What's the best way to stop Rust on a Vehicle?

Question

I live in wisconsin, so naturally that salt on the road in the winters eats away at your car untill it gets through the paint, and starts eating the metal. Is there a way to stop, or atleast slow down the Rust? its mostly around the wheel wells. and is only about 1/2" in diameter.

Thanks in advance!

PS, have a 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 2 door.

Answer 1

use newater is the best

Answer 2

Rust can be a tricky business. Someone else metioned cathode protection. This very good for ships, but not for cars. The "circuit" requires a constant electrolite, saltwater, to work. Since your car isn't submerged, it won't work very well. The best thing you can do for rust throughs besides replacing the panel, is burning it out with a torch or carbon arc torch to good metal. Once you get it burnt out, sand the edges and use a little putty to fill the holes. If they are big, stuff newspaper or screen wire in the hole to hold the putty while it sets up. After it ses up, sand the putty to match the rest of the body. Tiny pinholes in the putty can be filled with a glaze, and after you sand, you should be able to run your fingernail over the edge without it catching. While sanding, use a sanding block. Your fingers will cause a "rippleing" effect in the putty, as your fingers aren't a constant solid. Put a sealer on the putty or it will show through the paint, and no pimer is not a sealer. Putty absorbs paint and primer, and it will look dull if not sealed. If you don't want the rust to come back, prime the area with a two part epoxy paint then topcoat with a polyurethane. Epoxy is excellent against corrosion, but doesn't hold up well in sun light. That's why you need the topcoat. The epoxy is a little thicker than regular auto primer, so if you want it to not be noticeable, take the whole panel to bare metal, repair it, and paint it. Or if your not interested in putting that much time in on it, take as much rust as you can off, put some naval jelly on the edges, putty it and paint. That usually doesn't last more than a couple years though. Whatever you do though, make sure you get a good profile before you paint, to little an the paint won't stick very well, too much and jagged edges will cause breaks in the paint which will allow that area to rust again. 2 to 4 mils is the range for surface profile, if you have anything to check it with, if not, a fine grit (180) sandpaper will get you close. If you're just interested in stopping the rust without fixing the current damage, put some naval jelly on it. It converts and inhibits.

Answer 3

Maybe sanding the rust off the effected area might help. After that repaint the area, using a primer, anti rust coating and the final colour paint. If its a small area you can use a spray paint can. Most trusted paint sprays usually have anti-rust attributes in them. Make sure the colour matches the rest of you car. If the damge is pretty big, you might as well get a replacement part.

Answer 4

Buy or borrow (or rent) a handheld grinder tool - get a grinding wheel for it. Also get some sandpaper, some metal primer, and some paint.

Start by jacking the car up and putting it on jackstands. Take the wheels off, and cover up anything that you don't want getting melted/destroyed (brake parts especially) with some cardboard/duct tape etc.

Remove any trim or other stuff that is in the way, and start by going to town with the grinder (make sure to wear protective goggles/facemask, gloves, etc) - try to take off as little metal as possible, but get rid of all of the rust. Once you get it ground down nicely, then use sandpaper to finish the places where the original paint is gone.

If you want to fill in any gaps, get some bondo hair (basically fiberglass), and pack it in, slap it on, mold it, etc. Let it dry completely, and sand it down - form it as much as care to.

After sanding/filling/sanding some more, wipe everything down really good, and spray a coat of metal primer on it (you can get color matching primer so that if your paint chips it won't look as bad). Do several coats (2-3), letting each one dry completely, and sand using some fine sandpaper. Then do a couple of coats of paint, sanding as necessary, and finish with clearcoat for extra protection.

You might want to consider going up underneath the car and seeing how bad the situation is - you can use a wire wheel on the grinder tool to clean off all the crap, and then get a couple cans of undercoat to spray on it.

Answer 5

Rust has ruined many a car.. Collectables hurt the worse. If you want to do he the yourself. .. Go to school and learn how to do body and repair. Rust has to be cut out and replaced. Surface can be ground out and primed and painted. Sooner or later the car will become cancer aged and a good running car will be thrown away... Take the class --you will learn a lot...

Answer 6

Have it undercoated bring it to a car wash in the winter salted roads are brutal. Use a special rust inhibitor paint

Answer 7

You would have to keep the car clean and get the salt off as soon as you can.

You can also try something called cathodic protection, look it up on the net and read about it. I know we used this on our Naval ships. It has a sacrificial anode that the corrosion will attack instead of the car. good luck.

Answer 8

regular car washes, adding clearcoat, and getting any chipped areas repainted should definately do the trick.