Rust cleanup and "new" bumper

[samneil2000]

A few months ago I bought Marlin's bumper bar that he had cleaned up and coated with truck bedliner or something along those lines. I haven't been very productive lately and was getting behind on projects. Having a new baby will do that to ya. So anywho, along with getting the new fan clutch installed I decided to attack the front end.

I knew my bumper was rusted to death and I had some frame rust as well, but it was a little worse than I expected. I took down the skip plate along with the bumper bar and hit all the frame I could reach with a wire brush on my drill. It didn't all come off but I got off the loose stuff. Then I sprayed it all with some rustoleum paint. I have a few places I need to spray a little more on, but overall it's a big improvement from what I started with.

My question to you guys is will rustoleum type paints actually help stop the oxidization process or is it simply hiding it? They claim to bond to rust and stop it blah blah. So, did I simply make it look a little better or will it perhaps help keep it in one piece?

[rsteinmetz70112]

My understanding is that those types of "high fish oil" paints are alkyd paints that contain a lot of oil which is supposed to penetrate the rust and stop the oxidation. I think they work pretty well on surface rust but I don't think the would work on rust scale, there would simply not be enough oil to saturate the rust scale.

As with any paint job the key is surface preparation. If it really thick you might want to try Naval Jelly, which is a type of Phosphoric acid that "eats" the rust so it can be scrubbed off. It may require multiple applications. The black ferric phosphate coating left provides a degree of corrosion protection and can be painted, in fact it enhances the bond between the metal and the paint similar to the industrial process called phospherizing.

[VX KAT]

The black ferric phosphate coating left provides a degree of corrosion protection and can be painted, in fact it enhances the bond between the metal and the paint similar to the industrial process called phospherizing.

1) Congrats on new baby....can't recall if you mentioned that before...

2) Wow, don't recognize that front skid plate....is that from a Trooper?

3) Thank you R2D2! I love reading your stuff cuz I learn so much from it. I'm guessing this explains why so many of the bolts I found for the cladding wheel wells were "black Phosphate" finish....and I couldn't figure out why they weren't something like grade 8 since it was an automotive application.

[mhill]

I just finished doing the entire underside of the vx before Moab. I had the front bumper off for some other things and got in there to take care of a little rust. After steel brush and a rust removing wheel on the grinder I shot it with this "Krylon Rust Converter". It chemically stops the rust and dries almost like a plastic coat over the top. Then painted over it with some rustoleum. When you spray this stuff on rust it turns the rust black.

Rustoleum makes a similar product that I read the entire label on. I dont remember why I ended up with the Krylon but I am very happy with the results.

[samneil2000]

1) Congrats on new baby....can't recall if you mentioned that before...

2) Wow, don't recognize that front skid plate....is that from a Trooper?

Thanks. I posted a pic a while back I think. We had him in January.

I assumed that plate was stock since I've only looked under my VX. It has three bolts that go to factory locations. It hides sorta underneath the front cladding when it's installed.

[samneil2000]

I just finished doing the entire underside of the vx before Moab. I had the front bumper off for some other things and got in there to take care of a little rust. After steel brush and a rust removing wheel on the grinder I shot it with this "Krylon Rust Converter". It chemically stops the rust and dries almost like a plastic coat over the top. Then painted over it with some rustoleum. When you spray this stuff on rust it turns the rust black.

Rustoleum makes a similar product that I read the entire label on. I dont remember why I ended up with the Krylon but I am very happy with the results.

Funny, the stuff I sprayed turned the rust black too

I'll have to look for that stuff. I wonder if I can spray something on the paint to break it down, or could I just spray that stuff over all of it. Heck I dunno. Maybe Buffy can take my VX apart and clean each piece for me.

[rsteinmetz70112]

You might also look into POR15, its a mufti step treatment. There are a lot of people who swear by it.

[VX MileHigh]

I have some of the same "surface" rust on the frame of my VX. How much suface prep did you do before you shot the Rust Converter? Did you just kind of spray everything that looked rusty or did you loosen or remove things like brake lines and so on?

[xtrmes]

Rust converter doesn't help much on a frame like that because they rust from the inside out. When you see that kind of rust the best thing to do is beat it with a hammer to loosen it all up and this will also tell you how far gone it is and if the frame needs to be repaired.