Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[AustinAllegroProject]

I have recently started to restore my late fathers Triumph Stag that has been left in a garage for many years. With regards to getting rid of rust on panels do rust converters work? Or should you have the panels professionally sandblasted. I have noticed this rust converter spray product https://www.tiltrak.com/rust-converter/

[rcx822]

In my experience, rust converters have low effect. When I did my restoration I tried every method, including acid and gel acid.

My favourite methods are:

DCM pro Paint stripper to remove the paint (bear in mind the stuff is not legal for home use any more).
Sand blast only the areas that are rusted - so that you are minimising risk of warping.

I also had good luck using MBX tool, which is a special tool, looks like a wire brush but uses tempered chiselled wires so gives a sand blasting effect. But it's expensive and has limited access so you still need to sand blast remaining areas.

[Bitumen Boy]

Likewise, I haven't had much luck with rust "converters", at least not used as per the instructions. The two "go to" solutions for me are sandblasting, but if it's more than a small area it really becomes a professional job, or electrolysis which is cheap but slow and only works with stuff small enough to get into a suitable tank (cheap plastic dustbin).

[Ray White]

I have found the way to get the best out of a rust converter is to sand down the surface; apply the liquid; let it dry; then sand it off.

You will be surprised to see just how much rust remains that hasn't been converted. Repeat the process again and again until no more rust appears. After final sanding down, either apply a red oxide primer and paint or apply Hammerite direct to the metal.

It is a bit long winded but it works for me.

[ukdave2002]

If there was a cheap and simple way of "converting" rust, we would all have been using it for years.

With anything more than very light surface surface rust, the corrosion really has to be physically removed.

Rust converters use should be confined to application on cleaned steel only and immediately prior to painting. As a belt and braces approach I always treat even bright steel to a lick of phosphoric acid prior to painting, you will be amazed at the dark shadows that appear after application on what looks like completely rust free steel .

Dave

[Ray White]

[baconsdozen]

I was told by a chemist working on stopping parts of a machine from rusting that "All iron and steel tries to spend eternity returning to its natural state,(rust) the best you can hope to do is slow it down a bit".
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).