What is the best way to protect bare iron metal from rust? Options

[Langing]

I picked off a steering knuckle from a junkyard Celica, removed the ball joint and wheel bearing, and cleaned it with a wire wheel to the point where it seems rust and yuck free. Now it is almost all bare metal and I have two questions:

1) What is the best/easiest way to remove the remaining rust? (I don't have a sand blaster.)

2) What is a good/long-lasting way to protect the bare metal from rusting again?

To show what I am talking about I include a photo of the newly cleaned SN next to my Celica's SN (the one with with bent ears). The junkyard SN is the lighter of the two, the golden rust colored one; it came from a red 1995 Celica and is going on a white 1994 Celica:



Thanks to anyone who takes time to help me by discussing these questions.

[Nial]

Best thing to do, buy some "bilt hamber Deox c" this is a very effective rust remover, it will remove all remaining traces of rust, here's the hub carrier I soaked in Deox c for a few days, no other work was done on it at this stage,, no wire brushing, nothing



I also tried phosphoric acid but you have to wash it off which seems a bit odd as it reintroduces rust, if you want to go really over board you can get it zinc plated.

After removing the rust I agree with the Eastwood comment. It's a very good paint, they do something called chassis Black extreme in either a spray can (very expensive) or tin to use a brush with, I tried both, both work well. Leave it to dry for at least a week to reach maximum toughness before putting it onto the car (if you can leave it that long) remember to go for the extreme version, they do a chassis black that's not as tough.

You can also buy something called Epoxy mastic 121 from a company called rust busters, it's a two pack paint, extremely tough, used to paint the legs of oil rigs apparently! The finish isn't as smooth as the Eastwood paint but it's as hard as nails.

Powder coating I am not so tempted by, I did some tests years ago and as soon as the powder coating gets chipped it allowed water to get between the powder coat and the metal. It depends greatly on the quality of the powder coater, some are very good and produce a very tough finish that's nearly impossible to chip, some don't. So it's a bit of hit and miss.

Another option is something called POR15, they do a two pack anti rust paint that's pretty good, the finish is excellent, no matter how badly you apply it, it dries with a glass smooth high gloss finish, but it's not UV resistant so needs a top coat, they also do something called a hardnose paint, again a two pack paint, I used this on my fuel tank, the finish is OK but you can belt it with a hammer and it doesn't chip, very strong, very expensive.

[Langing]

Best thing to do, buy some "bilt hamber Deox c" this is a very effective rust remover, it will remove all remaining traces of rust, here's the hub carrier I soaked in Deox c for a few days, no other work was done on it at this stage,, no wire brushing, nothing



I also tried phosphoric acid but you have to wash it off which seems a bit odd as it reintroduces rust, if you want to go really over board you can get it zinc plated.

After removing the rust I agree with the Eastwood comment. It's a very good paint, they do something called chassis Black extreme in either a spray can (very expensive) or tin to use a brush with, I tried both, both work well. Leave it to dry for at least a week to reach maximum toughness before putting it onto the car (if you can leave it that long) remember to go for the extreme version, they do a chassis black that's not as tough.

You can also buy something called Epoxy mastic 121 from a company called rust busters, it's a two pack paint, extremely tough, used to paint the legs of oil rigs apparently! The finish isn't as smooth as the Eastwood paint but it's as hard as nails.

Powder coating I am not so tempted by, I did some tests years ago and as soon as the powder coating gets chipped it allowed water to get between the powder coat and the metal. It depends greatly on the quality of the powder coater, some are very good and produce a very tough finish that's nearly impossible to chip, some don't. So it's a bit of hit and miss.

Another option is something called POR15, they do a two pack anti rust paint that's pretty good, the finish is excellent, no matter how badly you apply it, it dries with a glass smooth high gloss finish, but it's not UV resistant so needs a top coat, they also do something called a hardnose paint, again a two pack paint, I used this on my fuel tank, the finish is OK but you can belt it with a hammer and it doesn't chip, very strong, very expensive.

You've been quite thorough in your explanation, and I especially thank you for that. Much appreciated. Seems you've done a lot of homework on how to protect the parts you restore and I admire the thought and experimentation you have put into it.

Your photo shows a steering knuckle (hub carrier) that you simply dumped into a chemical bath, without any other preparation, and the result is amazing. In my case, I have already used a strong wire wheel in an angle grinder to spin off the debris. That did a fast and pretty reasonable job and the metal didn't seem any the worse for the violence. As you can see, the amount of rust remaining is way less than before I started. Knowing that, would you still recommend a bath in Deox C, meaning, is the quality of the resulting metal surface finish worth the cost of the chemical?

Also, just to check my thinking, when it is finally clean I guess that's the time to reinstall the wheel bearing and ball joint, i.e., prior to painting because installation of the bearing, etc, would be rough on the paint.

I am concerned about the quality of the work I am doing, but at the same time know that nothing is permanent, and after all, it's a steering knuckle, a part that is rarely seen, so do believe that a coating designed for marine applications is indeed "going overboard."