Dealing with RUST

[andrewj]

hi folks. I have an old bulldozer that has been good to me, and now I feel like I need to clean her up and make her look nice. Got some minor cosmetic rust spots, not deep at all, but i'd like to address it now.

I have heard about a rust converter, one brand called POR. I hear you need to wire brush it down a little, then apply the converter prior to painting. Does it really stop rust?

 

[RalphVa]

Rustoleum has something called Rust Reformer, and NAPA has a product called (think it's) Rust Extender. These both fully inert rust (iron oxide) to black iron sulfide. They absolutely stop rust on any rusted or bare metal areas; where there's paint now, you may get some rust in those areas.

Just wire brush to get the loose stuff off and then brush or squirt it on. I used an old pump squirt container to apply some to a shovel. It has an absolutely beautiful black patina now.

I applied some to my old Gravely snow plow where the paint had worn down to bare metal. Where it didn't turn black, it STAYED bright, bare metal.

Ralph

 

[john_bud]

hi folks. I have an old bulldozer that has been good to me, and now I feel like I need to clean her up and make her look nice. Got some minor cosmetic rust spots, not deep at all, but i'd like to address it now.

I have heard about a rust converter, one brand called POR. I hear you need to wire brush it down a little, then apply the converter prior to painting. Does it really stop rust?

First off, POR is a paint product. It stands for Paint Over Rust. It is a hard enamel that is supposed to stop further rusting. (cough cough Bull Snit ! Cough) In my experience, if you leave surface rust, it will flake off later.

There are many products that do work. I use one called "Must for Rust". It is phosphoric acid based. You still need to wire brush down to bare metal, then spray, let dry and paint as normal. There are many that are in the same category. The others that turn the surface black (and your fingers too) are an organic based product that forms some organo-metallic barrier. They work, but in my opinion they don't hold paint very well.

To make it look good, you still should strip to bare metal, use a rust converter, quality primer and good paint.

jb

 

[mrutkaus]

Been fixing major rust in old cars for decades, I've tried it all, the converters, POR...

Best thing I've found is the Rust Encapsulator from Eastwood:

Eastwood Company: Auto Tools, Body Repair, Classic Car Restoration, House of Kolor Paint, Powder Coating

Used to be called Corollus. Used on oil rigs in the ocean supposedly. $125/gallon or thereabouts

For large areas of light rust you might be pleasantly surprised by the rust primers by Rustoleum, closer to $25/gallon.

Mike

 

[kossetx]

The best for me, which takes into consideration both performance and cost, it is rutoleums Rust Reformer that I like. It turns lightly rusted metal into a hard finish. If it isn't rusted then there is no reaction. Then paint over it with a good quality enamel paint. It is about 20.00 a quart or 60.00/gal if I remember right.

 

[Steadite]

I would clean it down to metal and spray with "zinc primer" ("cold galvanizing"), then paint on top.

http://www.clearcoproducts.com/pdf/other/np-silver_zinc_primer_70.pdf

 

[chanceu]

This stuff works great on heavy and light rust.

Loctite Consumer Retail Products | Product Detail

 

[DieselPower]

I'm with mrutkaus, the Eastwood stuff works great. Better yet since your working on a piece of heavy that is probably outside you could invest in one of those little sand blast guns. Look kind of like a spray paint gun but it's actually a sand blast gun. Makes for short work of small rust spot's. I have had one for years and found it works great for blasting small rust spots.

 

[kubotabilly]

Extend rust converter by Loctite has worked really well for me.

Bill

 

[RalphVa]

For smaller stuff, or bigger stuff if you have a big tank, you can use electrolysis. Do a Google search, and you'll find complete instructions. I used this method to remove the rust to be able to repaint my old Gravely rotary plow. Did everything but the cast iron case.

Attached is a pic of the repainted unit. The front seal leaked, and I never took the time to replace it; so it had to be stored on a slight tilt as shown in the pic. Sold it that way.

The second picture shows the snow plow that I retreated with Rust Reformer before priming and painting it. It's the one to the right of the snow blower. It's standing on one end. Some of the paint wore off the face. It then reapplied some Rust Reformer. The face never dulled nor showed any rust. These are all sold, too. Only Gravely thing I have left is the sulky.

Ralph