How to Get Rid of Rust on Your Car

If you're like most drivers, you spend the majority of your time in your vehicle. While this may be a necessity for everyday life, the constant use of your vehicle can cause your vehicle to suffer a wide array of wear and tear. Probably the most common damage to your vehicle is rust. This normally happens to vehicles that you've had for multiple years, however, when rust begins to form, it can lead to costly damage, than can even stop your car from running. But how exactly can you rid your car from rust?

In order to get rid of rust that has accumulated on your vehicle, you will need several items. Below is a list of items you need to gather to eliminate rust from your vehicle.

1. 60-grit and 120-grit sandpaper

2. Metal cutting tools. (Metal-Cutting Scissors, power saws, etc)

3. Auto body primer (Bondo Primer works great)

4. Heavy-duty gloves

5. Face mask (paper-mask works fine)

6. Rust scuff pad

7. Rust treatment spray

8. Smaller-sized grinder

9. Safety goggles

10. Scratching Awl - or a sharp metal poker.

The first step to eliminating rust is to locate the rust. Rust is normally found near tires and on the lower side of the vehicle. You will need to find out if you have heavy metal decay due to rust, or if the decay is minimal. In extreme cases, rust can actually eat away chunks of metal.

In order to find out all of the damage rust has done, you may have to remove body kits and plastic moldings. If you find that there are bubbles forming under paint, this normally means the presence of rust. You may have to rid paint from certain areas of your car to show the complete damage the rust has caused.

After you have located the rust damage, you will need to begin scuffing away the rust in areas that have not been complete eroded by the rust. Use the 60-grit sandpaper to remove the rust, as well as the paint around the circumference of the rust damage. Make sure that you have nothing but metal surrounding the rust areas, not paint. Once the rust has been sanded smooth you will need to begin testing the area. Poke the rust areas to ensure that the rust hasn't caused the metal to weaken. If the metal is soft, or weak, this means that the rust is on the underside of the metal as well.

If the metal is weak, you will need to cut off pieces of the car that have been compromised. Once you have done this you will want to take the 120-grit sandpaper and begin to sand the area, making it smoother. You will then want to use the rust treatment spray as instructed by the product instructions.

After you have removed the severely deteriorated rust spots, you will then need to replace the metal sections you had to cut off. You can do this at home by purchasing metal sheets, or you can go to an auto-repair shop. Since you have already removed the rust from your vehicle, you will not have to pay for the shop to rid your car of rust.

Remember that if you do not remove all of the rust, the reactivation process will begin and you will have to fix the rust again.