Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[rcx822]

After a lot of reading I decided to buy one of these surface preparation tools as an alternative to media blasting. It best be as good as the hype says as they are not cheap! £200 for a Chinese one, £325 for a decent one, and upto £600 for the Snap-on version. I'll test it tonight on a badly pitted area of my chassis and see if it gets into the pits.

The distributor (Rust Busters) have said that I still need to degrease after using the tool. I've got caustic soda and also some of Rust Busters propriatory alkaline degreaser. Bit worried about degreasing under the car in case the stuff gets in my eyes. Any ideas?

[MikeEdwards]

I've used one of those at my mates workshop, very effective and quite pricey for the replacement spiky things / consumables. Use good protection while using it, I recall the spiky thing was getting on a bit when I was stripping rust off a door and, as with some of the cheaper twisted wire cups used in angle grinders, I found I was doing a fair hedgehog impression with wires sticking in my overalls.

As for keeping the degreasing stuff out of your eyes while cleaning underneath the car, I'd use either a full-face mask where possible, or decent safety goggles (those that have elastic and seal-ish to your face) and a nose/mouth mask, just like you would when you're using the tool above.

[Rene]

To me it likes a wire brush with some parts missing
2-300 pounds seems like a lot of money for something an angle grinder with a wire brush can do the same.
I did a full chassis restoration using angle grinder an a drill with a small wire brush to get in the small corners,did a good job with them.

[MikeEdwards]

I've used the angle grinder with wire brush (especially the twisted knot ones, but don't get them anywhere close to flesh) and it is very good, but the tool in the photo seemed better at getting into small pits. Not better enough for me to buy one, though.

[petermeachem]

I always found that using a wire brush whether hand or electric just ended up with shiny rust. I used something called a poly abrasive disc on bodywork, quite a few of them. They were very good, effective and non damaging but would probably clag up quickly on something like a chassis