Club 80-90 Forums

Yes I know, its not as bad as you all might imagine,
I have had a bash at prevention, better than cure..
and as its a white van I could see some early signs coming.
I have treated all the backs, inside, and its all soaked with cavity wax.
On the outside of the seams I dug in hard with the twisted wire brush,
on the angle grinder, it pretty much cleans everything off the metal,
while (it seems (ha ha)) not to take off any metal.
Picks out the sealer where it can and I have cured the area.
There havent been any holes exposed anywhere.
So now I have a black area that has rough edges to the paint,
so to make it look presentable before painting a little filler...

What I am hoping is for a tip on what to use and how!
My imagination says there must be a product that I knife down flat,
and then I run something down the line of the seam,
just so it looks like it did before.

Anyone had success, found something that works like that?
Otherwise I might try stopper, and run my finger over it..
Thought to ask before I go into a whole trial and error thing.
I'm not massively bothered what it looks like,
primarily I am protecting it from rust, not tarting it up.
Its having the rustoleum treatment on top,
so I am wary of using SikaFlex to smooth it,
theres talk of the paint not drying on top of SikaFlex

Thanks for any help with this,
I have searched a bit online and forum unsuccessfully

Or maybe theres a sealer that Rustoleum dries onto?

This is the bottom seam fridge panel. I felt it was good to dig at it back to metal with the wire brush, treat it from both sides. It could have been worse!


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That picture is taken after wire bushing the paint off,
then Dinitrol 80, cured, and then a light wet sanding,
just to remove the excess Dinitrol around before paint.
Could do with a little bit of smoothing.
Cant just fill it flat hey.. people will talk!

Inside got the same and then Built Hamber cavity wax.
Like that stuff it really seems to fizzle into cracks.

I have this problem on fridge side
But as it's my first dont know what to buy to protect/cure area and which way to weld it -Cut out make a seam and weld back in/plate it then make seam in filler ?
Gaffer tape is the preventer for now
I am thinking that a kids toy car wheel on a handle with a long raised edge ruler might work for reproducung the seam.
This is only an idea I was going to try, dont know how filler would react though.
Scratch that last message- newbie trying to fit in
Practice makes perfect.
Good luck

Well this thread didnt go very far..
and I have to revisit the seams already not a year later!

My guess is that the combination of the exterior sealer/paint,
has dried to leave a deep crack, a very fine one..
but I can see the brown rust stain against white paint.

Now I worked hard to get this right, but happy to go again.

I didnt apply any wax after, nothing.
So I have decided to go with Owatrol.
And a new thread!

To converse about the merits of Owatrol in seams,
and mixing it with Rustoleum, and which seam sealant.

Seams are notoriously hard to sort as the rust gets into the folds of metal.

My best results have been using a small grit blaster like you can get from machine mart that has the rubber shroud. You then use stone grit (not metal) and this gets in better than a wire brush. Best done on a warm dry day so you know the seams are not trapping moisture. then use vactan/bilt hamber deox/your preference as a rust curer.

I then paint with a 2k epoxy primer before adding a proper seam sealer then overpainting to match the final panel colour.

No gaurantees but have had reasonable success with this approach

Cheers,

MM

mm289 wrote: ↑18 Feb 2021, 19:31 Seams are notoriously hard to sort as the rust gets into the folds of metal.

My best results have been using a small grit blaster like you can get from machine mart that has the rubber shroud. You then use stone grit (not metal) and this gets in better than a wire brush. Best done on a warm dry day so you know the seams are not trapping moisture. then use vactan/bilt hamber deox/your preference as a rust curer.

I then paint with a 2k epoxy primer before adding a proper seam sealer then overpainting to match the final panel colour.

No gaurantees but have had reasonable success with this approach

Cheers,

MM

Thanks, 

could I ask for a link to the blaster please,
and what proper seam sealer?
Also I wondered about the rust curer being water based,
which is why I am thinking Owatrol now.

One thing I worry about is the compatibility of paints cures and sealers.
 

If the metal still has black spots  the rust will come back if the vehicle is exposed to damp conditions.

rollercoaster wrote: ↑20 Feb 2021, 20:33

mm289 wrote: ↑18 Feb 2021, 19:31 Seams are notoriously hard to sort as the rust gets into the folds of metal.

