XC92
Proven Member
- 1,561
- 356
- Jul 22, 2020
-
Queens,
New_York
This is in reference to my first attempt at derusting and painting some parts when I started restoring my '92 Talon two years ago. I did my best to remove all rust from the rear control and trailing arms and calipers until it was as close to bare metal as I could get it, using mostly wire wheels on a drill and impact driver and rotary tool.
I didn't have a die grinder back then which would have helped speed things up enormously, and have since purchased the Milwaukee M12 right angle die grinder which I can't recommend enough. Then I cleaned it with brake cleaner and alcohol, and then applied Rustoleum caliper paint to the calipers and rust reformer and auto paint to the arms. Looked great...for a while.
Two years later and the rust came back, mostly under the paint but also showing in some places. So I removed all the paint and rust again, this time with the die grinder and rotary tool, cleaned it with Super Clean degreaser, rinsed it, prepped it with Zinc Phosphate-based Metal Prep, rinsed, let it dry, then applied POR-15. This was just a week or so ago so there's no way to tell if it worked this time.
What I'm wondering is why the rust came back after my first attempt. Was it because I:
I didn't have a die grinder back then which would have helped speed things up enormously, and have since purchased the Milwaukee M12 right angle die grinder which I can't recommend enough. Then I cleaned it with brake cleaner and alcohol, and then applied Rustoleum caliper paint to the calipers and rust reformer and auto paint to the arms. Looked great...for a while.
Two years later and the rust came back, mostly under the paint but also showing in some places. So I removed all the paint and rust again, this time with the die grinder and rotary tool, cleaned it with Super Clean degreaser, rinsed it, prepped it with Zinc Phosphate-based Metal Prep, rinsed, let it dry, then applied POR-15. This was just a week or so ago so there's no way to tell if it worked this time.
What I'm wondering is why the rust came back after my first attempt. Was it because I:
- Cleaned and degreased with brake cleaner and alcohol instead of water-based degreaser?
- Didn't treat with phosphoric acid-based prep?
- Used Rustoleum spray paint and rust reformer instead of something more impermeable and scratch-resistant?
- Something else?