I'm gonna go about a long project and remove all the rust from my car, I'm gonna start first with the wheel wells. I'm wondering if any of you guys had any tips or tricks I could take advantage of?

 

Do a complete acid dip

 

cut out the rusted metal...weld it new metal...smooth with bondo

 

3M sells a drill (or die rinder ) attachment that virtually rips the rust right off your car work wonders can get it at atuozone or atleast the one around here. awesome tool just dont spin it to fast works best on surface rust better then sanding IMO.

Prv. Clemons IARNG

 

is this small enoguh to get into places like this... (wheel

 

theres two different sizes one for large areas such as roof and quarter panels. other one is for rocker creases and small stuff like that one should work fine.

 

great thanks, I've also heard a lot about sandblasting, is this a good idea? How much is it for the tools for sandblasting, and what do I need? Also what about ramps, would this give me enough clearance to deal with the underbody (the rust is kinda bad under there so I cant jack).

 

if you can't jack the car up due to excessive rust, i'd hit the ground running... (away from that car.)

put a few chunks of 2x8" wood under your jack and jackstand, and put it HIGH in the air. That's what i've done for the winter. I'm cleaning/painting the underside.

i'd recommend zero-rust, and it's accompanyment (sp?), Prep-step.


sandblasting: do you have a BIG air compressor? no? forget sandblasting.

 

What size air compressor would I need, like HP and PSI? What size sandblaster would I need? How high would I need the car to be raised to do this, how long would it take? So are you guys implying that ramps wont work.

 

no, ramps could work, you'd just be fairly uncomfortable.

a 240V compressor would work. One of those little 110V compressors would work, but you'd have to wait for it to recharge more often. pressure for most air tools is a constant at 90psi basically...

you could use a pressurized sandblaster, or the old school gravity one, or a little handheld one.... If you're doing most of the car, the better the one you get, the less time it'll take....
then choose your abrasive material, etc...

Plus sand will get everywhere, i'd want most of the underside disassembled to do this...


I just put my car up on jacks, front a -arms and rear LCA mounts I think. Then took off the exhaust, driveshaft, rear axle (including all suspension bits obviously), and gas tank. Then took a 3" twisted wire cup brush, on a 4 1/2" angle grinder, and went to town. (grinder = $20, brush = $30, in Canada) This removed everything. Then hit it with prepstep, and painted. Then undercoated. That's what i'd recommend at least, sandblasting is expensive, and time consuming, and messy, but the results are nicest.... however, most paint over rust products don't care about that, just prep the pitted rust right, and you'll be fine....

 

POR 15 well worth the money

 

POR 15 is deffinatly trick stuff its hard as nails and is pretty easy to work with but once you start dont stop. the lid will actually seal to the can and will not come off once set we had to cut the darn things off. we actually knew it was going to happen and tried to use paint thinner to remove the excess material but it didnt help. it can be spray with the additive and also has other application theres a enigne paint and stuff simliar to that.