate out and the trapped moisture then rusts through from under the galvanising. (Yes, I know, you'd surely need air for that to happen and the point of this discussion is that there isn't any - but the guy doing the talking was presiding over a 250 GTO that had just popped every seem in the shell and was being reconstructed to lead the parade down the Champs Elyse, so maybe I didn't quite follow his argument - anyway he was very clear and he definitely knew!) He then offered as an alternative a paint loaded with zinc. Suffice to say it was very nearly a two man lift to pick up a five ltr can of this stuff so I guess it must be nearly solid zinc - just enough "paint" to allow it to be sprayed!

Chris
 
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