Rust Removal in 5 Easy Steps

Living in the Salt Belt creates extra problems for any off-roader, especially if you tend to scrape up your Jeep. Anytime you scrap your Jeep or Jeep parts you are opening up that part to a rust invasion. 




When you expose bare metal to oxygen and moisture you create prime growing conditions for rust. I have dinged my front and rear bumpers a lot over the years while off-roading. This Spring and Summer were especially rainy.   

I have always kept up with the maintenance of keeping the rust at bay. However, last winter there was an unusually obscene amount of salt dumping on the roads. That salt played havoc with my bumper and the rust invaded. I knew my old stand bys weren't going to work. 

The best solution to get rid of the rust is to sandblast the bumper. That would require down time of my Jeep and lots of money. So I will keep working within my budget.   





This time I tired the product POR-15, the rust prevention kit. It's a 3 step process. I have found in my rust treatments that prepping the metal is the key. I spent a lot of time sanding off the rust as best I could. 

Then it was on to the 3 step process of the POR-15 Kit. It's really very simple. Spray on the degreaser to clean the metal. The instructions stated to keep the metal wet for 15 minutes. During that time I used my wire brush to help remove that stubborn rust. 
After rinsing off the degreaser, the next step was the metal prep. This is a liquid that needs to remain on the metal for 15 minutes. 

After the Metal Prep is rinsed off the the bumper dries, the POR-15 can be painted on the bumper. POR-15 is a thick black paint. I used two coats. 

Once the POR-15 paint dried I sprayed on a black matte rust prevention spray paint. The POR-15 is sensitive to UV rays. 

After POR-15 was applied! 

Now my fingers are crossed this will do the trick. We will find out come this Spring how well it holds up to the off-roading dings and scrapes and the road salt.