Having Frame Rust Restored?

[thirtydaZe]

Anyone ever taken their TT to a body shop or any place to have frame rust repaired, and the surface repainted?

I'm assuming my TT arrived at the dealership during the winter months and wasn't properly cleaned up. there are some areas that are just unsightly to me. There is nothing that looks close to being compromised, however for being so new it's just a bit disappointing.

Was considering having a body shop see what the could do, if anything.

is this just wasting time and money or worth the investment? I would say pending any unforeseen circumstance, we'll end up keeping this for several years.

Just wondering if it's worth having done for piece of mind?

[Humpty]

Campfire Time wrote:
POR-15 is great stuff. But it's a system. Follow the instructions. Clean as much rust off as you can. Use their cleaner product, then the metal prep. Then finally the coating.

Exactly! I used the system on the propane hard lines on my rig parked at the coast. It wasn't very hard to do, but it was a bit more involved than painting the rust.

[Campfire_Time]

POR-15 is great stuff. But it's a system. Follow the instructions. Clean as much rust off as you can. Use their cleaner product, then the metal prep. Then finally the coating.

[CharlesinGA]

POR15 will seal in the rust. If flakey, scrape and wire brush it. I like to remove all I can, then apply the POR15. It is very susceptible to UV deterioration however, so you will have to overcoat it with regular spray paint. Buy the cheap "chip" brushes, throw them away when you are thru for the day. Do not get any in the groove of the can where the lid seals. If you do you will never get the lid off again without virtually destroying the can. Wear gloves, and an old long sleeve shirt, or simply a painters tyvek coveralls. It takes weeks to wear off your skin, and you will never get it off anything else you get it on. Use large cardboard boxes opened up flat in the area you are painting in, so you don't get any on the driveway, etc.

I just used it today. The rails where the battery box was bolted down was rusted and pitted and I sanded it clean and applied POR15. After it cured, I sprayed on a coat of black "chassis paint" from Summit Racing (had it left over from another project). Scrubbed the battery box clean inside and out, and installed it with new hardware.

Charles

[thirtydaZe]

Ok, so on the POR-15 i can go straight over any rust, and it will stop any progress?
I was looking into Ospho, but this is the first I’ve heard of POR.

There isn’t a lot to do underneath, but if we do it ourselves im going to recruit my wife and hit everything rusted and not?

[Bird_Freak]

Use the POR 15. It will be there for years and wear gloves when painting. If you get it on you it will take a while to wear off.
I used to buy it by the case for my shop.

[Grit_dog]

Wash it down, burn a few cans of gloss black spray paint up on it and watch 'er shine.

[Sam_Spade]

thirtydaZe wrote:


is this just wasting time and money

YES.

But if it will make you feel better, have a body shop look at it so they can tell you the same thing.

[Lwiddis]

Spraying neutralizer and selectively repainting the underside of my TT is just part of annual maintenance IMO.

[12th_Man_Fan]

just sprayed rust neutralizer on mine and then spray paint. Not that hard of a job.

[trail-explorer]

I don't see the point in taking it to a body shop.... it's partially a case of money spent unnecessarily because a shop will charge a fortune to clean the rust. They will probably be shocked that you'd bring an RV to them to do such a task.

I'd just use some POR15 and deal with the problem myself if I were concerned about rust.

It's a project worth spending money on, but not paying astronomical shop labor rates to get it done.