Cleaning rusty chrome

[cr480r]

Any recommendations on cleaning rust off an old chrome bmx bicycle frame? Frame is 30 years old and pretty rusty.. I just want to make it the best it can be without ruining the remaining chrome. I briefly considered powder coating or painting it, but I don't want to ruin the classic look and sentimental value. I have heard about using Cola and tin foil on rusty chrome but has anyone tried it? Or any other ideas?

[bkm]

My dad had this stuff years ago that was made by turtle wax that was a chrome polish/rust remover. It was in a little gray bottle and was a brown chunky liquid that you worked on like car wax. It actually worked pretty good on the bumper of my 65 Dart, but I haven't used it in 20 years. I don't even know if it is still available or not?

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[efhondakid]

00 steel wool.

[knappyfeet]

00 steel wool.

Steel wool and also...phosphoric acid.

If the chrome is in good shape I would use this Zep product. I used it on many things as a dip prior to steel wool....sometimes over 15 minutes. If the chrome is good it will not harm it at all. The air cleaner on my HT-1 was covered in rust....along with some other chrome bits. A good soaking then steel wool and you can tell the difference. Just look at the air cleaner housing.

Try in an inconspicuous location to make sure it will not harm anything.

Good luck

233889


233890

[fabiodriven]

I saw someone use a plain old piece of tinfoil very recently. I wouldn't have believed how well it worked if I hadn't seen it.


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[Bren_downe]

S.O.S pads work great

[yaegerb]

I use aluminum foil and water. Get the chrome wet and cut a 6x6 piece of aluminum foil folded over to make it a little thicker and proceed to hand polishing the frame. The chemical reaction actually removes some of the rust. It won't work for heavily damaged areas, but works pretty well for light surfaces rust. Try it out, you will be surprised. Then polish it out with mothers.

[atc12]

What kind of bike?
/

[redsox]

i'm with knappy. that zep stuff is aces!!

[atc007]

I use steel wool and polish,but there are a ton of youtubes using Coca Cola... Looks to work amazing. Either way, I drink it maybe 3 times a year ;)

[cr480r]

What kind of bike?
/

It's an old free agent mini that I am fixing up for my kids to make a low cost bmx debut. The free agent was my lil bros, my mom bought it used when he was 6 but he lost all interest after his first crash. I have a much nicer Auburn Jr. that I have kept around since 1993, but it's still a tad big for my son.

[RamsesRibb]

Well I just tried the foil tip on light rust and it worked. Thanks.
Now I have a set of suspension forks for my atc110 that got screwed up because someone put a case of pool chemicals behind it inside the shed. Well the chlorine basically ate through the packages and then commenced to rusting all my stuff. Most of which was my old tractor parts, but It was close enough to get the fork tubes.

[efhondakid]

I've never heard of the tin foil method before.

[El Camexican]

Brother-in-law just told me that he uses Coke Cola to remove rust from chrome when he restores car parts. Didn't go into all the details, but said something about a soak period and then just wiping it off.

[cr480r]

I ended up using both tin foil and coke. The coke definately helped remove the rust.. But using the foil dry was the most impressive. It left the good chrome with a restored lustre and also filled in the pits. Next time I will only use the coke for the heavier work.

[Dirtcrasher]

I remember being 13yo (1983) and my Kuwahara had a bit of rust up by the neck, where 2 plates with holes in them are at the neck.

I hated that rust!! Bothered me like crazy.

Back then I used navel jelly (sp?) and it helped but there are so many products out there now....

[barnett468]

Any recommendations on cleaning rust off an old chrome bmx bicycle frame? Frame is 30 years old and pretty rusty.. I just want to make it the best it can be without ruining the remaining chrome. I briefly considered powder coating or painting it, but I don't want to ruin the classic look and sentimental value. I have heard about using Cola and tin foil on rusty chrome but has anyone tried it? Or any other ideas?

SOS pads and 00 steel can in fact scratch the chrome . 0000 steel wool is what should be used if you want too insure the chrome will not get scratched.


I wrote the following at the request of some people a while back.

DIFFERENT RUST REMOVING METHODS AND THEIR GENERAL EFFECTIVENESS

There are several different ways to remove rust and rusty hardware, however, I will only go into one in detail which is Oxalic acid and it is fairly inexpensive . One of the more common rust removal products on the market is "Evapo Rust", and it costs around $22.00 a gallon and at best is only around 50% as effective as Oxalic acid when the Oxalic acid is mixed at what I refer to as a "Full Strength" ratio of 1 lb of crystals to one gallon of water and it also costs around 4 times as much.

