*pictures added* Your favorite methods to address surface rust on a steel frame

[warren128]

I have a 44 year old 531db frameset that I'm eager to get on the road. The original paint is remarkably well preserved with the exception of the usual spots where the paint got chipped for various reasons. As expected, those spots have surface rust. My plan is to get as much of the surface rust off as possible, and then use some car wax on the frame. I know that rust never rests, etc., but if that's all that I do, how long will it take before the rust becomes a structural "issue"? Is it months, years, a few more decades?

I'm not interested in restoration or in preserving the frame forever, I just want to get it on the road and enjoy it for a while before possibly passing it along to someone else. A look inside the bottom bracket, seat tube, and steerer shows almost no rust at all, so I believe the inside of the tubes are in very good condition.

Do you have any favorite methods and/or chemical solutions to address these minor surface rust concerns?

Thanks.

[.RJ]

The easiest thing to do would be to sand off what you can and use something like nail polish to cover up the exposed metal. The paint will cover up and protect the metal.

You could go further and use a rust converter on the affected areas too. But no way would I just use wax or leave it exposed.

[tellyho]

I have a similar situation on a Raleigh Lenton Gran Prix. I just cleaned it and clearcoated over the whole thing. It's the beausage look.

Any time I try to remediate in a more aesthetic fashion, the outcome mostly looks worse to my eye. But I have successfully naval jelly-ed and then touched up spots on other frames. Getting a paint match is impossible unless you are mixing paint to do it.

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by warren128

Do you have any favorite methods and/or chemical solutions to address these minor surface rust concerns?

Evaporust.

Either use the jelly to spot treat, or use the liquid to soak paper towels and wrap the paper towels around the frame/cover the issue spots.

Regardless of which you use, if you wrap with some saranwrap, that will keep the jelly from moving or the paper towels from drying out. You can keep the stuff on there for hours and it wont harm the paint. Deep rust may require multiple treatments with you rubbing the spot with a cloth towel between treatments to physically remove any of the converted rust so the chemical can do its thing on the second treatment.


If you dont want to use touch up paint after the rust is removed, at least use clear nail polish. A permanent barrier is better than temporary wax.



Also- if you want to treat the whole frame, inside and out, just make a box that is about 6" wide, 4" deep, and 27" long. Tape boxes together, if you need. Line it with plastic(cut garbage bag is fine) and fill with evaporust. You can then submerge tubes into the solution and leave the frame there to sit for an hour or so per tube. It will attach rust both inside and outside each tube.
After each tube- drain the solution, wipe down with a wet towel, then wipe down with a dry towel.

[Ralph]

Evaporust works. Did some part time work helping restore old $300,000 (after restored) Shelby Mustangs. We used a lot of Evaporust. Bought it in 5 gal containers. I would soak old rusty suspension and brake parts overnight, and next morning looked like new. Good stuff!

[p nut]

Am I the only one who thinks if the original poster wants to get it on the road, to just get on it and ride? Surface rust with no rust inside the frame? That sort of patina makes the bike more photogenic.

Just ride it!

[warren128]

Originally Posted by p nut

Am I the only one who thinks if the original poster wants to get it on the road, to just get on it and ride? Surface rust with no rust inside the frame? That sort of patina makes the bike more photogenic.

Just ride it!

Pretty much this... when I first bought the complete bike, I just wanted to get on it and ride it for a while before I do anything else to it. As it turned out, the more I looked at the components, I realized that the pictures of the bike did not tell the whole story. While the paint looked good, every part with bearings needed renewal, the chain was very worn (stretched). I wanted to reuse the nice, cranks with the drilled rings, but when I tried to remove the cranks to get to the bottom bracket to overhaul, I found the drive side crank was seized to the BB spindle. I almost killed myself and killed a few tools in the usual attempts to remove the crank, so I ended up cutting the crank off.

Now that I have the bike taken apart, I thought I'd ask the question here about the surface rust spots before I put the bike back together again. I have all the new parts ready to go.

