Underbody Rust Removal?

[Prospeeder]

Ok, i have some massive rust under my car, everytihg is rusty, being it was from michigan, how would u remove all of it, or nutralize it, then undercoat it, is it possible? would any shops do it or could i?

[bluegp]

Keep an eye on your metal brake lines/fuel lines. My '89 had one of the brake lines rupture from being rusted out. Luckily I was a few hundred feet from my house and going slow.

[DiscoStudd]

How bad is the rust? Is the metal still sound, or are there spots where it's completely rotted through? If it's completely rotten, then your only discourse is to cut out the old panels and weld in new ones. If it's not progressed that bad, then buy some POR15 and coat the shit out of your car's "belly" with it. For good measure, remove the carpet (interior and trunk) and coat the inside with the stuff, too. I think something along these lines would definitely get you by for a few years, until such a time that you're willing to strip the car completely down and have it media blasted.

 

If you didn't have such a collectible car in the TGP, then I'd tell you to send it to the scrap yard if the floors were rotted all the way through...

[SUPERDUTYD]

how does the gas tank look? might want to pull that and coat that thing too before it rusts thru. i need to do that to mine but i am just too lazy.

[NOHC_WBody]

The Poo-mina I got recently dosen't have a speck of rust on the underside, but at one point in it's life, it also had a new distributor seal o-ring put on it as well. I suspect everything below got a good coating of prevention.

[jeremy]

getting pics of the rust will definitely help us to decide how you should combat it.

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

I know how you feel- I scrapped my 88 GP for that very reason. Didn't feel safe working under it anymore when it was on jack stands.

 

I would personally oil-spray undercoat it (the cheap kind) every year just to prevent it from rusting more. That stuff will soak into all the rust holes and everything- asphault undercoating is a bad idea unless you remove the rust first. It's messy and it drips, but it's cheap and easy and you can't really go wrong with it.

[Prospeeder]

Well, not like, rotting through floor boards, the brake lines and fuel lines has light rust, here and there, its like the trailing arms and lower painted metal, the fuel tank looks alright, just, stuffs rusting, the trailing arms and areas around the wheels are the worst, there are chunks of rust falling off and chunks of what was paint over them

[19Cutlass94]

Use POR15, Check out the last page of my cardomain because I undercoated my car with POR15. Looks good and functions the way its suppose to, even though you shouldnt be worried about looks Just take like a scrap, chisel, and a wire brush to get all the loose rust off, then apply at least two coats of POR15, within 2 to 6 hours or wait till the next day when its completely dry.

 

Although there really was no rust on my car, yours is kind of a different picture. you may have to replace that metal that has fallen off, i.e. rust, but if its not too bad, like you can still get by, just scrap everything off, etc like I said and just undercoat everything and where theres more damdge from the rust, apply heavier and more coats.

[Turbo231]

Well, not like, rotting through floor boards, the brake lines and fuel lines has light rust, here and there, its like the trailing arms and lower painted metal, the fuel tank looks alright, just, stuffs rusting, the trailing arms and areas around the wheels are the worst, there are chunks of rust falling off and chunks of what was paint over them

 

I'm in the same boat. You have two options. Sell the car before it gets worse (the path I take), or clean/scrape as much rust as you can, get yourself a nice primer, rust eating or not, then paint (Paint being paint or undercoating or whatever). A year or two later, paint again, keep repeating the process. It's all you can do. The brake lines will rust, even though they are stainless. I've had to replace the one crossing the rear suspension as the moisture was just too much for it. While my floor boards are good, welded joints are rusting, trailing arms/ suspension have quite a bit of surface rust, but all you can do is paint. If at anytime a part looks compromised, you'll need to replace it and all assocated bushings. Keep an eye on the area where your trailing arms connect to the body, it would be bad to lose those. There really isn't a magic bullet you can do, besides moving to the south. That's why it's called the rust belt.

My S-10 is rusty, or tries to be, but I keep scraping, priming and painting and it looks good. The fact that I'm under there looking at things when I do it only helps. http://members.aol.com/great88fiero/s10/wax.htm shows what I do.

Good Luck.

[Prospeeder]

Alright, thanks, i live in washington, the semi arid part, right were theres little moisture, summer or winter, not much moisture, so i think im good on rust getting super bad fast, but heres some damage

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/Prospeeder/Turbo%20Grand%20Prix/100_0814.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/Prospeeder/Turbo%20Grand%20Prix/100_0813.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/Prospeeder/Turbo%20Grand%20Prix/100_0816.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/Prospeeder/Turbo%20Grand%20Prix/100_0817.jpg

[ToroToro]

Looks about as bad as mine was. I just sprayed it with cheap rubberized undercoating, but you can use just about anything. Just knock off all the loose shit first.

 

You really want to keep a close eye on those trailing arms though! Sand and coat them really good. I've already had one break, and my car is 4 years newer than yours. Trust me, you really dont want to replace one. It took a breaker bar, with a long ass pipe over it, and my 230lb ass jumping on it to get one of the bolts loose. Had to cut the frontmost one.

Also take a look at your fuel filler tube. Mine was really rusted to shit.

[Intlcutlass]

POR-15 is a godsend.

 

My entire underside is coated in that!

[Stevo]

POR-15 is a godsend.

 

My entire underside is coated in that!

 

It's a preventitive not an inhibitor. If there is rust there and you dont get it all ... acid bath is the only way, rust will still cultivate under what you have painted over because oxygen trapped there can still contribute to keeping the rust active.

 

A fluid like inhibitor keeps oxygen off the rusted area and curbs it from spreading.

 

My mother's Ranger has a rust line at the bottom of the tailgate and I sprayed a can of Rust-Check from their green can line. It looks like melted butter going on and after a while solidifies to a lard like matter. The rust has'nt budged in one season so far.

[ToroToro]

POR-15 is a godsend.

 

My entire underside is coated in that!

 

It's a preventitive not an inhibitor. If there is rust there and you dont get it all ... acid bath is the only way, rust will still cultivate under what you have painted over because oxygen trapped there can still contribute to keeping the rust active.

 

Although it'll slow it down, the only way to totally stop it is with something like stevo mentioned. Extend works really good too, but it would be pretty expensive to do a whole underbody.

[Intlcutlass]

POR-15 is a godsend.

 

My entire underside is coated in that!

 

It's a preventitive not an inhibitor. If there is rust there and you dont get it all ... acid bath is the only way, rust will still cultivate under what you have painted over because oxygen trapped there can still contribute to keeping the rust active.

 

Although it'll slow it down, the only way to totally stop it is with something like stevo mentioned. Extend works really good too, but it would be pretty expensive to do a whole underbody.

 

The POR-15 people guarentee it wont rust ever again... AND! , you are NOT supposed to remove the rust when you apply POR-15, your SUPPOSED to put it on right over the rust

[Stevo]

Wow ... that sounds like the stuff they use on steel ship hulls.

[SUPERDUTYD]

I believe por-15 is a rust convertor, designed to stop rust. In fact, i believe it needs rust to work right. The eastwood company makes a rust convertor also, coroless i think it's called. I didn't have much success with that. I have used extend rust destroyer and plasti-coat makes a rust convertor that i used before. These two work alright but need to be top coated to keep moisture out.

[Prospeeder]

so this POR-15 stuff, is it cheap? easy to apply? where can i get it, and how far does a can go

[Robby1870]

so this POR-15 stuff, is it cheap? easy to apply? where can i get it, and how far does a can go

 

Yeah, what he said.

 

My car is orginally from Iowa and the salt got it pretty good....whole underbody is rusted.

[jeremy]

easy to apply

 

it is messy as hell to apply, see pic below

 

[Intlcutlass]

http://www.por15.com/

 

 

I paid $65 for the starter kit. It is brushable or rollable. You need to paint this on the metal direct., you should NOT put this on over paint and expect it to work correctly.

 

Rust is caused by moisture coming in contact with metal, which causes a chemical action called oxidation. All paints provide a measure of protection for a while, but since they are eventually softened and weakened by moisture, it is only a matter of time before moisture penetrates the painted surface and attacks the metal below. All of the so-called rust preventive paints on the market (except POR-15) are weakened by exposure to moisture. POR-15 is strengthened by exposure to moisture. Notice the hardness of the POR-15 coating. It doesn't chip, crack, or peel like ordinary paints do, and its hardness will resist the wear and tear of every day life.

 

POR-15 works because it chemically bonds to rusted metal and forms a rock- hard, non-porous coating that won't crack, chip, or peel. It keeps moisture away from metal with a coating that is strengthened by continued exposure to moisture.

 

http://www.por15.com/faq.asp

 

 

 

Reguarding that pic.... DO NOT NOT NOT NOT, get this on your skin! , it will NOT come off. I tried. The only thing I could do is literally take sandpaper to my skin! For the love of GOD, were gloves, goggles, and protective clothing!!!

[Robby1870]

so that site said about 96 sqft per quart coverage area, but it recommended two coats, each .003" thick. The viscosity is very low, 250-500cps, so this is pretty much like motor oil, if that helps anyone picture this stuff. I would gues two quarts of this stuff http://www.por15.com/product.asp?productid=6 would be enough for an underbody

[slick]

Hmm.... I had actually given up on repairing the rust on my car, but if this stuff works as well as what everyone says, I might invest in it and go at it.

[jeremy]

Chris, it is a great product, couldn't hurt to give it a try