Flash Rust

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KY Longhunter

KY Longhunter

Joined
Aug 25, 2007
Threads
224
Messages
3,669
Location
Bowling Green, KY
I am taking the underside of my tub to bare metal over several days of work. Probably not neccessary but I've already started...

I bought a sandblaster and blasted part of the firewall which worked until the sandblaster clogged, got frustrated and quit.

Several days later I came back to where I left off to find a really orange rust everywhere!!! Then I was even more pissed!

So now I'm working on removing rust, undercoating, paint, etc. using several different methods including heat, aircraft remover, wire wheel, sanding discs, etc.

Now that I have back to bare metal what should I do now?

Thought I would use Self-Etching Primer in a can.

BTW, I have some spots of rust I planned on treating with Rust Bullet.

Im wondering if I can apply Rust Bullet over Self-etching Primer?

Anybody have any tips?
 
I'd apply the RB directly over tight rust, ie not flaking. If it's < 1 week till top coat, I'd also go get some Phos-Etch ( sp?) from a hardware or big box store and spray it on per the directions. (It's phosphoric acid) Your SE primer is not a bad idea, but I don't remember if it absorbs moisture over time like other primers. That's assuming you will leave the SE primer uncoated for an extended time.
 
Wile E Coyote said:
I'd apply the RB directly over tight rust, ie not flaking. If it's < 1 week till top coat, I'd also go get some Phos-Etch ( sp?) from a hardware or big box store and spray it on per the directions. (It's phosphoric acid) Your SE primer is not a bad idea, but I don't remember if it absorbs moisture over time like other primers. That's assuming you will leave the SE primer uncoated for an extended time.
Click to expand...

Etching primer will pass moisture to the metal and rust.
 
KY Longhunter said:
I am taking the underside of my tub to bare metal over several days of work. Probably not neccessary but I've already started...

I bought a sandblaster and blasted part of the firewall which worked until the sandblaster clogged, got frustrated and quit.

Several days later I came back to where I left off to find a really orange rust everywhere!!! Then I was even more pissed!

So now I'm working on removing rust, undercoating, paint, etc. using several different methods including heat, aircraft remover, wire wheel, sanding discs, etc.

Now that I have back to bare metal what should I do now?

Thought I would use Self-Etching Primer in a can.

BTW, I have some spots of rust I planned on treating with Rust Bullet.

Im wondering if I can apply Rust Bullet over Self-etching Primer?

Anybody have any tips?
Click to expand...

Hate to say it, but you need to re blast. Next time, blast the whole thing, and put it inside. All steel flash rusts if not primed immediately. Overnight is a guaranteed nightmare.

If you can't blast the whole thing in one day, stop at noon. Prime the part you did. Next day finish. Dew is a killer.
I would not bother trying to figure out a paint system with your current substrate.
good luck.
 
webelk6 said:
Hate to say it, but you need to re blast. Next time, blast the whole thing, and put it inside. All steel flash rusts if not primed immediately. Overnight is a guaranteed nightmare.

If you can't blast the whole thing in one day, stop at noon. Prime the part you did. Next day finish. Dew is a killer.
I would not bother trying to figure out a paint system with your current substrate.
good luck.
Click to expand...
amen...
 
Something you may run into is trying to hurry to avoid flash rust and what i forsee is what i did. Make sure you dont apply the RB and then try to seal over it to soon or it will off gas releasing your sealer and creating bubbles. (Dont ask me how i know) Yet quote me if i am wrong here guys if you wait to long after the RB you may need to sand it a little before applying sealer. As for can you apply RB over the sealer if you did it wouldnt allow the RB to do its job it would be a waste of RB if you know what i mean.
 
So Rust Bullett applied over the SE primer is a waste of time?

That would be expensive.

I guess I will just "Bite the Bullett" and re-blast and RB the whole tub.

So I guess what Im hearing is that you should never begin to RB until you are 1 week from your end Paint job?
 
So Rust Bullett applied over the SE primer is a waste of time?
Click to expand...
Yes because think of the RB as having a chemical in it that converts the rust to lets say.... not rust. But if you put the sealer over the rust first then the rust is not converted and the RB cant get through the sealer to kick the rusts butt. :hhmm:

That would be expensive.
Click to expand...