The Oxalic acid mix will remove rust from tools parts, gas tanks and steel rims etc . . It can also be used to de-rust rusty automotive radiators and used as a periodic cooling system flush in cars and trucks . Another fairly effective method for removing rust is by Electrolysis, however, this is a bit more complicated and more of a PITA.

Oxalic acid is in some concrete driveway cleaners and wood bleaches that can sometimes be found at some hardware stores, however, it seems that fewer stores carry it these days, so if you don't find it there, pure Oxalic acid crystals can easily be purchased online, and amazon.com has some of the cheapest prices on it.

The cost to make the solution in maximum strength depends on how much you buy of the product and where you buy it . . If mixed at 1 lb per gallon, the cost per gallon can range from $7.00 to as low as $2.00 . One of the cheapest places to buy it is from amazon.com where you can get for around $7.00 for 1 lb or $15.00 for 5 lbs or $35.00 for 20 lbs.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=oxalic+acid+crystals&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=34210609667&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15446766872994692505&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_6i3ge8f3gs_b


MIX RATIO VS DE-RUSTING SPEED

The more acid you use, the faster it will work . . If you are on a budget and have up to a week before you need the item and it is moderately rusty, you can try mixing 1/4 lb of acid per gallon of water . If the item has light surface rust, it could be clean in as little as 2 days . I had 3ww member 3 Wheel Drive use the full strength ratio on his heavily rusted engine block . He let his block soak for around 5 days, at which point absolutely every single grain of rust was gone, however, it is possible that all the rust was gone slightly sooner.


SEE THE RESULTS

The before and after photos further below are of member 3 Wheel Drive's engine block . Unfortunately, the person he bought the block from had left it outside in on the ground in bad weather for many years . This caused it to rust heavily on the inside as well as the outside . This means the the outside wall of the cylinders was rusting in the water jacket area, and the inside of some, if not all of the oil passages were also rusting, and the rust inside the oil passages would have instantly destroyed the engine upon initial start up had it not been removed.

The oil passages could have been cleared of the loose rust with metal brushes, however, brushes will not remove rust that is still adhered well to the block, especially when it has created small low spots [pits] which the brushes can't easily get into . Even if those passages could be thoroughly cleaned with brushes, it is still impossible to clean everywhere inside the water jackets and he didn't want to build an engine for his car that was rusty inside so he asked me if I could suggest something which is the process I am posting about.


STORAGE AND REUSE OF SOLUTION

Once the solution has been made and used, it can be stored in a container and reused . Airtight containers will prevent evaporation and fumes . If you don't have an airtight container, you can put some type of lid over it even if it is just a piece of wood then try to store it in a ventilated area.


LIFE SPAN OF SOLUTION AND TESTING ITS ACID LEVEL TO EVALUATE ITS EFFECTIVENESS

The solution will not loose effectiveness if it is unused and stored in an airtight container.

The acid level goes down as it removes rust . The more rust it removes, the more the acid level goes down . The lower the acid level, the less effective it becomes so the longer it will take to clean the items, however, as long as the solution is acidic, it will still clean parts, but if the acid level gets low enough, the time frame can go from a few days for heavily rusted parts to a few months etc.

The acid level can be monitored with just litmus paper or an iodine test kit, both of which are available at any pool supply store and some hardware stores if they have a pool department which is usually by the gardening department.

You can test the acid level immediately after you make it so you have a baseline to compare future tests to . As long as the level stays near the starting level, the effectiveness of the solution will remain around the same.


SAFETY

When the acid is mixed at 1 lb per gallon of water, it is strong enough to discolor clothes and possibly put holes in them which would usually appear after washing them . It can also lightly irritate the skin if it gets on it, therefore, you should wear long gloves and maybe the ol' lady's apron when using this stuff.

The most dangerous part of it are the fumes from the mix or the powder that may go airborne when you are pouring it out of the bag, so use it in a well ventilated area and a paper face mask is also suggested . Try to avoid breathing any airborne powder at all costs . The mixed solution does not give off many fumes so it is not very dangerous . It's just not highly advisable to stick your face directly above the surface and start huffin it . The airborne powder can irritate your lungs a little if you breathe in enough of it.


DISPOSING OF SOLUTION

Once the solution is brought to a neutral ph of 7.5 to 8.0, it becomes so harmless that one could drink it, however, a little flavoring would be advised . In its neutral form, it can be poured onto grass or the planter etc, however, if you do this, I would dilute it some with plain water then water the area you pour it in with plain water afterwards to dilute it a little more . Now just in case some "Save The Planet" type people read this and want to start whining about how barnett468 is trying to kill the whales or the blunt nosed lizard etc by telling people they can dump this stuff in their yard, I can assure them that it is not only safe to pour into a yard, it is perfectly legal to do so . Oxalic acid is actually in many plants, some of which some people eat, and the baking soda used to neutralize the acid is used in many food products and the water used to mix with the acid is often consumed by people with only minimal side effects if it came from their faucet.