Thanks for all your advice. I think I'm going to get as much rust off as possible, then use clear nail polish to cover the bare metal spots, and then continue with the build.

I should have included pictures in the original post, here they are:

The frame looks nice from 5 feet away:

IMG_20240115_220936622 by warren t., on Flickr

The brown stuff on the BB threads is not rust, it's what's left of the brown colored sludge that was in there that used to be grease. Some of the paint is chipped from around the BB opening:

IMG_20240130_230323489_HDR by warren t., on Flickr

IMG_20240130_230148650 by warren t., on Flickr

IMG_20240130_230053398_HDR by warren t., on Flickr

This is the biggest blemish, appears a previous owner had strapped something to the seatstay:

IMG_20240130_230020048_HDR by warren t., on Flickr

Rust at the edges of lugs:

IMG_20240115_224131505_HDR by warren t., on Flickr

[TM267905]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

Evaporust.

Either use the jelly to spot treat, or use the liquid to soak paper towels and wrap the paper towels around the frame/cover the issue spots.

Regardless of which you use, if you wrap with some saranwrap, that will keep the jelly from moving or the paper towels from drying out. You can keep the stuff on there for hours and it wont harm the paint. Deep rust may require multiple treatments with you rubbing the spot with a cloth towel between treatments to physically remove any of the converted rust so the chemical can do its thing on the second treatment.


If you dont want to use touch up paint after the rust is removed, at least use clear nail polish. A permanent barrier is better than temporary wax.



Also- if you want to treat the whole frame, inside and out, just make a box that is about 6" wide, 4" deep, and 27" long. Tape boxes together, if you need. Line it with plastic(cut garbage bag is fine) and fill with evaporust. You can then submerge tubes into the solution and leave the frame there to sit for an hour or so per tube. It will attach rust both inside and outside each tube.
After each tube- drain the solution, wipe down with a wet towel, then wipe down with a dry towel.

Not to sidebar, but how do you dispose of Evaporust once you are finished with it?

[spoonrobot]

None of the rust is worrying, I would (and have) hit it with some #000 steel wool and then cover with close color nail polish. Shine a light in all the tubes and see how it looks inside, I couldn't imagine it needs much if any attention there.

More importantly, what is going on in these two places?

[warren128]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

None of the rust is worrying, I would (and have) hit it with some #000 steel wool and then cover with close color nail polish. Shine a light in all the tubes and see how it looks inside, I couldn't imagine it needs much if any attention there.

More importantly, what is going on in these two places?

Thanks! The inside of the seat tube and steerer are fine, I can't fully see the down or top tubes. And I'll take a closer look in those two places.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

None of the rust is worrying, I would (and have) hit it with some #000 steel wool and then cover with close color nail polish. Shine a light in all the tubes and see how it looks inside, I couldn't imagine it needs much if any attention there.

More importantly, what is going on in these two places?

Yep, those BB joints worry me more that any of that "rust".

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

None of the rust is worrying, I would (and have) hit it with some #000 steel wool and then cover with close color nail polish. Shine a light in all the tubes and see how it looks inside, I couldn't imagine it needs much if any attention there.

More importantly, what is going on in these two places?

Friday afternoon fill-it job.

Ride it.

[tellyho]

Those bits of rust are probably things I'd want to touch up. Naval jelly, sandpaper, nail poilsh. I have that same frame in baby blue as my winter commuter - you should see the rust on that thing

[Turkle]

Originally Posted by TM267905

Not to sidebar, but how do you dispose of Evaporust once you are finished with it?

Evaporust is safe to just pour down the drain! It's a miracle worker. I've brought many an old steel frame back to life with it.

It's fun bringing a steel frame into the drug store to match the paint to nail polish... You can usually get a 99% match.

[.RJ]

I know you dont want to hear this, but I would media blast and repaint this frame if you want to keep it for a while. Its already stripped down.