Rusty Radiator Brackets

[Steviewevie]

The curved brackets that attach to the top of the radiator in my car are a bit rusty. I thought maybe it was just mine, but I saw another IS200 with the same problem recently, and the pictures in this thread look remarkably familiar.

So I'm guessing that this is a very common problem.

Any suggestions on how to smarten them up, quickly and easily ? Paint some black Hammerite on them ? Buy some new ones from a Lexus dealer (don't know how much they cost) ?

When I get my shiny radiator panel from the Group Buy they're going to stick out like a sore thumb.

What have others done here ?

[TommyH]

Whilst moving the horns yesterday i noticed how rusty these bolts & washers were, i just used some sandpaper on them, not totally clean but a bit better looking, think i might get some paint or whatever others think ?

[aztecbandit1]

Steve if you can mate invest in a Dremil or another make of small drill/tool there great for polishing/cutting removing rust etc, i've got 2 of them now 1 mains power and the other rechargable and always using them on bits for the cars and once you start you wont stop and great for doing things like the rad brackets :D

[Steviewevie]

Steve if you can mate invest in a Dremil or another make of small drill/tool there great for polishing/cutting removing rust etc, i've got 2 of them now 1 mains power and the other rechargable and always using them on bits for the cars and once you start you wont stop and great for doing things like the rad brackets :D

Funny you should mention that, because the other day after my trip to Machine Mart, I was looking at the Dremels in their catalogue ! :D

So what do you reckon, Dremel to clean it up and then Hammerite smooth on top ?

[aztecbandit1]

Steve if you can mate invest in a Dremel or another make of small drill/tool there great for polishing/cutting removing rust etc, i've got 2 of them now 1 mains power and the other rechargable and always using them on bits for the cars and once you start you wont stop and great for doing things like the rad brackets :D

Funny you should mention that, because the other day after my trip to Machine Mart, I was looking at the Dremels in their catalogue ! :D

So what do you reckon, Dremel to clean it up and then Hammerite smooth on top ?

You could even use it to polish them Steve, clean them off with the fine wire brush fitting (if you get a dremel) then use a very fine wet and dry sandpaper by hand to bring them to a basic shine then use the dremel again with Autosol polish to bring them up to a nice shine then coat with a laquer if you wanted to? would add a bit more bling to go with the other polished bits your having :D or like you say a good sand off, clean with white spirit to remove any dirt then paint with the hammerite :)

[Steviewevie]

ok, cool, thanks for the advice ! :D

[Steviewevie]

I had a quick look around at Dremels, and found this one at Amazon for what seems like a pretty good price.

What do you reckon, does that look any good ?

[TheDon]

the brackets are mild steel... so even with a coat of laquer it wont last long... better off just spraying them with a bit of black hammerite