As some of you guys know from my other threads, im restoring a 75' e12 530i and was wondering what do u guys use to get the rust and paint off the car? Im fairly new to doing paint and body work so any help would be appreciate it. I plan on painting the car to its original factory color and will be doing all the sanding down myself to reduce the cost since there is a fair amount of surface rust on it.
What kind of tools do u guys use to sand down the rust? What tool or chemicals do i need to get the remaining paint off? What is the best tool to get around the nooks and crannys?
If u guys can post up links of what tools u guys or chemicals u guys recommend that would be greatly appreciated
Here's the answer to all of your bodywork questions: look for and purchase a rust free car. Satisfy your need for spending hours of labor by switching over good parts.
Anything else, hit your head with the tools instead.
T.Hanson wrote:Here's the answer to all of your bodywork questions: look for and purchase a rust free car. Satisfy your need for spending hours of labor by switching over good parts.
Anything else, hit your head with the tools instead.
well the car actually has alot of history to it. It was my fathers first 5 series as he bought it used in the late 70s. It was the first car my sister and I ever rode in (picked up from the hospital in that car). Last year for a non-smog needed car. I also put alot of time and effort into rebuilding the engine and to make everything perfect.
Honestly selling it would be the easiest and cheapest.. but thats to me is not exactly how i want to do things in life. Its true I do not need this car as i have another car which is my DD and occasional track car. I feel that this car is a learning process for me and that buying another one would not have any meaning to me.
Media blasting is best for solid metal. Metal that is not solid should be cut out. The abrasive wheels and pads work ok, but normally don't get metal clean enough to weld to .
Eastwood.com will be your friend. As Peter said, media blasting will take care of the rust. soda blasting will strip paint, but not rust. Also, be prepared to spend 3x the amount of time you think you will spend to get it all done.
Scotch-Brite clean and strip discs (purple and blue) are also very good for cleaning and stripping paint/rust. For example, for spots where you would have to weld. Or maybe for removing rust preventive coatings (e.g. Tectyl).
Main advantage is that the disc doesn't damage the metal itself (as can be the case with an angle grinder w/ a wire brush) , but solely removes the paint.
I had a little extra time the other day this week and was trying to pull out my headrests but they were stuck. I finally pulled them out after using a lot of force and they were covered with rust all the way to the bottom.
Procedure I used to clean up the metal posts:
1. sanding with 400 grit to remove build up of rust
2. sanding with 800 grit to smooth out surface a bit
3. quick wipe down with some CLR
4. wipe down with a little water
5. waited for it to dry
6. covered the headrests with some shopping bags and had only the metal posts exposed
5. sprayed with Rust-Oleum Grey Primer
6. waited about 15 mins
7. sprayed with Rust-Oleum Metallic Spray Paint (closed thing they had to chrome, but it turned out to be more like metallic silver)
I wish I had pictures to show you, but my digital camera got stolen from the E12. =(
I think you're referring to removing rust on body panels and metal surfaces and I think thomas_m535i has the right idea. Depending where and how much rust you have, there you could perhaps start off with sanding blocks. I forgot what grit, but I've seen them at Autozone and Kragen that are designed to strip off paint as well as rust, so you can get to the bare metal surface. If your rust is pretty bad, you might need some wire discs to help you out or media blasting.
Best of luck and post up some pictures for everyone to see.
I didn't have the money for media blasting or a large enough area, so I used paint stripper to get the paint away, then the clean & strip discs to tidy it up. Any rust too deep for the discs was deemed too deep for me, so I cut it out and new pieces were welded in.
When I was doing the area under the hood hinge, it was too intricate for the disc, so I used a wire brush on the grinder. Took much longer though and a lot more effort to get it to standard.
3x the amount of time is pretty close too. 3 x the $$ could be on the cards as well. All the supplies I went through cost a bit! It was worth it for the experience though. Also nice to know that if you get it wrong, you can always have another go.
Cheers
Pete K
'75 520i (track day special)
'81 M535i (dream car)
'79 323i (wife's little cruiser)
'02 320ci/330ci track car (b30 swapped 320ci)
'97 Ford Laser (1st ever new car)
Find someone that does soda blasting in your area. They'll take off all of the paint down to bare metal, but somehow not hurt glass or rubber. Amazing to watch. There are lots of those folks around here since they're used for doing swimming pools, etc. They're all mobile.
