small rust-removing it

[Jonno A]

hey guys, i was wondering as to how i can get rid of the tiny spots of surface rust i have before it turns into not so tiny spots..
any help is appreciated

[Jonno A]

also what do i put over it to keep it protected..?

[VR38]

Rust converter will desolve it if you rub it on with scotchbrite.
Paint will protect it.

[Jonno A]

cheers,
would you be able to guide me to what the most suitable paint is please?

[DAKSTER]

Depends on how far you want to go.

If you just want to stop the rust from spreading, and arent worried about it looking good, clean the area well with a solvent based cleaner, paint the little spots with rust converter on a small brush (or even cotton tips if they are small enough spots), wait an hour and then a metal primer in the same way.

No sanding is required in this case. You can get metal primer in various colours, choose one that wont stand out too much on your car. Just solagard would do the job, comes in a few basic colours.

If they are really tiny, then some fine 1500 grit wet and dry sandpaper on your fingertip might do it (use a circular motion but in this case try to keep the sanded area as small as possible).. Then neutralise the metal with rust converter.

Remember rust converter doesnt dissolve rust, it turns it back into metal, but the metal is the same shape as the rust was.. lumpy. Sand small rust spots back, then use rust converter to neutralise the bare metal, because rust is easier to sand than the harder converted metal.

Then if you arent worried about the little spots of no paint a good waxing will protect it if you keep the wax replenished regularly, and would be less obvious than primer. Or you could clean it thoroughly again and give it a couple light coats of clear paint, which would help protect it.

If you want to fix it properly, you have to rub the spots and the surrounding area back (or you will get a little crater in your finished paintjob), spray it with a filler/primer, rub it back again, then spray it with body colour and rub it back again to finish.

For light repairs like this, acrylic sprays ok over just about anything and you can buy acrylic spray cans at any auto place like supercheap in assorted colours to match many factory paint colours.

The colour match is never very good in those things though, and since most modern cars have a clear coat you will need to add that too to make it look right after you have done the rest. If you arent too bothered about it, you can use those cans and have a few patches of slightly mismatched paint around the car.

Basically though if you apply any paint to the car it will never match properly unless you get a pro to match it, so then you could either have him do the whole repair and know its done right (although even a pro cant always get the colour match perfect) . A pro will often (maybe always) fix the rust spots and paint the entire panel the rust spots are on, to make the colour match easier.

or consider respraying the car yourself? You can buy colour matched auto paint for spraying yourself from automotive paint places, the colour match is a lot better than the spray cans - though still not perfect - and you could respray the offending panel and hopefully not have it look too different to the others.. or just paint the whole car...

Obviously if you are going to spray yourself you will need to buy equipment and learn to use it as well though.

How far do you want to go?

[Jonno A]

i just want to neutralize the rust, and paint over it the spots are only small, so a cotton tip or paint brush would work out fine!

thanks heaps for the info.

[ari666]

surface rust wont spead. i.e stonechips on your bonnet. itll spread under the paint, but wont become terminal cancer. for it to become terminal it needs a constant source of moisture, i.e. a build up of dirt or moss.

rubbing rust converter on most surface rust will deal with if effectively. then just keep applying it once evey few months till you are ready to have the panel runned and resprayed.

[Jonno A]

what would be the best 'rust converter'?

[VR38]

Phosphoric acid based ones.

[Jonno A]

awesome, cheers

[DAKSTER]

I was in SCA today in the paint section and noticed a bottle of 3M rust convertor/primer for 13 bucks. Thats all you need. Just apply some on the spots and it will turn them into black metal, and they will rust no more. You dont even need to prime.

It wont look any better than it does now, the rust will just be a black colour instead of a rust colour, but at least you will know its not going to get worse until you are ready to do something more.

[Jonno A]

cheers for that, Dakster, i'll get some of that really soon.. i appreciate you having a look
i dont really mand if it looks a bit rough, i would prefer it over rust lol