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Windscreen rust repair

azzfox

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Hey all, another issue.

Windscreen has leaked since I bought the car but got worse after I decided to lift up the rubber. Drips off the roof lining onto the drivers seat whenever it rains. Rang up about a price to remove and refit the screen but it wasnt that much extra to get a new screen so I went with that. Bloke came around and pulled the old screen out only to find rust. Only surface rust though hasnt eaten through. He gave me 3 options - ignore, prime or repair. Ignore - months before it leaks again, prime - maybe a year, repair - hopefully 10 years.

Told me to sand the worst of it back and coat with rust converter and he will come back to fit the screen. So far I havnt had much luck because that urethane is horrible to remove. He diddnt say anything about removing it but theres patches of it that vary in thickness so I want a clean start. Quite a bit of it on the drivers pillar. Sanding does bugger all, stanley knife does bugger all. Whats the secret? Tempting to get a wire wheel onto but I'm worried I will have to repaint around the screen if I'm not careful. Will the rust converter be enough to brush over the bare metal? Says its self priming. Doesnt have to be a perfect job but I would like it to last a few more years to come.

Cheers!
 

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Pollushon

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Wire wheel is about your only option due to the undulations of the lip. The mould covers a fair bit of the body, you'd have to really suck at wire wheels to bugger it up :) You want bare metal, then etch prime the bare stuff and convert the rusty stuff.

I'd also recommend you get yourself a new moulding too.
 

hi_ryder

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put a couple layers of masking tape on the roof and A pillars to protect the paint. then get an angle grinder with a flap disc or a roloc grinder with 24 grit and rip it down to the metal. what ever rust is left soak it with some rust converter for 30 mins to an hour. scrub with an abrasive pad and wipe with a damp cloth (tap water). dry with a heat gun or hair dryer. then mask it off and spray some etch primer, let that flash off and top it with some matt black in a can. once thats all dry you should be good to go with re-installing the new screen. i did mine like this, if you do it right on the line the windscreen rubber will conceal everything.

this is a pic of the dead rust right before i started coating it. i had to remove the vin tag too in order to get the corrosion off under it. i then urethane'd it back on lol, no rivets needed.

IMG_3277.jpg


i did have a couple little pinholes in the lower portion, i filled them in with some fiberglass bog on top and got behind the back side with some urethane on my finger to seal it off from moisture rotting it out again.... not the right way to do it but it will last for a fair while before it rots out again...
 

ari666

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what he said.

you can fill the pinholes with brass (oxy) if there is nothing to set fire to behind it. also if there are big deep holes its good to set to them with a small die grinding burr just to clear any flaking metal the roloc cant get at, so the whole panel is shiny metal with no discoloration.
 

azzfox

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Roloc grinder is that similar to a die grinder? I dont have either but been meaning to buy one. Great post hi_ryder.

The main rust is along the top and from what can be seen at the moment theres no holes, but I dont have an oxy set either.
 

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if you only have little pits left in the metal after rust converting dont worry about filling them in with bogs and such. as long as the rust is dead and black you should be good to coat over it. just get all the loose flaky stuff off 100%

you might not have a compressor or air tools. if you have an angle grinder the flap disc might be the way to go. heres what they look like..

SCD%20FLAP%20DISC.jpg



heres the air tool with the roloc discs and adapter... what mine looks like...

RolocSanding-600x448.jpg
 

azzfox

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Ah right thanks for clearing that up. I do have an air compressor but not many air tools. Got an angle grinder so I might give those flap discs a shot.

The rust converter I bought is also self priming could this be an issue? I could also buy the same product in a can, would this work as good as an etch primer over the non-rusty areas? Or should I switch to a non-priming converter?

edit: If I read correctly you said to mask off the converted areas before spraying etch primer
 
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hi_ryder

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i always use a non priming converter. mask off anything you dont want primer and paint on. the idea of doing all this is to cut off the rusts supply of air and moisture. the converter will kill the rust and the primers and paint seal it off.

i use this stuff in a squirt bottle, bunnings sells it. only use it after youve ripped off all the flaky rust, if necessary use a wire wheel as well to get into the spots that are pitted. spray the converter on and let it bubble up for a while (30 mins to and hour. longer wont hurt either, but you might have to wet it again and re-scrub), retouch trouble spots if need be. scrub it with scotch pad after its bubbled up (with more converter), make sure no red oxide materiel is left, if you see that color keep going, red means rust is still alive. then get a damp rag and wipe everything clean. dry with heat gun mask up for paint and your good to go.

ranex_lg.png


any self etching primer in a can should do. i use this brand.

mkNoPanHt-Xla-CLU2-_T9w.jpg
 

ari666

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hi_ryder

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^^^truuf

azzfox, the tape is cheaper than repainting your roof so dont be shy with it. do 6 layers if you need to...
 
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