surface rust

[Matt Wood]

Hi all,

having just removed the rear inner wheel wells i am now at a stage where i can do some preventative measures.

The pictures here are what the body tub skin looks like inside the gap above the wheel well. I would like to do something with this to make it paintable and non rusty.

has anyone got any suggestions or past experience?

Thanks

Matt

[Machspeed]

I had small holes in my inner fenders and at first tried to patch them, but the metal was so thin from superficial rust, like yours, that I was blowing through with the welder. I gave up and ordered new ones. It's not hard to remove those inner fenders and the fit was good. If you don't want to replace them and there are no holes, I would probably hand sand with 80 grit and apply POR15.  

 https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/John-s-86-F-150-4x4-Resto-tp111226p111234.html 

[Gary Lewis]

I agree - POR15 them.  And the only reason to sand is to knock of any loose rust.  POR15 adheres to rust and stops it in its tracks, so you don't really need to get all the rust off.  But, you MUST degrease it to make sure the POR will adhere.

[mat in tn]

Buy the kit !!! Por15, por water based degreaser, and por metal prep.  Follow the system and it works. Wear gloves! Wear gloves! Wear gloves! Or wear por 15 to church, to dinner, to the office . And so on. This stuff does not wash off.
I only wish i had taken my own advise but i was too lazy to goby more gloves. Sad but true.

[Gary Lewis]

/\  /\  /\  What he said!  You WILL wear it if you don't wear gloves.  It takes 10 days to a fortnight to wear off.

[Matt Wood]

Thanks all, so my plan is to por 15 it! I have the kit already and its amazing! My question is really what chemicals can I use to get this back to bare metal? Or should i just go with the por 15 process?

[Rembrant]

Matt Wood wrote

Thanks all, so my plan is to por 15 it! I have the kit already and its amazing! My question is really what chemicals can I use to get this back to bare metal? Or should i just go with the por 15 process?

I just posted in the other thread about Ospho. I quite like the product myself, but it won't remove the rust, it just converts it and seals it like POR-15 does.

http://www.ospho.com/

[Matt Wood]

Thanks for the info,

I think I'm going to get in there with a DA and knock off anything flakey and then I'm going to spray the por15 on so I can be sure its all the way up in there!

[Gary Lewis]

You don't have to get all of the rust off, but you sure want to get anything loose off.  And, all of the dirt and grease.

If I remember correctly they recommend Marine Clean to clean things up.  Don't know what's in Marine Clean but it works pretty well.  But I use O'Reilly's brake cleaner instead and it cleans anything.  Doubt you have O'Reilly's in England, so don't know what to recommend if you don't have the Marine Clean.

And then they recommend Metal Ready to treat the metal.  It is a water-based, zinc phosphate metal etching and preparation solution.  I think Ospho is also a phosphate but has additional chemicals in it since it can be used by itself where Metal Ready is a prep.  Anyway, the phosphate etches the surface and provides both some rust proofing as well as "tooth" that enhances the adhesion of the paint.

I've not sprayed POR15, but it doesn't take much of it to cover, so I'd give it a light coat and then come back w/a 2nd coat when that one is tacky.  And then you can hit the 2nd coat with a top coat if you want - again while tacky.

[Machspeed]

Gary is right, you don't need to remove "all" the rust and get to clean metal. My comments about sanding with 80 grit are twofold. First is to remove the loose stuff and second is to give the POR 15 enhanced mechanical adhesion. Sanding promotes adhesion. POR means "Paint Over Rust". The three-part system neutralizes the rust and protects the underlying metal. It is really all you need.

And yeah, you don't want to get that stuff on you!!! You'll wear it for a good week or so.