Rusty Van Roof

The idea was to make a frame cover it with 22 plywood anchor it the van with screws fill the voids rear corners with spray foam red cans that cost about 3 at a hardware or building supply store coat this with laminating resin fiberglass over the corners and edges of this structure first with 1 1 2oz fiberglass mat then over the entire structure with 10 oz.

Rusty van roof.

Check for water leaks. Here are their responses. Plan to spend about 100 on supplies like sandpaper primer masking tape and poly sheeting a tack rag polishing compound and touch up paint and clear coat. Rust repair isn t hard but it is time consuming mostly waiting for primer and paint to dry between steps.

Be sure to look in non obvious places. Inside the van the footwell steps wheel arches behind the dash and under any old plastic trim or flooring for example. I ve found the best all round rust removal tool is a twist wheel wire brush for an angle grinder. Another way to prevent rust is to keep the drain holes clear on the bottoms of doors and on the rocker panels the area below the doors so water can t accumulate and cause rust.

This problem is particularly acute on minivans and large vans. We brushed ospho rust treatment onto the remaining surface rust near our repair area. First thing i d do is surround the rusted areas by several layers of durable masking tape so as not to damage non rusted finish along with an equally thick couple layers over the top edge of the window glass then scrape the bubbled paint away and sand with multiple grits of sandpaper say 80 150 grit. Rust hiding behind the panels caused by leaks in the roof gutter firstly to uncover the surface rust on the van s body i looked for brown marks bubbles under the paint and flakes.

Use a coat hanger or pipe cleaner to make sure the holes remain open. Sand the roof lightly with 200 grit sandpaper to remove some of the rust and to prepare the roof for step 2. To stop the rust on the rest of the roof where there were 6 8 patches of minor surface rust we brushed por 15 on then sanded it down with 400 grit sandpaper once it was dry. Apply a product like rhino liner herculiner or rust oleum truck bed liner to the roof.

Ospho neutralizes rust turning it into paintable black primer.