Best way to deal with rust?

[KardioKate]

Just cleaned out the wheel arches on my Rover, which were absolutely caked in dirt having lived on a farm before I bought it.

There is a bit of rust underneath just on one side and was wandering what the best way to deal with this would be?

Pic of offending rust:



Ideas welcome!

[trickywoo]

You'll have to cut it out if you don't want it to come back.

A big job.

[philh]

we are doomed....

get a wire brush attachment on drill/angle grinder ( you can get ones that look like a hard black sponge , they work better) clean it up paint it with a rust inhibitor, paint with good primer then with paint. Get a under body stone chip (not under seal) and then paint body colour if you want.

Preparation and cleanliness is key.

[getawayturtle]

Sanding/grinding it down to bare metal then using Rust Bullet would probably work.
Awkward position to do it with though.

[getawayturtle]

Also out of interest OP while I'm here, how did you get all the caked mud off the arches?
I've got mud caked to the arches of my car, and can't seem to get much of it off at all.

[KardioKate]

The Crack Fox said:

Leave it. It will be 10 years before it reaches the stage where it's going to do any damage. The rest of the car may well be kaputt by then anyway.

It looks quite tatty though

[barky]

doesn't look bad at all from that pic ... a clean then lick of hammer paint (like hammerite) should do for now

[Daston]

Bugger I didnt realise Rover had painted the arches I thought they came just black lol. Best clean out the MG's arches just to be sure!

I would get a small drill on their with either a wire brush or small grinder as previously mentioned. Once down to bare metal prime it with either chassis paint or a zinc based primer and then get a few coats of normal paint on top.

How did you get the arch so clean?

[KardioKate]

Daston said:

Bugger I didnt realise Rover had painted the arches I thought they came just black lol. Best clean out the MG's arches just to be sure!

I would get a small drill on their with either a wire brush or small grinder as previously mentioned. Once down to bare metal prime it with either chassis paint or a zinc based primer and then get a few coats of normal paint on top.

How did you get the arch so clean?

Brush from a brush and dustpan and a bucket of warm water / car shampoo.

Don't tell the detailing bunch.

[KardioKate]

getawayturtle said:

Also out of interest OP while I'm here, how did you get all the caked mud off the arches?
I've got mud caked to the arches of my car, and can't seem to get much of it off at all.

Tough fingers

[Captain Muppet]

KardioKate said:

Daston said:

Bugger I didnt realise Rover had painted the arches I thought they came just black lol. Best clean out the MG's arches just to be sure!

I would get a small drill on their with either a wire brush or small grinder as previously mentioned. Once down to bare metal prime it with either chassis paint or a zinc based primer and then get a few coats of normal paint on top.

How did you get the arch so clean?

Brush from a brush and dustpan and a bucket of warm water / car shampoo.

Don't tell the detailing bunch.

I always use Frimble's Bleening solution neat on a lace doily and apply in straight lines aligned with a lay-line at sea level in a de-humidified room wearing nothing but rubber pants.

The pants are just a scene thing really, they don't really help with the cleaning.

[KardioKate]

The Crack Fox said:

If you're on your hands and knees and staring at it from 10" away, and you've got OCD, then yes. See the black sill trim on the right of the pic ? That'll have to come off if you're doing a proper job. Behind that will be a decades worth of cack and more (superficial, if you're lucky) rust. You will be forever chasing tiny imperfections. Don't bother. Take all 4 wheels off, clean out the arches, paint them with underseal/hammerite in black. It will look better, will protect your arches, and perhaps stop you from fretting over stuff 99.999999% of the population won't even notice

The black plastic bits are being removed Wednesday for a thorough cleaning. Already planned that.

[davepoth]

The Crack Fox said:

If you're on your hand and knees and staring at it from 10" away, and you've got OCD, then yes. See the black sill trim on the right of the pic ? That'll have to come off if you're doing a proper job. Behind that will be a decades worth of cack and more (superficial, if you're lucky) rust. You will be forever chasing tiny imperfections. Don't bother. Take all 4 wheels off, clean out the arches, paint them with underseal/hammerite in black. It will look better, will protect your arches, and perhaps stop you from fretting over stuff 99.999999% of the population won't even notice

That's all sound advice, but I wouldn't use hammerite. It's really quite brittle (chips off quite easily on suspension bits, as I've found out on my car) and wheelarches are a harsh environment. Go with something like Dinitrol 445:

http://www.rust.co.uk/popup.cfm?p_n=497377&p_i...

Which will last much, much longer.

[KardioKate]

The Crack Fox said:

Really ?! Surely there must be something better you can do with your time ?

Coming from someone on a car forum?

[barky]

a while back I had a similar dilemma with a metro .... acquired an aerosol can of bitumen underseal & after a coat or 2 of primer sprayed it on .... problem solved that was