PRE-CLEANING LOOSE RUST FROM PART

If the part has heavily flaking rust, this process will remove it irregardless of how thick it is, however, it will clean the part much faster if the heavy, loose rust is scraped off first . Since this was an engine block, I had 3 Wheel Drive run a long bottle type brush through all the passages he could first . This included the lifter oil galleys.


WASHING PRIOR TO SOAKING IN RUST REMOVAL SOLUTION

The product I use will not easily remove grease or oil, therefore, it will not easily remove rust from an area that has grease or oil on it if it even removes it at all.

Remove any grease and heavy oil deposits prior to "washing" it . This will reduce the the soaking time.

Some cleaning options are Spic N' Span or pure white Tide clothes washing powder . The Spic N' Span can sometimes be found at Sears or Hardware stores or home paint stores because it is sometimes used to clean walls before they are painted . Do NOT use Tide with green crystals . If you read his thread you will know why.

Mix around 1/4 cup per gallon of warm water and let the part soak for at least 4 hours . If the part is really grimy, let it soak for 24 hours.

Remove part and rinse the bejesus out of it with warm water . The rust remover won't work as well on soapy parts and these products can be difficult to rinse off completely.


PERIODIC INSPECTION OF PROGRESS

The solution may get too murky to see the part, so if it is a small item, you can tie a long piece of any wire to it then place it in the solution then drape the end of the wire over the edge of the container then simply pull the part out whenever you want to check its progress.

If the item is too heavy to do that with, you can try and find another rusty item which could even be an old nail etc then tie the wire to that and inspect it periodically . If both items had a similar amount of rust on then, the item you are de-rusting will be rust free at the same time the test item is.


NEUTRALIZING THE ACID ON THE PARTS

Once the parts are done soaking, they should be dipped in a solution of 1/4 cup of baking soda or soda ash per 1 gallon of water for 5 minutes, then they should be rinsed off and dried quickly . The ol' lady's hair dryer works nicely for this part after they are partially dried with a towel or paper towels first.


NEUTRALIZING THE ACID SOLUTION

This can be done with baking soda or soda ash . The higher the acid content is, the more baking soda it will require to neutralize it . . One method to do this is to mix around 1/4 cup of baking soda with 8 ounces of warm water and pour it into the acid solution, then stir it well, then test the ph level with a litmus strip or iodine swimming pool test kit . Keep adding baking soda mix until the ph is anywhere from 7.5 to 8.0.


DISPOSING OF SOLUTION

Once the solution is brought to a neutral ph of 7.5 to 8.0, it becomes so harmless that one could drink it, however, a little flavoring would be advised . In its neutral form, it can be poured onto grass or the planter etc, however, if you do this, I would dilute it some with plain water then water the area you pour it in with plain water afterwards to dilute it a little more . Now just in case some "Save The Planet" type people read this and want to start whining about how barnett468 is trying to kill the whales or the blunt nosed lizard etc by telling people they can dump this stuff in their yard, I can assure them that it is not only safe to pour in their yard, it is perfectly legal to do so . Oxalic acid is actually in many plants, some of which some people eat, and the baking soda used to neutralize the acid is used in many food products and the water used in if is often consumed by people with only minimal side effects if it came from their faucet.




http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/1972%20340%20Standard%20Bore/Pre%20wash/image_zpslipdwose.jpeg



http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/1972%20340%20Standard%20Bore/image_zps1wjnwg91.jpeg



There was a lot of rust inside the water jackets and around the outside of the cylinders inside the water jackets . . these are areas that no amount of spray washing or bead blasting can get to to clean.

http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/1972%20340%20Standard%20Bore/image_zpsph7vfvlw.jpeg



Nice and rusty.

http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/1972%20340%20Standard%20Bore/image_zps58jqqjtb.jpeg



You can see very heavy rust scaling on the cylinder wall thru the rusted out freeze plug . . There was ZERO rust left anywhere when it was done.

http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/1972%20340%20Standard%20Bore/image_zpsxpw4pamn.jpeg



Rub a bub bub, the blocks in the tub . . This is the acid solution it was placed in after being soaked in detergent in the same tub.

http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsrhjw3hcq.jpeg



After soaking for a few days, I had him pour the baking soda mix in to neutralize the acid then he poured some solution out so he could see the block and marvel at its 100% rust free beauty.

http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/image_zpsfm32hmte.jpeg


http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/image_zpszmq9lkzp.jpeg


http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/image_zpsid4tgfo2.jpeg


http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/image_zpshpb8ozss.jpeg


http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t377/sevendcuda/image_zpskkkdigxo.jpeg




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