Rust repair?

[ChrisFred]

I am VW bus enthusiast and look forward to buying my first bus in the near future. With my budget I should expect rust, but what is the best way to get rid of it?! I understand surface rust is different than rust that is eating holes into the body so how would you repair each of them? I've heard of POR 15 but don't quite understand the healing process. I usually like a shiny car, but I guess I also might have to accept a patina.

I also understand these methods strip the paint off the body, but I would plan to save a bus and paint it to its original color.

[joe56vw]

the only way to "get rid" of rust is to cut it out and weld a new piece in

POR15 only slows down the rust but does not "get rid" of it
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why is there no sarcasism button on here?

[ChrisFred]

[RPGreg2600]

I have been disappointed with my use of por-15 on the inside of my roof. It bubbled in a few spots, and when you pick at it, it peels like plastic instead of chipping like other paints.

[joe56vw]

[ChrisFred]

[RPGreg2600]

[Eric&Barb]

Wire wheel off the loose rust and use phosphoric acid to eat down thru. When acid dries, wire wheel off and check for more rust. Repeat till all you have is shiny silver steel. Then use a high zinc content primer AKA cold galvanizing. The higher the zinc content the better 95 or 97 % best.

As for eating holes, any rust is just going to do that if left long enough.
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[ChrisFred]

[ChrisFred]

[Eric&Barb]

No problem!

Just got in after painting the ceiling in our 1960 walk thru panel camper conversion. Did the zinc primer a couple of days ago. Over the last two or three weeks been doing the wire wheel and phosphoric acid and Naval Jelly, getting the rust out after work.
DPO was nice to glue indoor/outdoor carpet with thin foam rubber backing that held moisture right up against the factory primer. Had one of the carpet squares fall down and shower us with rust.....

Did same zinc primer and paint with the nose of this bus. DPO paint job peels off with butter knife. Nose had been stripped of almost all factory paint, a cheap primer was used with too fine of sand paper so the paint does not adhere much to the primer. Each and every time the nose got a rock hit no matter how small, the paint chipped off and the primer rusted right thru. You could see the rust spots get bigger and BIGGER, each week. Now with over twenty years on the zinc primer and some spray cans of grey paint the nose only has two two small rust spots. Grey paint is actually fading off and the primer is holding strong against any rust. Our bus sits outside in the rain for all of this time. Just this last year started to build a carport to get some of our VW out of some of the weather.

Only problem with the zinc primer we had is it is very hard to shake up. Best to store the cans on the side and start to shake 12 hours or more before use and turn them right side up, and next time up side down to get all the pigment loose inside. The zinc being a metal is really heavy and if not shaken well, will blow out like flocking, instead of a fairly smooth primer.
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[Harleyelf]

My '66 had serious bubbles on the roof when I bought it. I spent four hours sitting on the roof with a 2-liter bottle of spring water and a package of fine emery paper. Rubbed the wet sand until I saw shiny metal, rubbed with a towel until it looked dry, moved to another section of the roof for a half hour, and hit it with rattle can of rust-o-leum. Twenty-two years later it's still smooth.

I did have to have a section of roof by the rain gutter cut out and weld-patched when the gutter rust crept up. That was two years ago and the new rain gutter and the roof both look great! Took it to a local shop that mostly does '50s hot rods.

[ChrisFred]

[Eric&Barb]

Have yet to see a shop mixer used on spray cans. Not hard to mix them physically, just have to plan ahead, and start before doing the job.
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