Rust - Rust proofing frames, Rusting treatment and prevention

I've surface rust on the inside of my tourer as prev. owner had seatpost seize so it had to be removed by bike shop. But it's not spreading. Luckily cro-mo doesn't rust through quickly.

BTW Vaseline does a treat to seal outside of frames as a water/salt barrier. Cheap too.

BTW chromed frames can rust more easily from inside...so check more often / take care more often of these. It has something to do with chroming process but that's all I know.

JWestland, you're right. In short, it's the acids used.

Wrote a few words on the subject here http://revanchebikeco.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/do-framebuilders-dream-of-chrome-sheep/

Regarding rust generally, prevention is everything.
Rust can be a problem in some climates,
A lot depends on if the brazing holes are sealed or not, I seal them all, but you can do it yourself to a frame with some tape, or a plug of some kind

There should be a m5 threaded hole under the BB, take the bolt out occasionally, and if you've been riding in bad conditions, taking the seatpost out and putting the frame upside down is a good idea.
If your frame hasn't got a hole, drill and tap one.

Mudguards are also an excellent idea.

Niobium tubing is more rust prone, it's also pretty thin, so with a Columbus Spirit or Life frame you should be a bit more careful.

I use this stuff

as standard on all bikes, bit more about it here
http://revanchebikeco.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/rust-steel-framesaver/

Peter at Ceeway sells jpweigle's stuff.

Clear coating, I've done quite a few, preparation is key, takes ages, damn hard work and looks great.

I've gotten a new frame in (a probably 853 Donuhue branded as a Weigh) and there's some minor rust (brrrr)

Is clear nailpolish a good way to cover the patches once I treated the rust with Autosol (remove) and blue rust convertor (stop) ?

(cos paint touchup always looks shite)

I like the wee snail on the photo :)
(and frame looks great too)

So, it's the acid then! That explains it, Lee Cooper doesn't like chroming and won't use it. I have a Merckx with chrome, I covered it in Vaseline (some use car wax) as water gets in through micro holes, rust pushes up and peels off the chrome.

Re plugging up holes, I tend to plug the ones close to the road, but leave the other ones open for "breathing".

Hammerite Rust Remover: So-so. Me thinks it'll take lots of coats...I'll go attack with alu foil.
Update: It ain't great, some rust comes off no problem, other rust is barely touched. Even with wet alu foil. So meh, don't buy.

Bilt-Hamber Deox-C may have been better, but of course you can't get it in shops here.
http://www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-protection-and-rust-treatments seems to be The Shit.

a bit of surface rust is not really that much of a problem. it's the water sitting there that causes headaches. either all the holes are sealed or they're open, if the bottom ones are closed and the top ones open, you run the risk of having any water that gets in, stay there. nail polish is great for retouching.

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oh, I'm revanche, dunno why I'm user now.

Humbrol is great too, mixed two blues and touched up my tourer that way :)

I think I'll just clear coat this one, can keep its battle scars.

Hm not sure hard pink is your nail colour... :p

BTW bilt hamber deox is good stuff, works better than shit hammerite remover & not dangerous to eyes, lungs, paint.

If you have a big bathtub / only parts it can be had as powder otherwise a gel is available.

Still some spots don't seem to budge. Ah well.

Probably a stupid question. Removed my clear coat on a raw frame, started to get some rust over summer. Mostly from sweating, and grabbing my frame with sweaty hands. It made a large surface rust patch i removed with (I think lighter fluid?…) It rubbed out most of the rust leaving only a discolored patch where it used to be. I knew I was ordering a new frame later so for now I sticker bombed the entire frame with run of the trade quality vinyl stickers.

Water can't penetrate the stickers but theres also no clear coat what so ever… What can I expect if I ever remove the stickers years down the road from sitting in storage? Does a vinyl sticker provide the same seal as clear coat?

i bought a brand new mash work frameset. what's your opinion on rust prevention in this case? should i spray fogging oil into the tubes?
(the decals say columbus acciaio but acciaio is just an italian word means steel.)

