Originally posted by Loren
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Interesting stuff, worth bringing up again.
I just had a bunch of rusty steel parts to clean, and went out to buy anything I could find to do it. The youngster at the automotive paint store where we used to get metal-prep actually did not seem to know what I was talking about. After five minutes of searching his stockroom shelves he came up with a $55 gallon of paint thinner. Migawd people have become idiots, it's hard to be polite. The Home Depot had Zep driveway cleaner (I bought four gallons) and the hardware store had this stuff I've never seen, RustOleum rust remover which is phosporic acid, the stuff metal-prep used to have, and I bought two gallons of that. There's always swimming pool (muriatic acid) and toilet bowl cleaner (hydrochloric acid I think) too but I was wanting to try something new. The Zep wins hands-down, but like muriatic acid leaves the metal subject to fast re-corrosion and being worse than it was, you have to get it cleaned, rinsed and apply oil which if you're going to be painting is counter-productive. Phosphoric acid is better that way, I wound up leaving a basket of parts in the Zep driveway cleaner for six hours, then rinsing, then dipping in the RustOleum, then drying and that worked the best.
The Zep seemed to have less of a problem with fumes than muriatic acid which if you leave an open tub of in your garage you'll find every metal thing in your garage has corrosion on it the next day.
BTW if you're using this stuff on car bodies, rubbing by hand, it seems to take forever. The process speeds up if you use Scotch-Brite pads but they dull and clog...pouring a little silica sand onto your work, then going at it with the pads, seems to work best.
I just had a bunch of rusty steel parts to clean, and went out to buy anything I could find to do it. The youngster at the automotive paint store where we used to get metal-prep actually did not seem to know what I was talking about. After five minutes of searching his stockroom shelves he came up with a $55 gallon of paint thinner. Migawd people have become idiots, it's hard to be polite. The Home Depot had Zep driveway cleaner (I bought four gallons) and the hardware store had this stuff I've never seen, RustOleum rust remover which is phosporic acid, the stuff metal-prep used to have, and I bought two gallons of that. There's always swimming pool (muriatic acid) and toilet bowl cleaner (hydrochloric acid I think) too but I was wanting to try something new. The Zep wins hands-down, but like muriatic acid leaves the metal subject to fast re-corrosion and being worse than it was, you have to get it cleaned, rinsed and apply oil which if you're going to be painting is counter-productive. Phosphoric acid is better that way, I wound up leaving a basket of parts in the Zep driveway cleaner for six hours, then rinsing, then dipping in the RustOleum, then drying and that worked the best.
The Zep seemed to have less of a problem with fumes than muriatic acid which if you leave an open tub of in your garage you'll find every metal thing in your garage has corrosion on it the next day.
BTW if you're using this stuff on car bodies, rubbing by hand, it seems to take forever. The process speeds up if you use Scotch-Brite pads but they dull and clog...pouring a little silica sand onto your work, then going at it with the pads, seems to work best.
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