13 replies to this topic

[LiamMann]

I am very new to all this so bear with my naivety,

 

I am planning on sanding down parts of my mini in which has surface rust or rust bubbles or a whole panel and then priming it mostly to keep rust at bay whilst i come up with money for a full respray,

I was just wondering what i should use for this? some sort of sander but what grade to start with and when shouldi change the grade ect.

thank you Liam 

[sonikk4]

A lot depends on what tools you have available. If you don't have a compressor then you can buy electric DA sanders. Start with a heavier grit like 80 on heavy surface rust then drop the grades down to something like 400. You may need to apply a skim of filler as well as any treatment like Krust. The filler i would recommend Upol Fantastic.

 

Surface rust on a mini is not normally good news as most rust issues start from underneath on a mini and are generally the tip of the iceberg.

 

A grinder with a flapper disc is not too abrasive and will remove heavier deposits of rust. Don't go mad with it as mini panels are thin. Mots external panels are 0.9mm thick so any deep rust is not good news. 

[LiamMann]

Thankyou, what is a good and relatively cheap DA sander?

[sonikk4]

Thankyou, what is a good and relatively cheap DA sander?

 

Sorry did not get back to you earlier, try this one

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item43bdd164d4

 

to be honest how well it will work i do not know. I have an electric one i use on our furniture but i also has an pneumatic one as well which i prefer.

[LiamMann]

Thanks for the reply, i shall take a look when i have more time off work! Weekend perhaps!

[Daz1968]

I bought the cheap Titan da sander from screw fix, not bad at all for the money,

[crf150]

i wouldnt say start off with 80 grit, someone who was meant to be preping and spraying my car for me used 80 grit to start it and it left deep swirls and lines all occross the panel, i have been using 400 and it seems to get it all out fine, i would suggest starting on 240 if it is jsut the paint you are getting off and 180 where you have to take some surface rust off, then work your way up through the grits

[wildwillie]

Rust bubbles are not good news. This means the rust has come throught the panel. So when you sand it down you are very likely to find a hole in your panel when you remove all the rust. be careful becuase what may look like a small rust bubble could end up being triple the size once you have sanded back to bare metal. If you do fine this I foudn that using some fibre glass covers the hole nicely as long as you apply enough and leave it to dry and go solid over night. You can then rub this down and it would look as good as new!

[crf150]

cough cough, body filler!!! i didnt say that?

[sonikk4]

80 grit will quickly knock back the rust then you can go down the grades to the finer ones. Not going heavy will not cause any issues but as I first said and that has been repeated since the rust will be deeper than you think.

As for the F word, as a temporary measure then why not, but bare in mind that the rust will reappear so those panels will either need to be replaced or repair section cut in.

[LiamMann]

So i should sand down the rust to bare metal, fill then sand down so it is flush? What about if the rust is around the light area? Should the panel be replaced? If i should replace the panel how should i go about this?

[crf150]

Sand down the rust until there is no rust, so it will be back to bare metal, if you sand it and leave rust underneath and then it will just come back in the future

[LiamMann]

Would i be better off taking off the panels and replacing? I do want to keep it as original as i can though

[crf150]

Depends now bad the rust and holes are, upload some pictures and I'm sure we'd be able to tell you!