Rust!! Arrgh!

[Navaros911]

OK... this may sound worse than it is, but I found some rust in the right front wheel well of my car. It is against the footboard of the passenger, right next to the oil lines running to the oil cooler (#1 in pic).

Is it common to have rust in this area?

It isn't like it rusted through... just some surface rust.
#2 and #3 aren't rust, just dirt.

Here's what I'm thinking; but I have no experience in this area:
1. Clear the stoneguard in the area red marked area (#1) and maybe even a bit more.
2. Take a wire brush, put it on a drill and brush away the rust and the area around it (as large as the marked #1 area).
3. Take a fine sandpaper and sand it out a bit.
4. Paint the whole area with "Zinga". This is a paintable zinc coat and works very well against rust (but darn expensive).
5. Apply some fresh Wurth SKS stone guard.

Any comments on this?
How do I best remove the stoneguard?

Thanks,
Michiel

[Navaros911]

Bump...

Anyone?

[silverc4s]

Have you considered POR?? This looks like the right application for it.
It may be good to put the car on a lift & examine underbody closely everywhere, just to be sure this is the only spot.

Remove the headlamps & examine the buckets, too..

Good luck & happy hunting!!

[petrolblue83911]

I'd recommed Por 15 as well, great stuff, lasts forever, check very carefully all around where the under spray is cracked or missing, or bubbling, that pic doenst look bad, pretty normal, but look all around I'm sure you'll find a bit more..

[na2ub]

Those areas get chipped etc. from road debris. Very normal. Scrape it down, sand it out, and POR it. You can always apply some stone guard type product afterward to protect the area from future debris chips.

[svandamme]

that's not rust...

this is :

[cmc140]

When I did my suspension project I cleaned under all of my fenders very well and then painted them with enamel that was the color of the car.

[Navaros911]

Stijn: OK, you win on the rust... but I bought a car with a minimal on rust for its age because I didn't want to get into the bodywork too much.

Nontheless I want to clean it up before it starts to spread.

The rest of the car looks good... underside is fine... and I've done some serious poking around with my screwdriver in every crack of stoneguard.

No rust in the obvious places according to all sources (including jack point, rockers, bottom of doors, headlight buckets, etc...). The car has not been driven in rain for +10 years (but that doesn't mean it can't rust). Just one little spec of rust from a rockchip under the right front headlight... but that is body shop work (completely sanding it out) and a partial respray over all rock chip damage on the front.

Since a high-school buddy of mine works in a bodyshop I know I can trust them.

cmc: I think it looks very clean on your car, but I want to keep the stoneguard... this doesn't look too bad on a black car.

The plan is to remove quite a bit of stoneguard around every stoneguard crack - to prevent water from seeping in - and applying some new stonequard.

Can I chemically remove the stoneguard (and if so, with what)?

This project will be for November/December.

[svandamme]

just strip the undercoating from that area, have a good look , and most likely it can be simply recoated with Por15... wouldnt' worry about it much , yours was galvanized , mine wasn't


i took the undercoating out , with paint remover, cheapo stuff, thick gel like stuff, it softens the coating, and heats it up..
it takes several goes, and i used a wirebrush on a drill... then it goes away real fast...

just make sure you cover everything up that shouldn't be stripped, area around the car, the paint, and yourself... ( it wasn't so bad with the stuff i used, it doesn't take skin off if you rince it immediately )

[svandamme]

this is the goo in action .... final stages, it does get messy
and again ,there's several layers of undercoating
the white one is the most annoying one , since heatgunning doesn't work on it.. it just becomes stickier

[Zeke]

Navaros911, you're on the right track. Any hing you do will be preventative and better than most do. The thing is, most rust is hidden. Take care of the stuff you see as you plan and then investigate body cavity treatments. I believe there is a good one available in England. While body cavity sprays and such won't remove existing rust (that I know of), they will arrest rust or slow it down to a much slower pace.

You could also inject phosphoric acid and rinse, then thoroughly dry inaccessible rust. Then do the spray. I have treated my car extensively with this and this. The 2nd one is available in Canada under the name Krown.

[slow&rusty]

Acutally this is rust, thanks to the CRAPPY Canadian winters and weather:





Hate rust!!

Yasin

[Navaros911]

Originally posted by Zeke
The thing is, most rust is hidden. Take care of the stuff you see as you plan and then investigate body cavity treatments.

Thanks for the advice Zeke...

Can you quickly sum up all body cavities so I can check over the weekend?

Thanks,
Michiel