My best results have been using a small grit blaster like you can get from machine mart that has the rubber shroud. You then use stone grit (not metal) and this gets in better than a wire brush. Best done on a warm dry day so you know the seams are not trapping moisture. then use vactan/bilt hamber deox/your preference as a rust curer.

I then paint with a 2k epoxy primer before adding a proper seam sealer then overpainting to match the final panel colour.

No gaurantees but have had reasonable success with this approach

Cheers,

MM

Thanks, 

could I ask for a link to the blaster please,
and what proper seam sealer?
Also I wondered about the rust curer being water based,
which is why I am thinking Owatrol now.

One thing I worry about is the compatibility of paints cures and sealers.
 

I think MM refers to these type ones:
https://images.app.goo.gl/HStoZ7KEoszQjNuz8
They often pop up also in Lidl.

For rust converting I use local phosphoric acid based ones. The trick is you have to brush the metal wet with a hard brush until the black spots disappear, then wait to dry fully and remove the wite crystals and tarnish. Then as quick as you can paint in with epoxy.
After curing you can use filler on the edges to hide rust craters, but do not fill the gap fully - it will crack anyways.
Primer again, then sealant and colour. After all cures, use waxoil and/or fluidfilm from the inside. Fluidfilm needs re-doing in every year or two, but works really well.

With the method above, using cheap materials I got around 5 years of rust free seams. The van was used all year long even on salted roads. Seams started to crack and bubble up again so I scraped all seam sealer and sprayed with Carplan waxoil on the outside to slow rusting. This summer I will have to redo them.

2K epoxy etch primers can be painted over with any type of paint as I know, but better to use similar paints on each other.
Using an UV resistant seam sealer or windshield glue after painting can elliminate cracking of the sealer. I saw some german vans did that way and they looked nice, however you can see every seam in black.
Also in german classic car scene the Brunox 1K epoxy is a preferred rust encapsulator primer but I have not tried it yet.

I have the above mentioned equipment but only a 24 ltr air compressor.

Am looking into a 50ltr 10 bar maximum, would this suffice for sandblasting, air grinding etc.
Want a portable one as dont have a garage.

mm289 wrote: ↑18 Feb 2021, 19:31 Seams are notoriously hard to sort as the rust gets into the folds of metal.

My best results have been using a small grit blaster like you can get from machine mart that has the rubber shroud. You then use stone grit (not metal) and this gets in better than a wire brush. Best done on a warm dry day so you know the seams are not trapping moisture. then use vactan/bilt hamber deox/your preference as a rust curer.

I then paint with a 2k epoxy primer before adding a proper seam sealer then overpainting to match the final panel colour.

No gaurantees but have had reasonable success with this approach

Cheers,

MM

So what is a proper seam sealer?
and can you advise on how to use the sealer please.

As Sikaflex I used absorbs moisture to cure, I wonder if that has exacerbated the fresh seam rust.
Its really only where I used the sealer on top of the rust treatment, Hydrate 80, which was also water based.
You say paint before the sealer..

I treated the insides of the seams very well, cured and dinitrolled,
none of them were bad anyway, it was a preventative exercise thats gone wrong.

Think I have made a mistake really.

I will put some pictures up later.
For now I have TCut the brown seams off and sealed with Owatrol,
but probably dig back to the metal eventually and try a different approach.

Its not about the looks, I am hand painting anyway, (white)
I really want to stop the potential rot.
 

It's a depressing, constantly losing struggle. I don't believe it's possible to 100% stop it's slow march of decay. Wrong country, wrong climate, wrong material. Oh well!

slowcoach wrote: ↑12 Mar 2021, 19:21 It's a depressing, constantly losing struggle. I don't believe it's possible to 100% stop it's slow march of decay. Wrong country, wrong climate, wrong material. Oh well!

At least you don't live on the coast with all that nice salty air!
I haven't got that much of a problem with the seams currently. I did some work on my passenger side wheel arch when I repainted it. Just sanded / ground back to metal along the seam and did the rust converter/treatment stuff then put some new seam stuff and a bit of filler along the arch itself as it had a few minor dents in it. Once that had set just sanded and painted it.

Mind you I am always on the watch for cracks in the seams. Part of me thinks melting some wax or wd40 into any cracks is that daft thinking?
 

I am in agreement,
perhaps my mistake was to let them be..
thinking I had sorted it.

Whereas a little bit of a rub over with oil or wax after might have given extra life.