I used ACF50 on mine, which is what motorbikers swear by. Dribbled some in every orifice and rotated to get good coverage. Then I did the bike frame...

Used Waxoyl spray on a couple of mine. Not really had them long enough to tell if it's worked, though.

Sorry about pulling this thread out of the ground! I just wondered if you still recommended that ACF50 stuff?

It was on a bike I've now sold. So can't say really. But you've reminded me that I should do same to my CX bike.

I have a nice frame that unfortunately looks a little rusty in the tubes. I was thinking of giving it an evapo rust bath and then treating it. Either with the stuff you said, or frame saver. Acf50 seems much easier to get hold of!

Is this stuff rust? Maybe it's pitting? There was no real evidence of your typical orange rust when I sanded back the paint. Seems hard to shift. Funnily enough, the steel is really clean beneath stickers.

I know this thread is aimed more at internal rust than external but the other threads haven't been posted in in years.

I have a new project on the go, an OnOne Inbred, which I'm thinking I'd like a raw finish on. Well, really I'd probably just hammerite it but I can't dry it in the flat, it'd have to just sit in the garage and at this time of year I reckon I could be looking at the best part of a month for hammerite to properly cure.

I've just rang round a few places to see if they do clear powdercoat and they do but it's pricey. I could get a gallon of linseed oil for about 1/4 the cost of the clear powder coat and that'd mean I wouldn't have to deal with things like stripping headset cups back out, recutting all the threads (yet to find a powdercoater that can mask properly) and stuff like that.

Also, as I understand it, clear powder is still permeable by moisture so it's a case of when, not if the rust develops underneath it?

Last time I used linseed oil I wasn't too impressed, it seemed to wash off pretty easily and was always a bit of a sticky mess. It is possible probable this was down to the application, I think I might have lathered it on too thick which I've read can mean the outer layer dries, seals what's underneath and doesn't allow it to dry so it stays sticky and can wash off more easily.

There's a lot online about using linseed oil to protect tools and the suggestion is usually to heat the tool before either brushing on the oil or submersing the piece in the oil. I'm not sure how necessary the heating is, I didn't heat the frame I did before so maybe that's another reason I didn't have much success. I could certainly heat the frame in bits with my Mapp torch but this would mean heating bit's that had already been oiled, I wonder if that's a) safe given all the warnings about rags used to apply linseed oil spontaneously combusting and b)if it'd be detrimental to the rustproofing effect of the oil. Anyone know?

Linseed oil of rust proofing is really medieval technology there are far superior products that will actually surface react and adhere to steel.
The oil basically coats and solidified in the surface which is why the thicker boiled stuff is better.
It's perfect for my heavy vintage record bench vice but I wouldn't use on thin tensile steel. But that said some protection is better then none.

Dinitrol products are excellent.

not tried it on a bike but I used it on a handmade mild steel linished bed frame and it retained it's just polished "shiny'ness"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rustins-RUSTINS-METAL-LACQUER-125ML/dp/B007RL6N6K

I have a raw'd frame im intending to coat with as whatever is on there at present aint working.

Going to strip down and properly clean a steel frame - would Dinitrol, liberally applied into the tubes, help clean things up / keep rust at bay (once I've given everything a proper wash and de-grease)? If so, which can of it's best (there's quite a lot to choose from the interwebz)?

I would (and will be on my project) use sone jp weigle framesaver internally.

I’m sure there is a Dinitrol product that’ll do the job but framesaver ain’t too expensive.

Neat, will get a can of that.

Do you have any experience of using Dinitrol and in particular their 'High Performance Wax Aerosol'?

I've been reading some forum posts and watching some youtube vids and stuff and as far as I can see, the afore mentioned wax aerosol is the only thing they do that doesn't go black when dried/cured.

That said, the only pics I can find of the clear stuff cured look like this,

Which is not a look I want. That's from a German car rustproofing forum (yeah, really, I just put the forum name through google translate?!) and I can't really tell what they are saying about it.

At the moment I'm thinking linseed oil or see if I can hammerite it at my dads garage and leave it there to dry, he has power and heat.