Rust bullet,Por-15,Ospho rust protection or cover up?.

[Bronco Ben]

I need some opinion's on something. I've been putting off the idea of using something like rust bullet and por 15, which I'll wind up using the rust bullet if I use any of it, but I'm now thinking there is no way I can get my ospho, then prep then prime then paint all the areas I want to.I use ospho and it kills rust however I'm not sure I'll be getting the smoothest surface and Dont know if I can properly prep all areas that I can get the ospho in, the Ospho is basically like a rust killer, then leaves a primer coat........that scares me in that I dont want to leave primed areas (ospho) and them not have paint on em...... How do you like your rust bullet? I just feel like I dont want to "JUST" cover up something. I want my rust "DEAD" however I do want to be protected against future rust. My buddy tells me that I'm doing the wrong thing by stripping all the paint off the rest of the unrusted parts of my tub, and that I should leave it alone. I myself want it to be total bare steel and be prepped then primed then painted better than it was from the factory. Opinons please....?

 

[Mark]

The POR15 I used 5 years ago still looks like I did it yesterday.
I used Rustbullet extensively this past summer and I have rust starting to come through 6 months later. That's NOT good.
I'm going to start a thread with pictures on this subject soon.

 

[Bronco Ben]

that would be a great idea. I'm sure most will say "well your not doing this or your not doing that" but truth is RUST is a hard thing to prevent, and especially hard to kill. This OSPHO claims it kills rust, well yea maybe I'll buy that it turns it black, but what about all the areas around the inner fenders, underside of the body etc, that you cant get to or even see. It can kill it but if you cant get primer or paint to stay on what has been killed then your just spiting in the wind, only to have the rust come back at ya....did I mention I hate rust! ;D

update, I decided to order one of the six packs of RUST BULLET But do I get the silver or gold cans?
thanks
Ben

 

[agent_orange_71]

Ben--I *think* you want the silver cans. I cant remember the colors. Anyway, you will probably want the "automotive blend" because it has more metal content in it to fill in small pits in the metal.

Mark Troy--Id like to hear more on your experience. My frame hasnt left the garage so I dunno about it but the other stuff Ive used it on that has been exposed to mucho weather is holding up fine. (Not trying to start a shitstorm or hijack Ben's thread %) )

Edit: Yep, the silver cans are the automotive stuff

 

[meathead333]

not trying to hi jack either; i too am interested in opinions of rust bullet. the concern of not being able to protect areas you cant see or get too bothers me too, i feel your pain. :'(

 

[4x4x289]

for the inside of the tub, i've been thinking about this for a while. i've been holding off until i get my 5 speed installed to make the last mod in my floor for it. My plan is to strip the entire floor and door and tailgate jams, bead/sand blast them, por them, and install line-x. for the rest, including my frame, underside, and under the hood, I will keep up with spaying wd-40. i don't drive mine often. When i lay my bronco up for extended periods, i give it a good coat of wd-40 inside and out. i wipe the excess with a rag. I use two to three cans of it somtimes. it seeps in well into the body seams, bolted connections, cracks in the undercoating. I've used Extend once on the floors and it didn't hold up to the abrasion and abuse. Thats why i'm going with line-x. Since the line-x can still car, from jacks or whatever, and its basicaly permanent, I also plan on installing carpet to protect the line-x, however, carpet can be a hassle, so I made plans for it. My cage supports all of my interior, belts, seats, and tuffy boxes, such that i will be able to side in and out a one-piece carpet. I can remove it to clean it, and replace it. its all part of my long range plan. I hope i can finish it before I kick the bucket.

 

[dpmerrill]

I agree with you on stripping the metal. I have stripped parts of my body that looked good and found light rust under the old primer.

But I would skip the Ospho, especially if you are going to use RustBullet. The POR/Rustbullet polymers are better at chemically bonding to rough and lightly rusted metal and they are better protection.

Ospho and other rust converters just convert a thin outer layer of rust into a hard shell of iron phosphate (black). Sanding it weakens the shell and one chip or pinhole is all it takes to break it down.