Yes and no having it re-blasted will cost a bit of money and a gallon of POR 15 which is similar to RB but i dont know the price of RB is 140.00.......... So it may be a wash. And you are going to have to purchase sealer anyway and i just paid 180.00 for a gallon of it..... so I dont know i am not a pro you need input from the others who are but i wish i would have bought a gallon of RB or POR and did the whole thing and then purchased the primer that goes along with it and been in the same boat because i wouldnt have been running around like a chicken with no head trying to beat the flash rust and may have ended up with better protection from future rust. BUT i am not going for show quality i am going for longevity and the POR kinda is thick and may not be ideal in some peoples mind????????? :hhmm:
 
Rust Bullet

Hate to tell you this but Rust Bullet is a whole lot less expensive than POR and supposedly does not require as much prep.

:crybaby:

I bought a sandblaster for $200 but the thing clogs every 5 minutes. Don't know if it is the media I'm using or the blaster. I'm considering paying someone to do it and my fenders, hood, aprons, etc.

:bang:
 
No need to hate to tell me mine is done :flipoff2: :D

I know i tried a small blaster also. The fine sand clogged bad and the course stuff worked ok..... A compressor has to run like crazy and even if it is big and keeps up ok they will draw a lot of moisture and that may not be helping. I learned a SWEET trick the other day. Take a extra 50' or whatever of air hose and roll it all up and put in a bucket of cold water and then put your (even a cheap one) water trap just out of the bucket and the cool water turns the vapor back into droplets and my trap caught it perfectly!!!!!!! MAY HELP:meh:
 
Trying to invision your description....the arrow is pointing to the water trap...
drawing.webp
 
Please educate me more on the rust sealer... is it necessary?

What Im planning to do with the underbody is to chemically strip the paint (leave it for couple days until my interest into throwing more effort into the money pit re kindle), ruff it up with coarse sandpaper and put Plasti Kote from Walmart* on that stuff... seal the gaps with seam sealer and do them over with Plasti...

Now does that sounds OK?

*Pre preemptive "Dont knock it until you try it" I read some great reviews about that stuff and it's 1/2 the price... same guy also recommended using driveway sealer with sand as alternative but thats another story...

In exchange for your wisdom heres a little trick I do to obtain my RB... I take coins out of my brothers piggy bank... turn them into the coin star at the grocery store, print out amazon ticket (coin star doesnt charge commission that way) and pick up the stuff on amazon...
 
New England Rust

I would imagine that rust in NE is pretty bad. How bad is your rig? This is the question I would ask myself before choosing cheap way out versus treating the rust properly.

I'm all up for saving $$$ and have seen Plast-Kote at wally world. But you have to remove all flaking rust and in my case a boat load of undercoating. Rust Bullet is applied right over light rust.

Im my case the undercoating did a hell of job of preventing rust from getting to the underside of tub, but where the undercoating wasn't applied (i.e. rockers, body mounts, floor pans) the rust had eaten all the way through.

Rust Bullet "supposedly" has some sort of chemical process that seals the surface so that the rust cannot continue to spread. Kind of like healing cancer? Check it out for yourself at www.rustbullet.com.

Its about $40 a quart which is enough to cover the entire bottom of tub. That is really not too bad if it does what it is suppose to do. Again, don't cheap out and then regret it later. My .02 ;p
 
Thanks. Well, luckily I have almost no rust on the tub, and after I replace the driver side floor I should be golden.

Im just wondering if its necessary to put Rust Bullet or other sealer before I apply the bed liner stuff. For the bed liner to hold on the best the area had to be pretty ruffed up, not sure if rust bullet would get in the way
 
If you do apply rust bullet (which i think is good) do your self a huge favor and dont do like me!! LET THE RUST BULLET AT MINIMUM ALMOST DRY! Or what might work best is just let it dry completely and then sand it lightly and wipe with degreaser real quick and bingo forever it will last! I checked with POR (similar to rust bullet) and they said it was ok to sand and go over and that the top coat primer stuff wasnt a must at all just recommended........

Oh let it dry because it will off gas while curing and bubble releasing what you put on top (for sure with POR and i assume true with Rust Bullet)
 
Hey, thanks for the tip.

Rustbullet claims you can paint over it without sanding as long as its not more than 72 hours after RB application, me thinks it should be pretty dry by then... thing is... is bed liner that necessary after RB? Who know...:cheers:
 
reblast the rust off and immediatly coat it with epoxy primer. epoxy is made for projects that are sitting for long periods of time. i learned this the hard way. and when you put the bedliner on put it on over the expoxy. Sand the epoxy with 180 and spray your bedliner. it sticks great this way
 
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