Stopping Rust on my Sliders - what's my best option?

I just bought some used (~5yrs old) sliders locally and from the top they look nearly new, the undersides have one scratch from a rock but not worried about any of that. The issue is that the forward/downward facing surfaces have been blasted by road debris which has removed the powder coat finish and they are picking up some surface rust.



No problem, I'll sand off the rust, hit it with a rattle can or some bedliner and be done with it, right? Wrong. Some areas would be simple to strip the rust from but without dipping the entire slider into a rust remover or paying to have them sand blasted there is no way I'm getting the rust out of some nooks and crannies between the various tubing and especially between the top plate and the tubing.



It's not worth it to me to pay to have them stripped and re-coated and I don't want to spend 100hrs trying to remove every square mm of rust in the nooks and crannies but I'm hoping to find something that will slow the rust as much as possible. I figure I can take a little time over a weekend to refinish these now before I install them to stop the rust. I realize I'll still need to do regular touch up down the road when I scrape them up but I want to find a way to stop the rust from biting me in the ass later.

I have a couple ideas but wanted to see if anyone else had already solved this problem. Currently I'm thinking I'll wash them really well, wipe down with isopropyl then hit the rusty bits with some Rustoleum Rust Reformer followed by coating the entire sliders with bedliner from a rattle an. Then I can easily do touch ups later with rattle can paint or more bedliner. I'm just not sure if that rust will come back later.

EDIT 8/22: I found a couple of videos with long term tests on some of the various rust oriented paints out there. I'm sure there are plenty of additional variables here but still worth a watch, IMO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovcxJt1a5-M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmwjA-2E_b8

 

Clean, apply rust converter, let it dry 72 hours then apply Chassis Saver.... let it dry and if you still want bedliner looks then go for it but Chassis saver is a great Strong product, you can even paint directly to Rust with chassis saver and skip the converter, but just make sure you Clean up from any grease or humidity the surface first with a pre paint cleaner.

 

Buy new ones throw those in the trash who knows the structural integrity .

 

IMO, I think your over thinking it. It only looks like surface rust. Unless you bought those sliders from the east coast where salt is heavy or you really plan on abusing those sliders, I’d say rattle can them and forget about it.

 

Dont listen to this guy. Wire brush in a drill, Clean and Paint.

 

Problem if you sand and paint over rust it will rust even worst as moisture will be trapped under paint . Rust incapsulator like por 15 or that chasis saver mentioned gives you best chance of slowing it down . Would need to remove rust scales and all . No easy way to fix .
At work one guy use to just grind down rust on or dolly frames put rust converter and paint . Comes back 6 months latter needle gun were he repaired and be surprised 1/4 in metal down to like 1/8 at some spots . Note work close to ocean so that made it a lot worst .
You can see on slider rust coming through under powder coat . So results will be what ever effort you willing to put into it.

 

Mechanically remove the rust (sanding, abrading, wire wheel, etc) then use naval jelly or other product with phosphoric acid to permanently convert the rust. Then paint with wherever you like. I prefer VHT satin black frame and roll bar paint because it's self priming, sold at all auto parts stores, and is easy to touch up. And its also slightly more durable than rattle can enamel.

Edit - and remove all loose paint too. You will find rust creeping under some of it. And be sure to scuff all the "good" remaing paint. Emphasis on the nooks and crannies. Oh, and before you touch anything with sand paper use detergent then solvent to get rid if dirt, oils, silicones, etc. Clean it again right before painting.

 

Yes you can and it's not difficult at all. It just takes a little time and patience. If you think its a pain in the ass now with them on a bench or sawhorses just wait until you have to do it all over again next year while laying on the ground. Thats exactly what will happen.

 

Thanks for the tip on that, I'd never seen this product before, I'll have to look into it.

LOL

I know I could just paint over the rust but that's not a very good practice as it doesn't actually stop the rust, just covers it temporarily. I'm hoping for something I can use without a ton of effort that will help stop the rust. I realize I likely can't stop it 100% but I want to do more than just ignore it entirely.

The main issue is not the areas which are easily dealt with by a wire brush, I'm concerned about the nooks and crannies. If this was just on the exposed, flat surfaces I would not have posted the question.

Yeah, I'm well aware of how rust works and that's why I posted. I've used POR15 before and it was quite a process, more work than I'm willing to put into these sliders. The chassis saver is something I definitely need to look into.

The mechanical removing is the issue as I mentioned a couple times. Some areas will be easy so I'm not asking about those. I'm concerned that I won't be able to remove the rust from the nooks and crannies so looking for some sort of coating that can handle keeping that remaining rust at bay as I believe it'll be impossible to get it all off there with any reasonable amount of effort.

I'd planned on hitting the edges of the paint at bare metal with a sanding disk to make sure any loose paint comes off and also rough up the area and smooth down the paint edge to prevent future likelihood of chipping.

You think mechanically removing the rust from the nooks and crannies between the top plate and tubing will be easy? There's no real room to get a tool in there as the areas are too tight. A dremel maybe, but still it won't get it all. I don't think it's possible to get the rust out of those areas without sand blasting or an acid bath.

 

A wire wheel will allow you to get into the corners, won’t take long, that’s the beauty of power tools. Doesn’t look like anything beyond surface rust, wheel the crap out of it until its shiny, don’t even bother with converting, just get it down to bare metal and start from there, you won’t be removing enough material to matter as far as strength.

 

Wire brush to remove. Repaint with rust inhibitive paint. Repeat as needed.

 

If for some reason the wire wheel can’t get into the plate covered corners you could always bead, sand blast it. I think you’ll be able to get in there with the right wire wheel or cup though

 

Guess if not blasting for nooks and crannies some type of rust remover is best option .
Lot of work ahead but score on the slider so worth it

 

Not worth the effort to save. Wire wheel it a little to make yourself feel better and spray it with whatever off the shelf rust treatment looks fancy. Repeat in 2 years or so. When they do eventually rust though scrap em. Sliders aren't that expensive to begin with?

 

Yep. Folded emery cloth, a pick, pretty much anything. All you have to do is get the loose scaley stuff off then apply a rust converter like naval jelly with phosphoic acid per the directions on the label. Every hardware store has it. Converts cancerous rust to inert ferric phosphate.