Advice on some quick rust repair and repainting

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Hey guys,

Looking for some pointers on doing a quick rust repair and painting on my 98 Expedition.

I've been reading a lot about painting, but most of the advice seems to be more oriented towards a professional repair, which this will not be.

I've got some rust in these small pockets in the roof. I hand-sanded them down a bit and hit them with primer about a week ago to slow the rust until I have a chance to tackle it. Will probably do that this weekend.

Here's my plan - I got some sanding discs for my random orbital going from 60-220 grit. I'm going to sand down the rust in the pockets to the bare metal (hopefully without going through the roof) and then rough up the rest of the roof.
Spray whole roof with primer.
Spray whole roof with some rattle-can duplicolor Toreador Red paint from the auto parts store.
Sand paint ~ 500 grit?
Spray roof with auto parts store clear coat.
Sand clear coat ~ 1500/2000 grit?

Any thing you'd suggest I change? Keep in mind this is a beater truck. Its not getting a professional job. I'm doing this to fix the rust issue and slapping a coat of paint on it.

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Originally Posted By: satinsilver
Whoa nelly, that's going to be a lot of sanding. To you have a budget? I'd treat it chemically to neutralize it. Try something like Eastwood's Rust encapsulator I think it's called. Somebody post a link for me since I'm sick.
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Thats why I got the sanding pads for my random orbital.

The budget is whatever a few rattle-cans of paint and primer cost at the auto parts store. If I should bump that up by $15 to buy some metal treatment to stop the rust I will.
 
Treat it. You're going to have little cracks where you can't rub through the rust.
 
Corroseal for the rust, pretty slick stuff in my experience but is a bit thick so the end finish won't be perfectly smooth but 1) its a beater and 2) on the roof...only your tall friends will notice
 
i would get as much as you can off with a wire brush, Use eastwoods rust converter or their rust encapsulator if you have a compressor and spray gun. other wise you will have to buy it in rattle cans.
 
Alright, quick update. I finally got around to doing some more work on this. Did some more sanding. Only got 2 of the 6 channels sanded down enough that I felt comfortable I got all of the surface rust. The center one, the worst, still has a rough texture and seems pretty pitted. After I had finished the first two spots and started working on the third, my attention was called away to another project so I had to finish up quickly.

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I sprayed all the rust spots with this rust fix/preventer I picked up from duplicolor. The spots I haven't finished sanding I will obviously have to go back over again later but this should keep the rust from getting worse in the meantime.

Areas turning black from the zinc.

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My plan was to let it sit for 24 hours (dry, obviously) like the can says and then spray the finished areas with primer while going back over the areas that arent finished. Woke up this morning to this. Awesome. Thats what I get for working on a beater truck outside.

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Guess I'll have to start clearing out room in the garage so I can get this monstrosity inside and do the job dry.
 
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Originally Posted By: Donald
The rust needs to be treated with a product like naval jelly.


Whats wrong with the rust-fix stuff that I bought? Its similar to all the other ones - converts iron oxide to zinc oxide, hence the black/purple color it turns.
 
There is a liquid product called "Evaporust" it removes rust without acid. You would have to keep it in place with some clay or some other method, for a day or two. But, the stuff is effective. I think a quart is about $8 at Pep Boys.

The best method I've ever used for rust removal is Soda Blasting. Done properly, it's amazingly effective, removes corrosion right down to the bottom of the pits, and water dissolves the Soda Blasting residue. Hazard Fraught Tools sells a really nice 40 pound soda blaster. It would make quick work of that job! Then prep, prime and paint normally.
 
On board the exterior of a ship I use Corroseal before priming and painting. Got the hint from MARAD when they put ships into the Reserve. On cars I prefer to use Picklex 20 which I can they scuff and paint right over with an acid free epoxy primer. Of course neither are cheap.
 
I've been chasing rust on my truck. I've had the best luck with a little sand blast kit from Sears and some garnet grit. No amount of sanding got all the rust, and the tiny tiny bits that were left over started it all again.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr_Incredible
I've been chasing rust on my truck. I've had the best luck with a little sand blast kit from Sears and some garnet grit. No amount of sanding got all the rust, and the tiny tiny bits that were left over started it all again.


Really? The last little bits of it started the rust all over again? Did you prep/prime/paint it also? That has me worried.

I've sanded, done rust preventer twice, and primed it for now. Hopefully that should hold it off for awhile so I can attend to my other projects. If it stays good, I'm happy with that. If it bubbles up from new rust I guess I will have to blast it with something if the rest of the truck makes it that far.
 
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