Rusty Cross member, any Tips?

[dazzlar]

Hi, I recently had to remove the front plastic trim, and the cross member underneath wasn't looking too good.  any products people recommend for rust conversion / protection etc.  watched a few YouTube videos, but can't seem to get the products the recommend (US market). 

Was kind of thinking of this from Toolstation (https://www.toolstation.com/rustins-rust-converter-250ml/p97400), but would be nice to hear recommendations.

Thanks,

Darren.

[IS300FSPORT]

Looks excessive for a 15 reg of course it depends on  the environment I.e if it lives on the motorway or near a beach or flooded roads etc

It should be as simple as sanding it down, primer it & can of spray from Halfords to freshen it up to try & slow down any future corrosion. Whilst your at it inspect the underside brake pipes & chassis for corrosion.

Is it a flood damaged car by any chance?

[dazzlar]

9 hours ago, IS300FSPORT said:

Looks excessive for a 15 reg of course it depends on  the environment I.e if it lives on the motorway or near a beach or flooded roads etc

It should be as simple as sanding it down, primer it & can of spray from Halfords to freshen it up to try & slow down any future corrosion. Whilst your at it inspect the underside brake pipes & chassis for corrosion.

Is it a flood damaged car by any chance?

I've owned since new, used mainly for long Motorway journeys then parked up while away or when at home (ie 2 big journeys a week only), no flood damage. I live in the hills in the North, so probably exposed to more salt spray than average. The underside isn't great, I treated with waxoyl a few years back, but was thinking of doing lanoguard as part of the service going forward. 

I was hoping as non cosmetic there might be an easy option with a rust converter or straight to rust type product.

[Notamech]

I haven't had a look under the car or under the plastic trim yet but have above average rust under the bonnet too. But having looked at yours i think im going to look under the plastic trim this weekend. My bonnet latch is also badly rusted. when cleaning the hybrid fan i seen spots of rust similar to yours under the plastic trim in the boot.  Also my brake dust shields are quite rusty too. It could be because one of the previous owners lived along the coast. I have used jenolite rust converter to treat what i could. It can be sprayed directly on rust which is good as i cant be bothered to sand stuff down.

Even the wifes jazz seems very rusty  underneath and under the bonnet. Maybe its a japanese car thing. As my previous Mercedes was new looking under the bonnet at the same age and mileage as my IS. 

I plan to do both cars soon. Will use something that can be applied by brush rather than a spray as spraying stuff underneath the car when its on a jack stands rather than a lift in a garage is difficult. Especially with wind blowing it everywhere.

I would also like to know what rust converters people have used in the past and is that enough or do we need to seal it with something else like a lacquer or something? 

[wharfhouse]

We have a yacht on the south coast (so in salt water) with an iron keel so you can imagine that although it's epoxied and anti fouled we still have to treat some rust on the keel every year. By far the best rust converter and proofer we have found (and which is usually recommended for yachts) is Fertan: https://www.fertan.co.uk/product/fertan-rust-converter/ - you can buy it in many different places. We've tried others but nothing had been as good as Fertan for converting the rust and stopping it coming back. 

The first image is what the keel looked like the first year we lifted it having just bought the boat. We stripped the keel and treated with Fertan before repainting with epoxy primer and antifoul. The second image is a few years later with having just treated some small patches of rust with Fertan in the intervening few years each winter. If Fertan works this well on iron in salt water then it will certainly work well on light rust on cars. 

[Scotlex]

It does seem more rusty than you would expect. Perhaps the plastic cover doesn't help.

If it gets completely covered by the trim a quick option would be a wire brush and then a coat of hammerite paint. 

[dazzlar]

@wharfhouse thank you very much for the detailed actually frankly fantastic response.  I'm going to get some ordered.  @Notamech completely agree with you 'Japanese' car theory, my experience is exactly this.  Had a Mazda before the Lexus and that was terrible for rust.. but also amazingly reliable.

[IS300FSPORT]

Thanks for this post it motivated me to check mine today whilst the weather's holding out.

Mine is a 2015 It's starting to rust but nothing dramatic just yet. This is post a degrease session.  Think it should be alright for a couple more years.

[dazzlar]

@IS300FSPORT looks in a lot better condition than mine did.  good to see this isn't an inherent issue, hopefully more due to environment / usage.  Your under bonnet looks cleaner than the outside of my car, my hose clips are looking heavily corroded where as yours look new.  I've got a few DIY projects on, but hopefully I might find a day or 2 to give mine a tidy up once the decent rust convertor arrives.   My rear left brake is just starting to stick so another job needed!   Wife needs my car early next week, so I fudged it (halfrauds rust converter, zinc primer and some rustolem spray I had left over from painting a fire guard, hopefully it'll last.

 

 

[IS300FSPORT]

@dazzlar To be fair you have done a good job! That's how it should have left the factory matches your car colour.

I think moving forward I will remember to remove the plastic cover after winter has passed & wash it down to prevent the road salt as  that is what causes the corrosion. 

Also worth calling out the bugs & flies that stick to the air con condenser radiator is worth cleaning/washing down whilst the plastic trim is removed. 

[Notamech]

On 8/2/2024 at 9:35 PM, dazzlar said:

Hi, I recently had to remove the front plastic trim, and the cross member underneath wasn't looking too good.  any products people recommend for rust conversion / protection etc.  watched a few YouTube videos, but can't seem to get the products the recommend (US market). 

Was kind of thinking of this from Toolstation (https://www.toolstation.com/rustins-rust-converter-250ml/p97400), but would be nice to hear recommendations.

Thanks,

Darren.

So finally had a look at mine today and surprise surprise it was badly rusted. Much worse than yours i would say. Wanted to thank you for making this post else i wouldn't know to check under there. Also noticed the "floor" below the radiator / ac condenser or whatever is also badly rusted. I always assumed the floor in the engine bay was just a plastic splash guard but guessing some of it is not. Now im scared to look under the car to see how bad it must be. 

For now i just brushed off whatever was loose and sprayed it with janolite as thats what i had i also have a janolite lacquer which i will spray on top once the rust converter dries. Hopefully this will hold for the next 3-4 years after which i hope to switch.

[dazzlar]

oh wow, down at the bottom is really bad, I think I'll be checking mine again, I might have missed that, certainly didn't notice, thanks for posting back, next weekends job!