Angle Grinder Wire Brushes

[davey sprocket 14]

Rear beam, exhaust and fuel tank are all off and I intend cleaning up, rustproofing and repainting the underside of the rear of the car.

 

Now, I've got the usual patchy bits of surface rust that are a bugger to clean up. Hand held wire brush not up to much, drill attachments just polish the rust rather than take it off and there's way too much of it to tackle with the Dremel!

 

I'm sure that a wire brush attachment for my angle grinder is going to be the answer but does anyone have any experience with any to pass on? I've been looking at the following: Wire brushes

Should I go for a twist or knotted or crimped style? and this one looks rather good at getting into edges?

 

Inevitably most of the rust is tucked away in corners and inaccessible places and I can see this being a headache!

[SurGie 54]

I use the Bosch knotted type from screw fix, they last ages compared to the cheaper ones from Toolstation.

 

In the corners though and there are many, buy about 15 good strong 'pencil type' drill brushes, not the carb type ones, they are too thin and weak. Then spin the drill one way then change direction and go the other way and it should be clean by then. I also use the grinder crimp brush from Toolstaion, seems to help get rid of wide areas and edges well. The knotted grinder types are good. but the knotted round ones put a good amount of strain on the hands and wrists after a good amount of time, so using a light grinder is the key IME.

 

Iv just checked your links and the Bosch one is the one i meant, very good.

 

For the very spot welded edge seams and the long L shaped corners. though try using the crimped grinder one, the bristles are thinner for the spot welded edges, but in an upside down technique for the top area parts

 

So all in all iv used the grinder > knotted round ones & cup, any crimped ones for the hard to remove stained rust, as many drill ones for the hard to reach places. If you want to do a very good job then i use a torch in the areas to check all the rust has gone, sometimes there is still a little bit left over thats hard to see in daylight unless its direct light that is. Iv used high zinc primer, stone chip then paint, with sealant in the corners under the stonechip of coarse.

Edited October 24, 2011 by SurGie

[stu8v 68 1 Cars]

Use a radial type so much more efficient compared to the cup type.

[davey sprocket 14]

Thanks chaps, good stuff.

 

Sounds like you did a really thorough job Surgie, If I can do half as good a job as that I'll be chuffed.

Sadly my old drill doesn't have a reverse which I guess is why wire brush attachments end up bent round one way and end up as good as useless.

 

I do have some really good rust converter (seems to be doing a good job on the old MG, so it must be good!) so some of the really inaccessible places will get treated with that if I can't get every last bit off.

[Rippthrough 98]

Use these instead (mediums)

 

http://www.weldequip.com/polishing-wheel-115mm.htm

 

Far easier, faster, leave a better finish and you don't get bits of wire stuck all over your face.

[SurGie 54]

Yeah, the rust remedies need a very clean (surgically clean) area for them to work properly. Never change the direction on a drill until its stopped turning round, else the drill will be cupput. It will be a good idea to get a new drill then. Iv gone through 2 drills on the whole car, one was an old one died of old age, the other was cheapish and the third one was about £70 and is powerful and good to work with. It's handy to have one of those hand tightening chuck ends for ease of use.

 

I found more work than what i imagined it would be once beam and fuel tank was off and i started to grind the rust off. The sills are the worse, iv welded a few areas there and my shell is in good overall condition compared to most ph2 one's.

 

Those flap polishing disks look very good and never thought to use them for rust when i bought the other hard flap disks from Weld-equip. I always used a full face mask, its not just the wire you need to watch. The other metal removing disks in red are good for grinding down the pitted rust areas that brushes dont get rid off, it dont take too much metal away compared to the usual hard metal grinding disks.

Edited October 24, 2011 by SurGie

[davey sprocket 14]

Use these instead (mediums)

 

http://www.weldequip.com/polishing-wheel-115mm.htm

 

Far easier, faster, leave a better finish and you don't get bits of wire stuck all over your face.

 

Dronco!! What a great name!

 

Hmmm... they do look a whole lot less dangerous as well. They're man enough to take rust off I take it or you wouldn't have recommended them?

 

I like the look of some of their other flap discs as well.

[james_pug 26 1 Cars]

I used a halfords twisted knot one on an angle grinder for most of mine and it's lasted ages only just starting to loose a few wires, in the corners I used a smaller drill type one.

[Rippthrough 98]

Dronco!! What a great name!

 

Hmmm... they do look a whole lot less dangerous as well. They're man enough to take rust off I take it or you wouldn't have recommended them?

 

I like the look of some of their other flap discs as well.

 

Yeah, I use 'em to round the sharp edges on steel plates, cleaning the rust off tube ready for welding and to buff out grinding marks, they'll be fine just on surface rust.

Edited October 24, 2011 by Rippthrough

[Anthony 1,000]

and you don't get bits of wire stuck all over your face.

Do not under-estimate this - for weeks after doing my car I was pulling strands of wire out of my skin, clothes, shoes, carpets and just about anywhere else that I'd been, and even months later I keep finding bits of wire all over the driveway - normal when I crawl under the car and get another strand stuck in my shoulder. How I've not given myself tetanus I have no idea....

[SurGie 54]

Yeah it can be bad on the cheaper ones, i didn't have to many around using the Bosch one. I use a welding apron and the same gloves when doing this kind of job.

