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Dip or Blast these rails?

Dip or Blast?

  • Dip

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • Blast

    Votes: 8 72.7%
  • Total voters
    11
VicsGarage

VicsGarage

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Hey everyone,

So I just scored these rear rails from Moparmarks.

Was looking for peoples opinion on whether blasting them or dipping them before epoxy priming them would be best?

I have a small blaster and my compressor should be hooked up soon, so I can do that at home. But I also have a place that dips about 10 mins away from me.

What do people think is best?

Rail123d.JPG Rail2123d.JPG Rail3123d.JPG
 
Bet the freight sucked on that! I'd blast'm and epoxy them myself, didn't even think we had a dipper in Ontario left thanks to EPA. Who and where does dipping, would be great for enclosed structures, pending tank size.
 
Blasting leaves the metal with some texture for the epoxy to bite on. For me personally, it would be depend on cost. I can blast those rails for about $15 in material and an hours worth of time. Weigh that against the cost of the dipper.
 
There are AT LEAST two dippers in Ontario - one that does full-sized bodies.

With those off the car as they are, I'd go for the dipping. The dip will get every bit of rust whereas blasting leaves minute rust in pores that are too small for a grain of sand to remove.

After dipping they'll be sprayed with a rust preventer. This doesn't last more than a couple weeks. It also needs to be washed off (hot water at least) before painting. And be ready to paint it immediately or it will flash rust.

As for priming, I'm no longer a fan of epoxy primer unless you're absolutely going to topcoat it within the cure window - which is anywhere up to 5 days. After that it needs to be sanded or scuffed with 180 grit for any topcoat to adhere properly. You could however epoxy the insides and do the outsides later when you do the rest of the car.

Tell me where you're located - I might have an anti-rust a secret weapon for you.
 
Blast and epoxy prime.
 
unless you're dipping the rest of the car, or you have a buddy at the dipper that can hook you up for next to nothing; just blast them
 
dadsbee said:
Bet the freight sucked on that! I'd blast'm and epoxy them myself, didn't even think we had a dipper in Ontario left thanks to EPA. Who and where does dipping, would be great for enclosed structures, pending tank size.
Click to expand...

freight wasn’t to bad. Had it shipped to Buffalo and the drove across border to get it.

As for the dipper it’s techno strip in Brampton.
https://ppslimited.com/techno-strip/

Stanton said:
There are AT LEAST two dippers in Ontario - one that does full-sized bodies.

With those off the car as they are, I'd go for the dipping. The dip will get every bit of rust whereas blasting leaves minute rust in pores that are too small for a grain of sand to remove.

After dipping they'll be sprayed with a rust preventer. This doesn't last more than a couple weeks. It also needs to be washed off (hot water at least) before painting. And be ready to paint it immediately or it will flash rust.

As for priming, I'm no longer a fan of epoxy primer unless you're absolutely going to topcoat it within the cure window - which is anywhere up to 5 days. After that it needs to be sanded or scuffed with 180 grit for any topcoat to adhere properly. You could however epoxy the insides and do the outsides later when you do the rest of the car.

Tell me where you're located - I might have an anti-rust a secret weapon for you.
Click to expand...

I’m in Brampton. I guess epoxy primer isn’t critical. I’d imagine a etching primer would work just as well no?
 
eldubb440 said:
unless you're dipping the rest of the car, or you have a buddy at the dipper that can hook you up for next to nothing; just blast them
Click to expand...

rest of the car was blasted and primed. But I’m going to be replacing the floor and all trunk panels.

just wondering about these because they’re off the car and can be accessed. Dipping the car worried me cause there would be areas hard to reach.
 
Your fears are well-founded. I had my whole car dipped by those guys and it came back with some damage. Not that big of a deal but never-the-less! The main thing is that there are pockets where air is trapped so the dip doesn't get in there - particularly the trunk underside at the very rear in the frame rails. HOWEVER, keep in mind that dipping WILL reach areas that blasting could never reach. Also, while it doesn't "completely" remove the rust in the seams, it does WAY better than you could ever hope for with blasting. Does it "seep" afterwards as many claim and fear - yes it does BUT this is easily resolved.

In my case, I would still have mine dipped knowing what I know. BUT that's a decision that has to be made depending on each and every car. But I will say this, when it comes to parts like your frame rails, I'd dip those without a second thought. The best blaster on the planet will not do as good of a job as dipping them.

And "blasting leaving a rough surface for epoxy to adhere" is pretty lame.
 
IMO I'd consider powder coating. Its cheap, they blast it as part of the service and you can pick any colour/tone/texture you want.
 
slepr1 said:
IMO I'd consider powder coating. Its cheap, they blast it as part of the service and you can pick any colour/tone/texture you want.
Click to expand...

Seriously ?!?! So what happens when he welds them into place and then paints the whole underside? What a waste !!!
 
Yeah the reason I'm not powder coating is for that very point. Id have to grind it off along the top to weld.

If I were building a trans am or some chevy like my friend, then sure. But here.
 
"And "blasting leaving a rough surface for epoxy to adhere" is pretty lame."

Epoxy coatings are for marginally prepared surfaces. They require clean, dry and sound substrates. Very few media blasters actually know what "mil profile"/SSPC specifications are and can be the weak link in any coating system.
I have witnessed many botched "blast jobs" and strip a majority by handtooling and phosphoric acid.
 
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