I have a good bit of rust on my rocker panels and I want to grind it off. What type of dremel bits would you guys reccomend to do that. I tried today with bits I had laying around and none of them stood up to really do the job. Also is there any type of tool specifically made to grind metal down that is rather cheap?

 

i did mine with a 3M grinder wheel/brush on a 1/2" drill. it looked a lot like this:



i used a chemical rust treatment after that, then an etching primer. after that i fiberglassed the hole, used a belt sander to smooth it out, masked off the car, painted it. i was fortunate i had it on the black portion of the rocker. it's hardly noticable now and i have to tell people it's there for them to see it.

 

Yah I plan on painting the metal with por-15 then fiberglassing over it. Hopefully that will turn out well. I think I am going to pick up the following grinder from harbor freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=3150
It looks like it will take out the biggest parts and use the dremel for all the small areas. As for painting I am nto worried since my whole car is black. Makes it easy to hide once I am done.

 

I know you didnt ask but just so you know the rust will probably come back, and the fix will look good till it eats away some other rust. Just a heads up.

Post pictures.

 

yeah, that's true.

i keep an eye on it from time to time. if it comes back, i'll have the panel replaced.

 

Lars, do you have an air compressor? You can borrow my rotory tool...

 

Unforgently no air compressor. I definately know that the rust will come back and it is just a matter of time. At this point I have been qouted about 550-600$ to have a body shop fix it and I just cant afford it. Especially when they don't gurantee that the rust wont come back. I will take some pics on friday when I start grinding away and then when I apply the fiberglass.

 

also clean out the drain holes..

 

My drivers rocker panel is starting to rust through. I think i'm just going to get it patched when I get repainted this year. Hopefully it isnt TOO expensive.. :(

 

MY drain holes have been cleaned out several times since I bought the car 2 years ago. That is what confuses me. I have made sure to keep all those clean and I am still getting the rust. I also have never herd of water sloshing around back there like alot of people report hearing.