Rust buster

[womble_]

Has anyone used rust buster to protect their 80?
rust .co.uk
I might be able to get the coating on, but i will never be able to clean it and dry it. I've just booked in for next week.

 

[iceman]

Hi Womble welcome back to Blighty. I've not used them but I'm keen to here back about your experience

 

[frank rabbets]

Just read rust busters bumf. The only thing they don't say is that they can cure rust or stop it getting worse. That's because the only way to treat a rust problem properly is to remove it down to the steel with hydrochloric acid. If you put anything on top you keep air away from the rusty surface and it gets worse underneath especially if you seal the water/salt in. Waxoil is good at sealing water/salt in so is a no no for already rusty box sections. Waxoil has a solvent which evaporates leaving behind wax the consistency of shoe polish. This seals the water/salt/active rust which is exactly what you don't want. The best method is to regularly spray the box sections with engine oil which does not dry out as it does not have a solvent. My friend had a "ziebart" franchise which was all the rage in the 70's. Similar product to Waxoil. He was talked in to setting up workshops to do ziebart treatment but that side of his business went bust due to claims against him because not only did it not work but it made peoples cars rust quicker.

I used to restore cars built in the late 50's early 60's. You aint seen rust like the early 60's cars when the accountants told the foremen in the Welsh steel works to draw off steel before it was ready. That's when all the "curerusts" came out but nothing worked and there were several cases before the courts on misdescription. I don't think anyone today describes their products as "cures", treatments perhaps but treatment does not mean it's going to improve a problem.

 

[womble_]

I dropped the car off today. As you say Frank, they don't claim to be able to cure rust or rot. Just cover the chassis inside and out so it's protected from the salt etc. I am keeping my fingers crossed that there isn't anything more than surface corrosion as its only been in the UK for 5 months.

iceman, I'll do a bit of a write up when i get the car back next week.

 

[Towpack]

A guy I used to work with years ago had his new Cavalier Ziebarted and sold it several years later virtually rust free. He picked it up from the dealer, drove it straight round to the Ziebart agents who did there stuff. When applied to a brand new vehicle I've no doubt that sealing treatments like this and waxoyl etc are excellent. It's when corrosion already has a foothold that they are much less effective IMO.

 

[frank rabbets]

Yes Brilliant on new metal. Remember the Range Rover tailgates that rusted out in 3 years from new? I rebuilt a Range Rover in the 70's and fitted an factory tailgate after using my paint spray gun with an attachment to spray a diluted Waxoil inside. 7 years later it was as good as new inside.

 

[frank rabbets]

And outside.

 

[StarCruiser]

I'm pretty sure I bought some if this stuff late last year with the intention of coating suspension parts and axles etc once the weather warms up. Also found something interesting on YouTube called Coupler Tec. I'll try and find and post the link. It's essentially an electrical system and better on rust free cars to keep them that way. Still effective at halting slight corrosion though if I remember rightly. Pretty impressive video demo.

 

[StarCruiser]

Coupler Tec link

http://youtu.be/1kQJA-xBzoI

In fact there are several videos on YouTube if you search.

I'm almost certainly going to look into it further.

Richard.

 

[Shayne]

An endless debate this one and my tuppence worth is that good paint with a good primer/undercoat beats them all . Below is a 60 year old gate which was without paint and entirely rusted when I smacked it with a hammer a few times to remove the worst and half heartedly gave it a once over with a handheld wire brush before painting it as a temporary fix almost 10 years ago .

 

[Towpack]

Coupler Tec link

http://youtu.be/1kQJA-xBzoI


In fact there are several videos on YouTube if you search.

I'm almost certainly going to look into it further.

Richard.

There doesn't appear to be a UK distributor for these.
From their website your probably looking at around £400 shipped for the basic 4x4 model which sounds a lot to me personally. I understand the capacitor effect. It's really basic electronic/electrical theory but I still need some convincing of it's ability to halt or prevent corrosion throughout the vehicle. From a tech interest point of view I'd like to know what components are actually in the control unit.

Isn't there another electrically powered system made by someone that uses sacrificial anodes as used on watercraft? I seem to remember reading about one sometime ago.

 

[Chas]

Isn't there another electrically powered system made by someone that uses sacrificial anodes as used on watercraft? I seem to remember reading about one sometime ago.

I vaguely remember something from way back about a DIY version where you wrapped a cable round a lump of zinc bolted to the chassis as a sacrificial anode? can't remember any details though.

 

[frank rabbets]

The 1959 cars I restored had absolutely no rust inside their box sections. The identical construction 1963 cars had the bottom sections of their box sections completely gone. These box sections were 2 inches wide by 6 inches deep. The bottom 3 inches of box sections were solid rust, like black slate, very hard and about 8mm thick. The original steel was about 1.75 mm thickness. So a lot depends on how good the steel is. None of the box sections were painted on their insides and had no rust inhibitor or protector A few years ago there was a program on TV about the explosion of car production in the early 60's and the steel producers could not keep up. It took years to make extra production facilities so to speed things up they drew steel off before it was ready. It was a worldwide problem.

 

[StarCruiser]

Looked earlier today, yes, it's RustBuster I have in the tins in the garage. Just got to get around to adding a Landcruiser to it. Would be nice if you could just dip them in a big vat of the stuff and leave to drip dry. [emoji6]

 

[Ecoman]

I have used Rustbuster stuff before with great results. I'm about to use their products again to finish off my Hilux chassis. The stuff I used was a two pack paint in satin black. I found that unless you mixed a bit of the rust buster thinners with it the paint took weeks to dry, with the thinners added it was workable within 24-48 hours. A week after I painted my rear axle I dropped it off a stand while rebuilding it and the paint never even marked! I finished off by waxoyling the chassis inside and out and the truck still looks as fresh today as it did back then.

 

[David]

A good friend of mine in the motor trade who lives near Rustbusters uses them, in fact my 80 is going there next month to be done. and if you can please my mate they must be pretty good as he is a perfectionist

 

[IRLGW]

Two Pack epoxy primer is the way to go I'm afeared... As already mentioned it doesnt matter what you put on there once there is already significant rust. Epoxy primer is pretty neutral and extremely hard wearing so that it is even used on ice breakers! The catch is that the ambient temp really wants to be around 25c for application and subsequent curing. I would never buy a truck that has been waxoiled or bodyshoot. would rather have a rusty but obvious chassis.....

 

[David]

Mine has no rust it's a matter of protecting it. Our work trucks are treated from new and 3 years on they is no rust on the chassis, and we are gritting constructors so they get a hard time of it

 

[StarCruiser]

The RustBuster kit I have is a two pack epoxy IIRC.

 

[IRLGW]

ummm interesting.......it converts, then seals possibly not sure how this works because surely rust conversion molecules occupy space that would otherwise be filled with epoxy chains. Unless the two coats are applied individually maybe. Def wants to be warm and dry when you apply it then. At this time of year it could be weeks before full hardness is achieved. Interesting this is cold air doesn't carry a lot of humidity but warm air does. In theory you would apply it in a warm dehumidified room. Some of the single pack epoxy paints are now quite good and they rely on humidity to activate. With special thinners they can be diluted nicely for spraying through one of those spheres inside the chassis. Anyway if you can do anything to prevent or slow rust then it will be worth doing even if some methods are more effective than others.