Just hit this vintage Trek 520 with a wire brush to get under some of the peeling paint/rust. Clearly it’s been exposed to the elements over the years. Before I go any further just wanted to get some feedback on the rust situation. Is this frame compromised or does it just need more sanding? True Temper OX cro-moly. Thanks 🙏
by corporateoverlord69
15 Comments
Steel is real
Keep going. You’re fine.
This other dude is a clown steel is real bro just sand those spots down with some 220 and paint over them with clear nail polish or repaint with spraybike. This is a double butted cromo frame super dope and worthy of your love
Too little abrasives. Get a more coarse grit and let her eat
Looks fine to me. Since rust usually blisters to the outside it always looks like it penetrated deeper than it did. I am pretty sure that you won’t find it that deep once you removed the surface rust blisters.
Once you got the paint off i’d use phosphoric acid on it. Instead of abrasive it converts the rust and upper layer into a protective black phosphoric coating which is a good primer for new paint.
Looks like the frame had a little surface rust before it was painted and that then spread over the years. Does not look critical to me.
I’d say it’s fine to ride on. There’s still plenty of steel there to be good. At this point you might as well remove the paint with some paint stripper and make sure you remove any rust under the paint. Then get a good rust inhibiting primer and color of your choice and make art
Good progress, keep grinding. Lol
Need sandpaper to smooth it
Go a little further sanding / grinding / wire brushing. If you want it baby-ass smooth, use some Bondo from the auto parts store. Watch a youtube video on how to use it then do that & hand sand it.
Aluminum foil crumpled in a ball and dipped in water is what you want to do. It creates a chemical reaction that helps to remove the rust. Still requires elbow grease but is better than abrasives imo.
Use a rust converter and fill the pitting.
Looks like a naval jelly type of job!
frame is probably fine. but with this amount of rust, it’s probably easier to sandblast if you want a clean repaint
https://preview.redd.it/gmkkq7ysnr6f1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=31fdcee306a99441e344385d1866e1f188433aea
Update after heavy duty stripping tool. Looking much better
Might want to hose out the inside with some frame-saver at some point….slow whatever is going on in there. Good luck