Surface rust in roof gutters.........

[76campmobile]

Any thoughts on roof gutter surface rust (no holes).I have a 76 Westy with original paint which is still in overall good conditon, want to get this fixed asap.

Interested to hear what others have done to address this.

[amskeptic]

You have a crease line just above the gutter that runs the entire perimeter of the roof. Mask it off with folded newspaper up over the roof.
Mask the underside of the gutter and let newspaper hang down. Sand the entire gutter with 320/400 grit followed by 600 grit. Wipe down with lacquer thinner. Get out the primer and fog coat let dry, fog coat let dry, proper coat let dry. Re-sand with 800 grit. Wipe down with tack cloth. White gloss rustoleum fog coat partial dry, fog coat partial dry, full coat dry, full coat dry. Good grief that is way too white. Now finish with a careful clearcoat engine paint and watch hue match up with the L-90D Pastel White. Pull off the masking tape straight back at a 45* angle so it won't lift anything.
What the hell, there is a grey stripe where the primer laid down.
Wellll, you can't really notice it way up at the roof/gutter crease and the gutters are beeyootiful now. That's what I did at any rate, back in 1997.
Look at my Bus, can you see the grey primer stripe? Of course not.
Colin

[SuperBeetle71]

I got out the wire grinder and went all the way around from front to front. Then I wiped it with thinner and later put down 3 coats of POR-15. I gave it a light sanding to feather it a bit (POR-15 feathers horribly) and sprayed it over with the glorious white primer that crowns my bus. Nobody can see into the channels anyway, and if you have a westy i imagine the fiberglass thingy is going over it anyway.

POR-15 means no more rust. I used it on my window channel too. I think everyone should do it. Window channel rot causes more good buses to be sent to the wreckers than just about anything else.


Later,
Cody
71 Superbeetle
70 bus

[M69J71@Yahoo.com]

Ahh..the mythic busting of the rust. I was in the Navy for 12 years and became well schooled in the art of rust removal. Ask 20 people who say they know how to bust rust and you may get 20 different variations of the same. I.E. Physical removal of the rust, or chemical reversal of the oxidation process. Sander, wire brush, wire wheel, needle gun, sandpaper, cut it out, blow torch, naval jelly, about a bazillion Por products. Aggresiveness of the treatment is in direct relation to the amount of the rust envolved. Surface rust may come off with some fine sandpaper, primer, paint VOILA. Deeper pitting may take some more work. Good luck, god speed...Rust is the enemy.

[metropoj]

M69J71, with all your experience in the Navy, you didn't put down WHAT the correct way to bust rust is !!!! I use POR15 as well because I had good luck with it, you know something we don't ???

After the comments, I was expecting al ittle of your knowledge to "set the record Straight" Navy style !

Let us know what the "correct" way is please ...

[Humby]

Ok for the surface rust, but what can you do when you have holes in your gutters or some little sections that chip off? Some people say to place a new roofsection, but isn't that too radical? Isn 't there another way to fix it and make it look clean??

[mylimeywesty]

I've become the master of fiberglass cloth. I rebuilt both front wheel wells and rocker panels. It's not always the prettiest, but I've seen far worse (copper flashing was in my wheel well before from PO).

[PAT]

Everything that I have read and a lot of the people that I talked to about holes in gutters all basiclly said one thing do not use bondo or anything like that because it is porus. I have a problem with holes in my gutters and I'm not going the expanse of replacing. After much reseach I am using a product called liquid metal. I clean the area and remove the rust. Treat the area with a rust stopper or nuterlizer, then I get a rubber glove and spread the liquid metal with my finger. You have to be quick and only go over it once or it wants to clump up and stick to your finger. I have had real good luck with it.

[M69J71@Yahoo.com]

well, what I was trying to say through the 7 beers I had is: How to fix is based on how bad it is. Ive taken off some minor surface crud with some 600 grit and then naval jelly and some Krylon. I had to wire wheel some of the deeper pitted stuff that was under the drivers side floor and then naval jelly it and painted. Rust is Oxidation of a metal, and theres about 12 chemicals or more out there that kill it fast. Ok, so Ive only had half a bottle of Sake tonight.