Rust repairers?

[BUG4LIFE]

Hey,

Just wondering if anyone knows of any good places to get rust removed [I live in the Midlands], for example is there someone like ChipsAway who will come out to do the repair on-site etc? I've got a tiny rust spot on the rear wheel arch of my BM and I obviously want to get it sorted while it's new and small. I realise an option would be to sort it myself, but if I can get an expert to look at it and the cost is reasonable, I'd be happy to get someone in...

Cheers guys

[B'stard Child]

Best rust treatment I've found is cut out an replace - for that you need an angle grinder with flap wheel and slitting blade and a welder.

The "treatments" I've tried in the past always seem very temporary despite giving what initially seem to be good results

[buzzer]

In my opinion none of the rust treatments work long term... I have found the best is to either grind it out fully so there are no pits left, or use a spot sand blast gun which are very. Good (and cheap!)

Also depends if it's coming from the inside out... If it is, it's much harder. As above, you have to cut it out then...

Edited by buzzer on Monday 25th October 09:27

[buzzer]

In my opinion none of the rust treatments work long term... I have found the best is to either grind it out fully so there are no pits left, or use a spot sand blast gun which are very. Good (and cheap!)

Also depends if it's coming from the inside out... If it is, it's much harder. As above, you have to cut it out then...

Edited by buzzer on Monday 25th October 09:27

[2 Wycked]

Leave it another year or two and invest the money properly in a repair panel.

[BUG4LIFE]

Ah, ok, work of a body-shop then? Not to sure about my skills with an angle grinder and spot sand blast gun! The rust is on the outside and is smaller than a 5 pence piece, so I'm hoping there was a cost effective [but still good] fix?

[Ozzie Osmond]

Scrape away surface rust.
Wash with methylated spirit
Touch-up with Hammerite in nearest colour to your car.

[turbolucy]

I wouldn't get a chipsaway guy to do rust (2 mobile guys are friends of ours and I've seen them do a fair few jobs). I've just had the surface rust on my Puma done at a bodyshop, and I think that's the best plan TBH.

Lovely car by the way, I want!

[BUG4LIFE]

turbolucy said:

I wouldn't get a chipsaway guy to do rust (2 mobile guys are friends of ours and I've seen them do a fair few jobs). I've just had the surface rust on my Puma done at a bodyshop, and I think that's the best plan TBH.

Lovely car by the way, I want!

ChipsAway don't actually do rust though do they - they're for chips, bumper repairs, alloys etc?

Sorry, what car mate???

When you put it like that Ozzie, it sounds so easy

[alfa pint]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Scrape away surface rust.
Wash with methylated spirit
Touch-up with Hammerite in nearest colour to your car.

This works really well. For about a week. I tried one of the hammerite undercoat treatment things a few years ago on my old MG. It lasted about a month.

Repair sections done properly is the only long term solution...

[anonymous-user]

Scrape off surface rust & use POR15 kit.

[TallPaul]

If its that E30 in your profile, its almost certainly rusting from the inside between the 2 skins, out...

[davepoth]

...And if it's showing on the outside of the panel you'll be wanting a new wheelarch.

[BUG4LIFE]

TallPaul said:

If its that E30 in your profile, its almost certainly rusting from the inside between the 2 skins, out...

Oh yeah, hadn't realised the E30 was still in my profile! No, I sold her about 4 years ago, had 3 cars since - E36 at the mo! Hoping it isn't as bad as some of you guys think it might be, I'll have to get it looked at?

[B'stard Child]

BUG4LIFE said:

Hoping it isn't as bad as some of you guys think it might be, I'll have to get it looked at?

This was a small amount of rust around a rubber bumper mount no MOT issues but where the hole was it's behind the bumper so might as well fix it and give the mig an opportunity on proper Opel steel as opposed to the bacofoil on the mini it's used to seeing



So cut out the cancer and replace with fresh steel and make up a card template for the first layer (double skinned wheel arches in 1.5mm steel!!)



Make a template for the outer skin



Transfer the templates to steel and get the mig out.

Steel repair patches were 20 guage (0.8mm?) welded to original 1.2 (no wonder the car weighs 1400 kg stripped out with a cage) Mig was on Power 1 and wire speed 5 (if I'm honest and was doing it again I'd give myself a bit more clearance for the welding shroud next time as it was faffing tight)



Outer repair piece fettled and ready for tacking



Welded in - Sort of!!!!





More crustyness (forgot to take a picture before hitting it with a zip wheel but in summary it was a few blisters where the paint in most places hadn't broken)



Ooops well I guess no real suprise

Slitting disc in a grinder - time to cut out the cancer

[TallPaul]

Another couple of stickers and you'd never be able to see the rust!

[B'stard Child]

TallPaul said:

Another couple of stickers and you'd never be able to see the rust!

They hide dents and scratches - It's a track car and the stickers are a bit of fun

[BUG4LIFE]

My rust issue isn't as bad as that mind you!!!

[B'stard Child]

BUG4LIFE said:

My rust issue isn't as bad as that mind you!!!

Thats the trouble with rust - when it breaks thro the surface it's normally a lot worse than you expect - it's a cancer and it spreads underneath the skin. I've had no success with "treatments" tried all sorts over the years before I gave up - bought a welder and taught myself to weld (badly)

I haven't tried POR15 and I will one day just to see if the positive "reviews" it gets are justified but it needs to be on something that I know is just surface rust from a stone chip on a pannel or similar where I don't really want to cut a hole and french in a new piece.