Car Rust Fight - Brown Pest Fight!

Automotive history and car rust go hand in hand. All of the century-long research into rust protection, preventive measures and attempts to control gnaws have failed to solve the problem. Sooner or later, all steel and iron components of the car begin to corrode. However, with some care, you, as a car owner and driver, have a good chance of significantly delaying the death of your car due to corrosion.

How does rust appear on a car?

Steel is mined from iron ore, which is nothing more than oxidized iron. By adding a reducing agent (usually carbon) and energy (heating), oxygen is removed from the iron oxide. Now iron as a metal can be processed. In nature, it occurs only in the form of iron oxide and therefore constantly reacts with oxygen. This is a known chemical process. All elements strive for the so-called inert gas configuration to become stable when they no longer react. .

When the steel crude iron with 3% carbon ) combines with water and air, a catalytic process occurs. Water allows iron to react with the oxygen in the air. This process is accelerated when the water is slightly acidic, such as when salt is added. Therefore, cars rust much faster in snowy areas than in dry and hot ones. For this reason, many old cars can still be found in California.

Rust requires three conditions:

– access to bare metal – oxygen - water

Oxygen is ubiquitous in the air, so corrosion protection and rust prevention are the only ways to prevent the gradual deterioration of the car body.

Why is rust on a car so destructive?

As already mentioned, rust is a combination of iron and oxygen. The developing iron oxide molecule changes composition and as a result it no longer forms an airtight surface. Iron rust forms a fine powder with no mechanical bond to the base material. Aluminum works differently. The oxide creates an airtight surface that protects the base material from rust. This does not apply to iron.

Just a matter of money

Three attempts were made stop body corrosion at the start Audi A2, DeLorean and Chevrolet Corvette . Audi A2 had aluminum body , DeLorean cover was made of stainless steel , and the Corvette was equipped with fiberglass body .

All three concepts have been successful in terms of rust protection. However, they were very expensive and therefore not suitable for the average family car. For this reason, steel is still used in conjunction with the active task of providing the most adequate protection against rust.

Precautions, precautions and more precautions

Repairing a Rust Spot Is Essentially a Temporary Solution . It is more important to prevent rust on the car in advance. As mentioned earlier, rust needs a weak point. It must gain access to bare metal in order to begin its destructive action. Therefore, when buying a used car, it is useful to get information about the corrosive areas of a particular model.

In minibuses, the holes for drilling door handles and interior trim are often not sealed. . If you bought a more or less rusty copy, it is worth disassembling these parts and applying anti-corrosion protection to the drilled holes. This can greatly extend the life of the car.

Naturally, this applies to every scratch and dent you find on a car. .

The golden rule still applies: immediate sealing!

As long as rust is only on the surface, it can be dealt with.
The deeper he is allowed to penetrate, the more work there will be.

TIP: When buying a used car, in addition to preventive sealing of cavities, it is advisable to carry out an endoscopic examination of thresholds and hollow beams. This will protect you from surprises. Corrosion in these places is especially expensive to repair.

Undetected corrosion damage

For rust damage, its location is a significant factor. Basically, There are three ways to repair a corrosion site:

– replacement of a damaged part – filling - a quarrel

Replacement makes sense when the damage is progressive and a component can be easily replaced, such as the hood and front fenders. The doors and trunk lid are usually easy to replace as well, although these parts require a lot of customization: replacing door locks and power windows in door panels requires a lot of work . Therefore, often in the first place they try to fill and align the doors. The Advantage of Removable Components that they do not affect the stability of the vehicle. Filling and grinding can be undertaken without any risk.

More problematic are rust spots on the body . In modern vehicles, the entire front of the vehicle, passenger compartment with roof and floor, wheel arches and rear fenders are made up of a single welded assembly, which is not as easy to replace as a front fender or door.

However, a distinction must be made between load-bearing and non-bearing components. The load-bearing elements are all load-bearing beams and sills, as well as all parts made specially large and massive. Non-load-bearing elements include, for example, the rear fenders. Non-load-bearing elements can be puttied and sanded without risk.

Car Rust Dealing: Filling Requires Skill

For filling start by sanding the entire corroded surface down to bare metal.
A steel brush and a rust converter can speed up this process.

Then an adhesive layer is applied to the stain, which is then filled with a mixture of putty and hardener.

When filling, it is important to work cleanly, reducing the amount of work during subsequent grinding . The filled area cannot be too large or too deep. Indentations must be leveled before filling. In addition, putty should never hang "free in the air". If wheel arches or large holes need to be filled in, the area to be repaired must be backed up with fiberglass such as fiberglass.

TIP: When using fiberglass for repairs, always use epoxy instead of polyester. Epoxy resin has the best adhesion to the body. You always need an extra thread. Regular fiberglass mat cannot be treated with epoxy.

After filling and curing, coarse and fine grinding , restoring the original contours of the body.
Subsequent priming and painting in the car's native color completes the job. Creating an invisible transition is an art that requires skill and experience.
Therefore, it is useful to practice puttying, painting and polishing the fender of a retired car.

When there is no other way: welding

Welding is an extreme way to remove rust on a car. Used when rust occurs in areas that cannot be replaced and are too large to fill. Typical cases of rust are underbody, wheel arches and trunk. The course of action is simple:

remove as much loose material as possible from the rust areaconstruct a template from a piece of cardboard - ideal for curved or corner piecescut out a piece of repair metal using the template as a model, bending and shaping it to fitspot welding of repair metalrub the spotsfill the seams with tin or puttyapply putty to the entire area, sand and paint.

It is very important that you know how to handle the welding machine . You can already save a lot of money by doing the best possible welding job. Cleaning the affected area, sanding the surrounding metal, and preparing a repair template can all be done at home. If an expensive specialist welder first has to remove the protective layer and paint, then it will turn out to be much more expensive.

Tip: even if a lot of videos on YouTube show you differently, repair metal is not welded onto the edges. The optimal connection of metal sheets and chassis is made by drilling holes, which are drilled approximately 5 millimeters from the edge of the metal.

Thresholds and load-bearing beams - time bombs

If rust on the car is found on the threshold or carrier beam, surface putty is useless. These hollow components corrode from the inside out. To permanently remove rust, the damaged area must be cut and repaired. This task should only be carried out by a bodybuilder. Unprofessional repair of load-bearing elements during maintenance is not allowed.
After repairing the thresholds and hollow beams, the hollow parts must be sealed. This will prevent the return of corrosion.