anything out there can disolve rust?

[Russ Maki]

POR-15 has a rust-dissolving product called Metal Ready -- the POR SOP is to
remove all loose corrosion, degrease the site to be painted, apply
Metal-Ready for 20 minutes, rinse, allow to dry, paint with POR-15, apply a
primer (POR-15 is UV sensitive, so it should not be a surface coat) and then
paint with the color of choice. Metal-Ready appears very similar to a
product called Oxy-Solv (I know my rust!) in that it produces a gray iron
phosphate coating if allowed to do its thing to the ultimate conclusion.

I soaked an I-5 cam cover last spring in about $25 worth of Metal-Ready, and
it really removed every trace of rust -- but it took about a week, and that
after sanding off  75% of the corrosion to start with. To be fair to POR-15,
the painting instructions don't suggest that you even attempt to make a
surface rust-free before painting.

Both Metal-Ready and Oxy-Solv are liquids that are nearly impossible to use
in rust trouble spots such as rear wheel wells and other body panels. The
stuff runs off quickly and dries out, and the rust conversion is just very
sloow. Lister Tex Terry suggested Naval Jelly, which seems to produce
similar results at a fraction of the cost of Oxy-Solv and POR-15 Metal
Ready, with the added benefit of its manageability -- you can put it just
where you want it, and it sticks. Wrap the treated area in Saran Wrap to
keep it from drying out too fast.

I've also used an Eastwood paint product called Corroless for rust
prevention, which works well -- haven't had any rusty spots peek through
after applying their product. It isn't UV sensitive like POR-15, but it
looks like primer. They also have a flat/semi-gloss black. It's less
expensive than POR-15.

Russ Maki
Ixonia, Wis.



> Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 19:37:32 -0500
> To: quattro at audifans.com
> From: Kent McLean <kentmclean at mindspring.com>
> Subject: Re: anything out there can disolve rust?
>
> Rob Andrews wrote:
> >I'm not talking like WD40 where it can penetrate, but I have some surface
> >rust on this old URQ in various places, and I was wondering if there is
any
> >liquid type stuff I can spray on it and it would just disolve the rust.
>
>  From an Austin-Healey list to which I subscribe,
> I've heard that POR-15 is highly recommended. No
> personal experience. Doesn't disolve the rust,
> but coats it and leaves a hard paint-like coating.
> Needs to be protected from UV, though.
>
> See www.por15.com.
>
> Kent McLean
> '89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy"