All of the suspension arms on our car are crusty and shite. I'm guessing this can't be good so how can I go about protecting it? I'd say hammerite would chip off like it does on everything else I've used it for. Would just smearing waxoyl over them be the best idea then? Any thoughts welcome

J

if you want it to last a long time, i would say wire brush back to metal and treat any other rust with jenolite or some similar rust treatment, and then paint, hammerite can be quite hard wearing. I think Old nail painted his when he started his restoration and he seems pretty clued up about pain. maybe he has some reccomendations!

Im sure he would agree with that

ha, PAINT.

Hi James.

Will be doing this very same thing myself soon!

Based on what I've done in the past, what I plan to do is: wire-brush off the excess rust to leave an evenly-rough (ie: no obvious large 'flakes' or any loose bits left behind!), slightly rusty surface. Brush on a rust-converter (I can't remember the one I used before, but I think it was water-based 'Aquasteel') which will convert the remaining rust into a tough black coating.

Then overcoat with 'direct-to-metal' paint - I used a satin-black, water-based paint from Wickes, suitable for all metal types. I tend to 'stipple' the paint on as this will give a more attractive finish - it'll be lightly 'textured' rather than have brush marks.

Once all this is dry, I then give it a light over-spray of thinned Waxoyl.

I did this on the exposed suspension of my old Marlin kit car - coil springs an all. It looked very neat and clean, but the best thing was that the Waxoyl prevented anything from sticking to it. Even after driving through the muddiest, slushiest water, once I parked up the suspension was clean and dry! All the carp just 'beads' and rolls off. Any stubborn mud will shift immediately with a hose blast.

It was easier for me to do as the car was stripped down which enabled me to use a twist knot wire brush in an angle grinder and take the things down to clean steel. A wire brush on a drill might do if the car is still complete. If using a twist knot brush, try not to go straight through the glove and the skin of your left hand like I did though.

Next was to treat the bare metal with Kurust, which kills any rust in the pitted steel, then spray on Upol Acid etch to give a suitable grippy base for the top coat, which in my case was Hammerite smooth. Read the instructions on the Hammerite by the way, as you only have a certain time window in which to do the second coat before it has cured, paint applied after that time might fail. Many people slag off Hammerite but are actually applying it wrong. Having said that POR15 can't be beat if you have the money.

Finally, I painted over the fully dried Hammerite with this stuff.


It helps if it's a warm day, or otherwise put the can in a bowl of hot water for a while before brushing it on. Again I did two thin coats, waiting for the stuff to fully dry overnight between coats. I'm not saying that you have to be so methodical, just that I was and the results are great.

I have found in the past that waxoyl when applied on it's own just washes off with the action of the surface water thrown up from the wheels in bad weather (ie summer) and the black stuff in that tin above is far better, much clingier, and will stay put. Plus it's soft enough to absorb the odd stone chip so they won't take off the Hammerite below.

Thanks for the advice... I don't think I have the patience you do Old Nail, but I'll have a go at doing something this weekend if it's not raining... Watch this space...

It's because I don't have any patience that I did it that way. I'd rather do a thing once than again and again every couple of months.