1968 C20 Hubcap Restoration

[dagnabbitt]

This is kind of a thread in two parts, my review of POR 15's Rust Remover, and what might turn into a restoration of a set of hubcaps I acquired.

I've used POR 15's most popular product - their black primer - before and although some people love it and some people do not, I found it to do the trick for the little jobs I needed it for. I recently learned that it is the recommended primer (by Mar-K, no less) for bed wood, which I will be trying as soon as I get around to it.

So I had high expectations for their rust remover. It was cheaper than I thought it would be, I think $40 US on Amazon for a gallon.



1968 Hubcaps are a one-year only cap as far as I know, and since my truck is a C20 the caps I needed were pretty specific. I could not afford - or justify - spending a lot of money on these, and after a year or more of searching I did find a "driver quality" set on ebay. I didn't think I could even afford these ones, but they accepted my "best offer" and I was happy with the price. They cost more than I paid for the truck, but thats not saying much, virtually everything I spend on that truck exceeds the purchase price. Perhaps more hilarious is the fact that the E250 rims I lovingly sandblasted and painted have no hubcap nubs, haha. So while I type this
I am acquiring some 70's ones that do.

My build thread is in my signature if anyone is curious.

They arrived as pictured on ebay, covered in surface rust and dirt, cobwebs and caterpillars.



After a bath in just hot water I scrubbed the fronts with micro fiber cloth and the back sides with a green scotchbrite. Then I dried them, and one by one I soaked in them in a large salad bowl with the entire gallon of rust remover.



The instructions said for light rust 20 minutes would be fine. Of course I checked after 20 minutes, and saw no discernable difference. It also said for heavy rust, to leave them overnight. Alright, I guess this is heavy rust, so I'll do that, I thought. I came back to them the next day and saw no change, and was pretty annoyed.



But, I pulled them out, gave them another soak in hot water and knocked off some more rust particles with the microfibre and the scotch brite, and soaked them again over night. This time when I came back there was a noticeable difference and I got the below result. I think if I kept repeating this I would get slightly better results, this stuff does not touch paint, it does not seem like you can overdo it. I might still do another couple applications of this, but keep in mind I have four caps and one salad bowl, so the below results took 8 days.



When I was finished I poured the rust remover through a coffee filter and returned it to the jug: I am sure I still have at least 95% of a gallon to re-use.