By Chris Tropea
Oct 20, 2023
Play with cars long enough and you’ll likely have to battle against rust–but which method is most effective?
We’re in the shop comparing CRC Evapo-Rust, sand blasting and a wire wheel to find out.
Presented by CRC Industries.
12/8/22 4:51 p.m.
My experience with Evapo-rust: Evapo-rust just saved me $120
I've used it to clean up guitar parts, too. It's like magic.
12/8/22 8:11 p.m.
I dig evaporator, but it boils down to time.
Water pump bolts came out rusty and go back in now. Grinder with a wore wheel.
Rusty stuff comes out and I have some time, drop them in evaporator.
Stuff I want really nice. Blasting
12/8/22 11:10 p.m.
I'd love to see some info about replating hardware. Does Evaporust remove the zinc like sandblasting does? What about the battery charger and sacrificial piece of metal?
12/9/22 2:10 a.m.
All three methods have a place but the real tough problem is what to do after you have taken the rust off. Depending on where you live it could be rusty again in weeks.
For purely cosmetic and well protected spots I have had good luck with simply coating with floor wax. That would not last a day on a suspension bolt.
Aside from simply buying all new bolts what have folks done to restore plating on steel bolts? (All new bolts is not a bad idea and the cost is not that bad, the tough part is getting all the correct dimensions and bolt types and then waiting for your bolts to ship.)
Thanx
Ron
12/9/22 10:04 a.m.
I see that taped up box of shop rags in the background and I feel like I'm amongst my people.
12/9/22 1:57 p.m.
EDIT: Ugh I guess we can't do gifs.
Oh well. That's actually my dad's corner of the shop, which is why it's somewhat clean. The rags are right above his never-ending assembly line of cockatoo chewies waiting to be turned into splinters.
12/9/22 2:14 p.m.
Where can I find Evapo Rust in the North Las Vegas NV area?
12/9/22 2:39 p.m.
When I first read about EVAP-O-RUST, I was very skeptical and purchased just the small sized product at O'REILLY AUTO PARTS to use in my long term resurrection project of my 1978 280Z. That was about 7-8 years ago and have since purchased a couple of the big size containers. It does lose it's potency after many cycles but one of the best products I have come across. I simply pour the used EVAP-O-RUST from the parts containers-some identical to this video-through a couple of paper shop towels back into the EVAP-O-RUST container. I highly recommend this great project. Just wish I had a large enough container to dip my whole car into! Thanks for a great video and the safety factor should be stressed even more. Those wire bristles will fly and can be very dangerous. The product also works OK if you soak some rags, wrap them around larger parts-control arms, mount brackets, etc-and the seal them with some Saran Wrap, and leave them a few days. Thanks again for the great info, ONE WAY-John-Lugoff, SC.
12/9/22 3:37 p.m.
Ive got a local yokel zinc plate shop that will recoat fasteners, your pick of bright finish, yellow, or black oxide. Price is per batch, so run all your parts through at the same time. Doesn't cost much.
12/9/22 4:18 p.m.
WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench at the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned guitar calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, "Ouch...."
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