seam rust advice (picture) for newbie

[purplecrocs]

Hi. Apologies for the shear number of posts from me at the moment, but we've just bought our first T25!

I know seam rust has been covered a few times, but I was after some specific advice and to consolidate some opinion...



The above shows the rust coming though on my van... is this easily tackled by a novice? Would i need a grinder/dremel thing or can it just be done with sandpaper? Once removed I undersatnd vactan should be put on it, then seam filler? Then re-painting... am I best getting a body shop to re-paint or could I prime and paint it with aerosols from Halfords or wherever... and if i was to paint it this way would it affect any future respray, will a professional one just go straight over the top ok?

Thanks for any of your advice

[grumpyoldgit]

Agreed. An idiot's guide would be much appreciated. I last did this sort of thing 30 years ago when I had my first couple of rust heaps. Since then, I have traded my cars in before any work on the bodywork was required. Now having a 26 year old vehicle the situation is different. I can see some rust spots coming through on my doors and am really out of date with current methods and products.

[mr_clarkson]

if it was me i would sand it down first with wwet n dry and see if it can be got like that, then if needs be i wwould probably use a dremel with small grinding wheel to remove it from in the seems.

with regards to painting, if it is just a few small bits here and there i would do it myyself with aerosols, but deppends how confient you are i spose. personally i dont like the paint from halfrauds and would try and either find somewhere that sells "-holts" or a auto paint shop and get them to mix it for you and put in a spray can.

be aware that there are lots of differant whites and getting a perfect match can be tricky, however it can be blended in very well if you spend some time after the paint is on with wet 1500 grade wet n dry sanding it then buff it up

[CovKid]

It need hardly be said that getting into such narrow gaps (and you need to treat from inside as wel) is extraordinarily difficult and in many case impossible. I use a combination of sand blasting (Aldi had one on offer for just £8 a week or so ago) and rust treatment. Vactan has worked for me where I've been able to get good penetration. The only sure way to sort rust is remove it completely. Anything else will merely slow it down really.

[purplecrocs]

thought i'd seize the moment - went down to local Aldi... no joy though. What is it anyway, how does it work, do you need a compressor as well or something?

[AngeloEvs]

That is from the rear (the section from the bumper). The panel is spot welded to the airbox creating a flange at the rear covered with underbody sealant. The underbosy sealant lifts at the corners and water is penetarting through the spot welded flange to the outside. Get under the van and expose the flange to airbox by removing any underbody compund then treat the area. Paint it afterwards and re-apply underbody compound or waxoil or do as I do, slap a thick layer of grease along the entire flange. I do it every Autumn and no sign of seam rash in that area. Repeat for the vertical seam which is just an exposed spot welded flange.

[CovKid]

A few stores seem to have one or two left - they vary from branch to branch:

https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... i#p7384784" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[eatcustard]

I have just used one of these wire brushes on the end of a drill

Crimped-Wire-Shaft-Mounted-Circular-Brushes-YL340-.jpg

[CovKid]

They're excellent actually. Gets in a fair way which is what you need.

[purplecrocs]

ok. Maybe i'll look out for one of them - easier than buying a compressor etc!

So, if I did a patch up re-spray with aerosols, can a future professional respray be painted straight on top of that without problems?

And what would be the order of doing the paint/seam filler.... primer, seal filler, paint? or does the seam filler need to go in first?

[eatcustard]

Yes a pro can respray over your aerosol paint.

[purplecrocs]

ok, got to work out what colour it is next - cant find a paint code on it anywhere!

[1664]

The paint code is on the paper sticker on the front bulkhead cross-member below and to the right of the steering wheel.

You might find these pictures of interest. They run in reverse order though as I uploaded them as I went along

Clicky here http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g264/ ... r%20seams/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Fozzie]

Was just going to post pretty much the same question when I encountered this thread. This is my seam from the outside (on the UK near-side, 'cos it's a LHD)

seam_rust_out1.jpg

... and inside behind the cabinets, which I finally pulled out, was this:

seam_rust_out1.jpg

Not BAD bad, but not good. And worse because the worst of it disappears under the gas locker, and the same panel has the fridge vent, hookup box and heater vents, all acting as rust-traps and will need attention soon. Nevertheless I'm hoping it doesn't YET need the major surgery that CovKid recently described so beautifully, but am dithering on what exactly to do.

BTW anyone else in a similar situation, and near me (NW London-ish) is welcome to come over (or I'll travel) so we can dither together. (Or do we have some kind of buddy system on this site anyway and I've missed it?)

Any advice more than welcome...

[bennwedge]

I'd use a mixture of everything , dremel, sandpaper, wire wheel etc. But don't use that crap paint from halfords . It reacts badly to auto paint from the professionals . I've had to painstaking remove all of it on my bus before I sprayed it properly. And don't forget to sort out the back of the seam . That's where all the water gets in.