Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

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Kilroy
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Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by Kilroy »

I decided to try the vinegar trick on my brake drum and brake parts when I was replacing my wheel bearing a couple of weeks ago. Here's the result. The dirty photo is after it had been soaking in vinegar overnight, right before cleaning it with a rag and a light wire brushing. The clean photo is the result. The rust was just sitting on the brake drum as a thick scum after the soaking, it was amazingly easy to take off.

BEFORE:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-8/1 ... %20024.jpg

AFTER:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-8/1 ... %20026.jpg

I purchased the generic vinegar from Superstore for $2.20 for 4 liters, how can you go wrong at that price!?
Last edited by Kilroy on Fri Jul 30, 2010 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
gijonas
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by gijonas »

Cant see pics?
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Kilroy
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by Kilroy »

Try now. :D
evolutionmovement
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by evolutionmovement »

Whoa! I think you might just have saved me a lot of trouble with the rear bumper beam.
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by gijonas »

Damn, that is pretty sweet.I might not bother with electrolysis anymore.
94SS.Wiseco forged pistons,TD04,TMIC,WALBRO 225,440's,3" all the way,revtronix stage 2,enough other crap to fill the internet.

THE TRIBUTE BUILD>>>LINKY LINK>>> http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?p=295455#295455
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by SLODRIVE »

Wow, there's something I haven't seen before. Very cool, and thanks for sharing with us!
http://www.slodriveracing.com
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by kimokalihi »

There's another post here about a month ago or so I think about using malt vinegar to remove rust completely but I think they only soaked it for an hour or so. Let me find it.
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evolutionmovement
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by evolutionmovement »

Yeah, I've heard of it before, but imagined the results were far less dramatic.
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07Evolved
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by 07Evolved »

wow that is amazing! thank you for sharing!
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Kilroy
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by Kilroy »

kimokalihi wrote:There's another post here about a month ago or so I think about using malt vinegar to remove rust completely but I think they only soaked it for an hour or so. Let me find it.

Yea, I posted it. :D
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by evolutionmovement »

Damn, does this work! My rear bumper beam was a nasty mess and after looking all over for a cheap plastic trough big enough to use as a tub to soak it in like an idiot, it finally dawned on me that I already had one—the rear bumper cover. So I tipped it on its end, lined it in a trash bag, put the beam inside, and poured 3 jugs (probably about a gallon and a half each) of cheap white vinegar from BJs, plus 2 or 3 jugs of water to make up the extra volume. Left it for a few days and it took it down to clean metal for the most part, a wire brushing required to get some of it clean, and most of the beam looks great and doesn't even have any orange peel texture the interwebs warned about. Had to flip it to get the back side, so I'm waiting for that to work its magic and then I'll be able to go after the one stubborn part—the lip where the bottom of the cover screws onto the beam. But that lip was truly horrible and there's already a good amount of it that's shiny metal now. For anything the results are very good—for about $11, it's incredible!
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by kimokalihi »

Nice. I am going to try this with some stock SS brake calipers and hopefully lots of other neat rusty parts that would have been thrown away. I can't wait. I thought you were supposed to use malt vinegar or something?
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Kilroy
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by Kilroy »

It's all the same, malt vinegar is just darker in color. It's the acid in the vinegar that does the cleaning. If you want it to clean quicker, use pickling vinegar as it has a higher acid concentration. It's costs considerably more, though.
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by kimokalihi »

Here's the link to the tutorial on malt vinegar:

http://www.cookhaus.co.uk/vinegar/index.htm
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evolutionmovement
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by evolutionmovement »

I wouldn't bother with stronger, personally. I should have taken a picture of how rusted some of this bumper was—it's amazing how it took it down to shiny metal in about 3 days. Even the left over paint bubbled off like the skin of a torture victim dumped in boiling water. The white vinegar I used said something like 5% acid and I watered it down since I didn't buy enough as well. I also threw a few other things into the murk to clean them up. Recoating the inside of this thing to protect it from rusting again will be a problem. I think I'm going to cut "speed holes" in it just for the access to the inside.
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by kimokalihi »

When you say "speed holes" I can't help but picturing you with your rear bumper all riced out like a honda guy with all the holes cut through it to let air pass through or whatever their logic is.
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evolutionmovement
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by evolutionmovement »

It's supposed to be for weight reduction, like on aircraft and racecars before they had exotic materials, and yeah, that's what it would like, but nicely hidden behind the cover.
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
93forestpearl
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by 93forestpearl »

You can do it ten times faster with muriatic acid, available at your local hardware store. I use a jar of it to clean bolts and nuts in minutes.
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by evolutionmovement »

That would definitely be a good idea for small parts, especially where the corrosion is relatively uniform, but IMO it's too powerful for something large and relatively complicated like a bumper beam since it would be more difficult to get an even application and, in the case of my beam, the corrosion level varied considerably on the part. I tried the muriatic acid on a fender and was disappointed with the uneven results, which is why I am so amazed that the vinegar actually works at all. But, yeah, the vinegar definitely takes more time, so that is also a consideration depending on what you're doing. I still like the wire wheels when the part allows me to use them, but acid in whatever concentration is a lot cheaper.

Maybe we should have a sticky on corrosion fixes and treatments for steel and for electrical?
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by 93forestpearl »

When I did concrete work we used it extensively for cleaning and aggregate exposing on large areas. We always used a large garden sprayer to apply it.

I'm thinking that if you had a gravel area you weren't worried about killing foliage, one could use a good sized sprayer to clean a large part effectively. But I see where you're coming from in terms of applying it evenly.
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by n2x4 »

evolutionmovement wrote:Even the left over paint bubbled off like the skin of a torture victim dumped in boiling water.
:lol: I think I need to try this!
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by sqc151 »

evolutionmovement wrote:Maybe we should have a sticky on corrosion fixes and treatments for steel and for electrical?
i agree with this statement. are cars are not exactly getting any younger. and as people find them there all rusted out. maybe with some cheap fixes even the most novice guy/gal could pull this off and keep the older subarus on the road longer.
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by Legacy777 »

I can setup a sticky. This thread would be in there. Are there any other threads already out there that you guys would want to include?

Other question, which forum should it go in?
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by kleinkid »

Misc.

Going to be at Costco, maybe they have cheap vinegar
evolutionmovement
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Re: Removing Rust with Vinegar - Result

Post by evolutionmovement »

I got my Mustang jugs (5 liters) at BJ's for $3.xx each.
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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