 

[Bronco Ben]

dpmerrill
yea I'm thinking the same thing, my deal was if I could kill the rust or use it as a barrier (the ospho) until I get it blasted or sanded completely, then come back and either rustbullet it, POR it or just epoxy prime and seal it. And as far as the cracks go where sheetmetal is put together, I dont think bare dry metal put together is a problem, I thinks its when the seam sealer breaks down in certain areas and lets the moisture creep under on one end of a panel and run thru out the welded surface area that it causes the most damage. Heck if my rig last me another 34 years (its a 70 model) I'll be happy, then one of my boys or girls hopefully can do a restore on it by then. ;D .........best part is I know while I have it at least it will be better taken care of than it was the first 34 years of its life! ya know!
Ben

 

[dpmerrill]

Hey Ben,

That sounds like an excellent plan (especially the part about the kids picking up the next restoration ). I agree that bare metal seams aren't a problem as long as they are sealed. If my PO would have seen the problem and spent a few days fixing the cracked seals, I wouldn't be spending the next few months replacing all these panels.

...I sure wish my PO hated rust as much as we do!...

 

[Bronco Ben]

...I sure wish my PO hated rust as much as we do!...

AMEN to that! There is no telling how many PO's my rig had, because around here, once a truck/4X4 gets in rough shape people just keep patching it up so it will run and keep on driving it till it just completely dies. One thing the PO's did in my case that I like, they kept putting more layers of paint on it. ;D its been hell on me in one way but at least its been protecting the body underneath (somewhat) the rest of the time. From what I understand, RUST cant keep eating up sheetmetal unless it can get oxygen therefore the seam sealer keeps it to a min. Hummm kinda like POR,or rustbullet!

 

[Bronco Ben]

well I ordered a "6 shooter" 6 pack of rust bullet today, to do several parts with, I'll keep you guys posted on how it turns out. Also I would like to paint over the rustbullet in some areas, I guess just sanding it would be enough for the primer to adhere? opinons?
Ben

 

[Mark]

well I ordered a "6 shooter" 6 pack of rust bullet today, to do several parts with, ... opinons?Ben

Here's my opinion of Rustbullet. .. (BTW no whiners about I applied it incorrectly - I'm anal about following directions and I'm no novice when it comes to applying this type of stuff).

 

[Bronco Ben]

ok, so what would you do if you were me? Please if you dont mind, a few details on your rust bullet application. I hate rust with a passion, and want to rid of all the rust that I can for good, I dont want to come back in 5 years and have to re-do anything. But then again I DO NOT BELIEVE IN MIRICAL CURES when it comes to rust!
would you continue on with ospho, then sand it back down then prime then paint? Or would you GRIND ALL the rust out, patch it up with metal even if its 20 small places, and go on from here or what. If you say you used it and it caused what I saw in those photos, then either one of two things, either it isnt as good as people claim, or you didnt prep it right??....... Ya see thats the same thing I think will happen if I do a bed liner in the inside of my tub especially if I leave it bare fresh ground metal then apply the floor liner stuff.
what to do???
Thanks
Ben

 

[Mark]

To apply the rustbullet I took my trusty 4 1/2" Metabo industrial angle grinder
otherwise known as "my 2nd savior", and wirewheeled the rusted areas - which were not REAL rusty. This removed all loose rust, and took most to pretty bare metal. The instructions then say to apply Rustbullet to these effected areas. I brushed it on, waited 3 hrs and put the 2nd coat on. This was late this summer and I now have rust coming through - kinda yellowish in the pictures.
When I applied POR15 to my other rig 4 years ago, I did the same wire wheel, remove all loose rust procedure, but POR15 has the added step of applying "metal ready" which further takes rust off and prepares the area for acceptance of POR15, which still looks great today.
Iwas sold on the Rustbullet with the added simplicity of the application, the silver color, it is not UV sensitive like POR15, it can also be a primer so you can top coat it with your paint. POR15 you have to prime again with another product of theirs (tie-coat primer).
I REALLY wish I had as good results with the Rustbullet as I've had with POR15, I REALLY wanted it to work great, but I am disappointed.
I don't have any experience with OSPHO.
Is POR15 a miracle cure for rust??? ALL these products claim that. Like you Ben, I don't think there is a miracle cure. This is going to be a battle as long as we have our rigs I think. Unless I pull mine off the road in winter, which I don't want to do.

 

[2badrotties]

Mark Troy - sorry to see those results. I never tried any of the rust bullet and right now I'm kinda glad I didn't. I have used the POR15 in the past and had good luck so that is what I did on my truck. It is holding up really well. Yes, the POR15 is more work but Maybe they did a little more research before they sold it as a one coat covers all application and found out that they really needed the extra steps. Keep everyone updated on that rust bullet if it gets any worse you may be able to save someone else a lot of work for nothing.
They say there are only two SURE things in life, Death and Taxes. Again, sorry to see you waste your time and money.