 

What are the polish disks like on pitted & & thick rust areas, do they wear out with that sort of use ?

 

Im going to use the fine one to polish my under body heat shield, then cover it up in high temp lacquer paint, i think that should do the job well.

[stu8v 68 1 Cars]

Dronco!! What a great name!

 

Hmmm... they do look a whole lot less dangerous as well. They're man enough to take rust off I take it or you wouldn't have recommended them?

 

I like the look of some of their other flap discs as well.

 

 

They wouldnt have touched the paint/rust/crap on mine.

 

I used, http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/346613189/TWIST_KNOT_WIRE_WHEEL_BRUSH.jpg

 

I went bare metal on the complete underside and arches, soul destroying and about 6 weeks out of my life!!!!!!

 

 

[Rippthrough 98]

lmao@Anthony - I hate the bloody things, always end up with them stuck under fingernails or something stupid, hurt like f...

 

They would have taken most of that off Stu, and pretty quickly too (you'd have gone through a couple though, they do wear down faster than a wire brush!) you would have needed something for the tighter area's you couldn't get them in on though, right in the corners, etc.

You can get coarser ones from there for really bad stuff, but not in the extended version for getting into tighter area's, although they're probably available elsewhere.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Rippthrough

[stu8v 68 1 Cars]

Now you say hahahaha

 

I went through 3 grinders too!!! Old faithful suffered bearing failure, then i burnt out 2 real cheap Argos ones until i bit the bullet and bought Bosch

[Rippthrough 98]

I've got two little lightweight Makita ones and they're still going strong after 10 years of serious abuse, can't fault 'em:

 

http://www.hsstoolshop.co.uk/makita-9554nb-115mm-mini-angle-grinder-710w-3482-p.asp

 

They've gone up a bit in price since I got my last one but I'd happily pay twice that for one!

[SurGie 54]

As with any tools, buy cheap pay twice

 

Between the rear seat panel and the lower floor panel, where the fuel tank rests on, i found deep rust between these panels. Had to drill all the spot welds out and get in there with the drill. The grinder can burn the steel if its left on it for too long with 205's steel being quite thin, so instead i used a powerful drill.

 

The way i see it, if there's any rust left over between panels etc, then the areas you have done Will rust again quite quickly. So getting rid completely makes the most of the time and effort. Rust converters can be point less, iv used them and they start to rust again after a while, so its temporary imo.

[davey sprocket 14]

Well, from Rippthrough's recommendation I went onto Weldequip's website and ordered a few different abrasive disc thingies at about midday yesterday and blow me, they arrived in the post today!!

 

They look good too! Thumbs up for Weldequip so far!

[SurGie 54]

They sell good quality products, iv always been pleased with their service and parts.

 

Iv not got mine yet, yours came well quick

[davey sprocket 14]

I found more work than what i imagined it would be once beam and fuel tank was off and i started to grind the rust off.

 

Crikey, ain't that the truth!!!

 

From what started out looking pretty good with a few surface rust patches with about 3 hours of work looks as bad, if not worse than Stu's picture earlier this page.

 

Those cleaning discs are nice to use and are pretty good on open, flattish areas but as I suspected, you're rather limited when it comes to corners and also they tend to ride up over the seams, leaving a line of rust behind to be gotten off with the wire wheel type. I see many more hours of this fun to come over the weekend!

 

 

Anyway, it looks like I might be starting a new thread wanting recommendations for MIG welders. I was just finishing off this evening and happened to look a bit further forward, to in front of where the tank sits and on each side there's some nasty looking rot on a small panel that might lead into the inner sill. The nearside has gone through with a bit of a poke.

I'll try and get a piccy, I must admit I've not seen or heard anyone else mention rot here on a 205.

Edited October 27, 2011 by davey sprocket

[harryskid 193]

Crikey, ain't that the truth!!!

 

From what started out looking pretty good with a few surface rust patches with about 3 hours of work looks as bad, if not worse than Stu's picture earlier this page.

 

Those cleaning discs are nice to use and are pretty good on open, flattish areas but as I suspected, you're rather limited when it comes to corners and also they tend to ride up over the seams, leaving a line of rust behind to be gotten off with the wire wheel type. I see many more hours of this fun to come over the weekend!

 

 

Anyway, it looks like I might be starting a new thread wanting recommendations for MIG welders. I was just finishing off this evening and happened to look a bit further forward, to in front of where the tank sits and on each side there's some nasty looking rot on a small panel that might lead into the inner sill. The nearside has gone through with a bit of a poke.

I'll try and get a piccy, I must admit I've not seen or heard anyone else mention rot here on a 205.

 

Sadly i have been there and it was a right bast***

[davey sprocket 14]

General state of the area with first bout of cleaning...

 

And this nasty bit forward of the tank on the nearside. I've not done much with this bit yet as I found it after I was supposed to have come in for dinner but it is clearly holed already.

[harryskid 193]

Mine was on the drivers side, on the sill when i removed the tank. Also it went into the siil and into the quarter panel. When i cut a large hole in the quarter panel i could see the sill had a top plate and that had gone too. Took many hours of welding and i had only found all this because i wanted to change my tank.