Chassis rust treatment?

[Deleted]

Can anyone recommend something that works? We have the A frame all cleaned up and ready to finish and working on the chassis now.

Hammerite was recommended to us, but it's not easy to find in the shops - anyone used that and had any success with it? We were told to wire brush then paint it on and won't need to use it again for 20 years ... sounds too good to be true !!

[atouchofglass]

Hey Yellow submarine
From memory I used a metal primer/undercoat (green in colour)
Then a silverfrost or aluminium paint.

You could also try chassis black

Mine has been on for a couple of years now and is still in good order under the van.
Have had to repaint the A frame a couple of times.
Makes the van look reeeeal peeeertty with a newly painted A frame


Any good quality metal undercoat and topcoat should do the trick.
From memory mine was Killrust. One of the other members used White Knight I think

Cheers
Atog

[millard1399]

G'day subbie,

Yes, I ended up using the White Knights brand, after having originally used the Dulux 'Quit Rust' paint but not being totally satisfied with it.

It's best to have a close look at the whole of the drawbar. When I think about rusting, what I'll call "first stage rusting" is the coating of light brown rust you get on bare metal that's left out in the rain. "Second stage rusting" is when the metal starts to show rust bubbles on the surface. These bubbles can be small spots but there can be a number of them scattered around the surface. If you have any of these bubbles, you need to dig the rust out of the bubble, and treat the cavity with a rust converter. If you don't do that, it won't matter what paint product you use, the rust will come through in a short period of time, as happened with my Millard...






I wouldn't get too hung up on what particular paint products you use to begin with. You'll soon find out whether it gives a good service life or not. One of our members just sprays his drawbar each year with a can of spray paint. No cleaning back, no sanding back, no nothing. He says he's never had a problem with rust on the drawbar after all the years he's had his van. Sounds like a good way of keeping that maintenance job in the "too easy" basket.

cheers,
Al.

[mike]

G'day yellowsubmarine, ;D ;D ;D

You don't post pics of your A frame, but the following link/s from this forum may be of help ditzygypsy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=techno&action=display&thread=1157

Cheers ;D ;D ;D
mike

[kiwijim]

Howdy yellowsubmarine,

My " two Bob's worth" on rust is as follows,

I don't care what type of paint you use, the secret of rust prevention is to stop it in it's tracks.

With rust on the draw bars or any-where that is exposed to the weather, it only takes a pin hole in the paint to start the rust growing, first you will notice a swelling in the paint, like a bubble,

The shock comes when you poke this bubble,......"hey Presto" there's a nice stain of brown on the new paint straight away.

My cure for rust has always been....... get out the angle grinder, ( with a wire brush attachment ) give the rusted area hell until the steel is shining,
then buy some "Rustanode" it's a rust neutralizer and a very good one, paint it on the rust area and leave it to bite into the surface,

if you look closely after paint it on, you will see it bubbling and have a very strong Sulfuric smell, like battery acid,
any rust will turn black and come to the surface, leave it for a day or so, them using the wire brush again, go over the area to clean.

Rustanode can be painted over, so there is no reason to be too particular about removing it, just remove all the loose rust and then paint.

A word of advise, don't get any of this Rustanode on you or your cloths, it's very corrosive and will burn you if you get in contact with it.

cheers kiwijim

[Deleted]

Thanks for your replies ... Atog, Al, Mike & Kiwijim , it's great to be able to ask other ozzie van owners about stuff like this. But just as we are ready to start the rust treatment it's bucketing down with rain here. But it's a good time to test for leaks !!!

So stay tuned for more requests for help

[bambang]

G'day Subbie, I'm in Sydney western suburbs so if you're anywhere nearby feel free to drop over and take your pick from my garage-full of various paints & primers (killrust etcc) as I work at a paint factory and get access to samples for free. I actually make Hammertone and have used it a lot on trailers etc....and really it's not as hard-wearing (chips easily) as killrust enamel over a cold-galvanizing primer (my pick). My parents have an Olympic van parked year-round near Coffs Harbour beachside and I give them killrust enamel and cold gal primer to do theirs every second year. Cheers ........Steve.

[atouchofglass]

Sept 18, 2011 22:55:18 GMT 10 bambang said:

My parents have an Olympic van parked year-round near Coffs Harbour beachside and I give them killrust enamel and cold gal primer to do theirs every second year. Cheers ........Steve.

Hey Steve.
Any photos of your parents Olympic?
What size, year is it?

Just an interested Olympic owner.
;D ;D ;D
Cheers
Atog

[bambang]

G'day Atog , my parents and their Olympic Riviera 16ft have met Boblor a few years back. I don't know if Bob got any pics of their van at the time , but he has all the details for the register. I know they have quite a few pics of the van where it is permanently parked up Coffs Harbour way.....I will try and get my hands on some photos for you....but might be better to send em to your email as I'm not really sure how to upload pics to the forum yet. They are really happy with the Riviera as their annual winter escape digs for 3 - 4 months every year, and have kept it pretty well unmolested and standard. Regards - Steve.

[Deleted]

Hi Steve, thanks for the offer of your garage full of paint samples ... wow that is extremely kind of you Shame I live about 500kms away By the time we are finished buying and painting the A frame & chassis I think we'll end up with a garage full of stuff ... at the rate we're buying products. Subbie