 

[dpmerrill]

It sucks, but you can't kill rust. The best thing you can do to rust is get it off your truck so it will go live somewhere else. The rust you absolutely can't get to, you cover up with the most durable stuff you can find to slow it down.

I wouldn't put any product on heavy rust and expect it to last very long. I've heard success stories about RustBullet and POR lasting for years, but it's going to be hard to beat the story of my friends '66 Mustang getting over 30 years out of the factory paint when their only secret was starting with clean metal.

For the chassis and undercarriage, Rustbullet/POR look like excellent choices because they are so chip resistant. They're also perfect for places you can't get to like inside the tailgate, windshield cowl, and other panels because that stuff sticks to just about anything.

I think Ospho would be good for situations like the seam in Mark's first picture. It looks like it had rust that couldn't have been removed without ripping the seam apart. Oshpo is thin like water, so it would penetrate deeper into the seam. It probably wouldn't get all the rust, but it would get enough to let seam sealer help keep it contained. You would still have to use seam sealer since paint doesn't have enough elasticity to last on spot welded seams.

I don't think Ospho is good for much else because it only works during the initial application when it's wet. After it dries it stops working and you're just left with an inferior paint. If you're using it to isolate the rust so you can sand it down, there are better washes out there that break the rust down instead of trying to make it stronger.

One other choice I really like for body panels is Sears/Eastwood Rust Inhibitor (Red). The name has changed since I started using it but I think that's close. It brushes or sprays on like a primer. It also sands and takes paint or primer very well. It makes for a better looking finish if it's paint you're going to be looking at. They claim it stops rust creep better than POR or RustBullet. I've been painting my undercarriages with it since back when Corroless sold it, and I've never seen it fail.



...Sorry, I hate long rambling posts as much as anybody...

 

[72moore]

re

I need some opinion's on something. I've been putting off the idea of using something like rust bullet and por 15, which I'll wind up using the rust bullet if I use any of it, but I'm now thinking there is no way I can get my ospho, then prep then prime then paint all the areas I want to.I use ospho and it kills rust however I'm not sure I'll be getting the smoothest surface and Dont know if I can properly prep all areas that I can get the ospho in, the Ospho is basically like a rust killer, then leaves a primer coat........that scares me in that I dont want to leave primed areas (ospho) and them not have paint on em...... How do you like your rust bullet? I just feel like I dont want to "JUST" cover up something. I want my rust "DEAD" however I do want to be protected against future rust. My buddy tells me that I'm doing the wrong thing by stripping all the paint off the rest of the unrusted parts of my tub, and that I should leave it alone. I myself want it to be total bare steel and be prepped then primed then painted better than it was from the factory. Opinons please....?

Take a die grinder and cut out all the rust you can, get a sheet of metal
measure and cut, weld in new metal. You want to use weld thru before
to lock out the moisture. ALOT of work but you will be glad you did it this way. Just my opinion.

 

[Bronco Ben]

well my problem areas are the bottems of my door post, on both sides, and my striker plate on drivers side, (passenger side has already been replaced ;D ). .........so here is what I plan to do. First off, I'm gonna try and cut all the rust out that I can get too, the door striker plate on drivers side will be replaced as its to bad for me to deal with. .......and I am probably gonna just cut off the bottems of my door post (both sides) and try and build panels out of some sheetmetal I have laying around off some parts cars.

"people keep saying weld thru primer, POR 15,rustbullet, epoxy primer........dam by the time I get thru buying all this crap I wont have any money left and I'll be sitting on my bronco with it un-finished for 7 years like everyone else"!

Or I may just wait it the hell out and buy one panel at a time and spend the next 2 years finishing it right, which will probably consist of me letting rust get to all my new panels in the mean time..............dam restoration is frustrating!
BEN

 

[Bronco Ben]

got my rustbullet today. Only one problem, my dog chewed up the box it came in and the paper work! ......I cant believe I lucked up and he didnt chew up the cans, but he didnt!

too cold to do much tonight but Friday i should start getting some serious work done.....sooner if the weather warms up a bit. I'll keep you guys posted on my "making progress on frank" thread!
Ben

 

[Frankenhorse]

Is there any benifit to puting rust/por down before I spray in the bed liner. Ca I don't have much rust however moving to TN in June so rust protection seems inorder.