Vinegar for rust removal

[1963c-10]

Watched on tv a few weeks ago where a guy used vinegar as a rust remover and decided I'd try the results myself with a pair of the fender to cab brackets. Im fixing to do my front end swap to replace some of the panels that need more repair than I have time for with some rust free OEM panels. I can only guess by the way my other projects have gone that the removal of the original brackets will not go as planned, so I purchased another OEM set from a board member to prep for the swap.
Brackets arrived as described and were complete and solid, just covered in 50+ years of road dirt, paint, dripped bondo, undercoating and grease. Decided that this would be my vinegar project. Used an old plastic coffee tub to hold the parts, 1 gallon vinegar (supplied by local dollar store for $1), and a wire brush. I placed the brackets in and covered them until covered w/vinegar and let them sit a few days. Heres a before pic...

[1963c-10]

After a few days I pulled them out and heres the result

[1963c-10]

All that was left was a little paint, which the wire brush took care off, and a quick little bit of hand sanding. Them sprayed w/some self-etching primer to await paint. Total soak time was around 7-8 days in the NC sun which has been around 90deg lately. If your not in a hurry, the vinegar will do the job as shown, just be patient. I think that since I dont have a sandblaster, but can drive across town to use one, the cheap cost of vinegar...I'll use it in the future for bolts and smaller projects like this. Just wanted to share the results...

[rideblue00]

Wow, thats impressing! I might try that on some bolts i have to plate. I bought Eastwoods Tin-zinc plating system. I like it so far. Ive only plated like 6 bolts tho. And they came out nice.

[Chevy2013]

I'm impressed...I'll be sure to experiment on the 63 stepside when I get it home.

[RANDY COX]

Thanks for the tip..

[1963c-10]

no problem. i was a little sceptical of the results i should expect, but was pleased with the results. i did a bunch of bolts also with the same batch. one more side note, after i wire brushed i soaked in fresh vinegar for an additional day. i believe it allows the vinegar to soak in the little spots touched up by the brush. i dont know that it'll work for all my projects, but its a great alternative for small hard to work parts like bolts and these brackets, plus the cost was cheap & cleanup was easy. since there was no rush on the parts, it was nice to chemically remove the rust as opposed to lots of hand work.
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[chevyrestoguy]

Very cool, and you can't beat the price!! Vinegar is some pretty amazing stuff, and it's used for a multitude of things. Vinegar is an old painter's trick for getting paint to stick to galvanized metal. The process is called "pickleing".

[Rich 5150 69]

Food processors use it after a cleaning equipment as a sterilizer....

[1966FLEETSIDE]

will it work for removing old paint?

[1963c-10]

It did remove about 90% of the paint. What little was left came off w/thumbnail or the wire brush. I did the fresh vinegar soak after wire brushing due to the debris in the vinegar from removing all the junk in the 1st week soak.

[Ta2Don]

New process for me to implement, thanks for the tip!!!
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[1963c-10]

Yes sir.

[contagious102]

O snap.!!!

[bama63]

have used it to etch aluminum panels,looks like it also works well on rust.

[da_bears_da1]

Always love cheap, practical solutions. Thanks!
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[kieth]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

very cool, and you can't beat the price!! Vinegar is some pretty amazing stuff, and it's used for a multitude of things. Vinegar is an old painter's trick for getting paint to stick to galvanized metal. The process is called "pickleing".

when i was 13 i worked at a drive in movie theater, they put up a new galvenized steel fence, it was about a mile of fencing, i had to wash it down with vinegar and then paint it, man i cannot stand the smell of vinegar to this day.......i was making a huge $ .75 cents per hour. The paint did stay on the fence......kieth

[1963c-10]

Yeah, I have to agree with you on that Keith. Works great as a cleaner or rust remover, but the smell is terrible.

[jcramsey]

Pretty cool! was just reading a post about this on GarageJournal earlier today. They were using salt with the vinegar as well, but looks like plain ole vinegar works pretty good by itself.

[1963c-10]

Hmmm...hadn't heard the salt part yet. I have read that some people suggest apple cider vinegar, but I used just plain old white vinegar and was pleased, so I'll just stick with that.

[1963c-10]

I have heard that equal parts borax and lemon juice will work also. But again, more costly than vinegar.

[Slow Build]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Vinegar is an old painter's trick for getting paint to stick to galvanized metal. The process is called "pickleing".

I've have also heard that it helps paint stick to chrome better. In the late 70's I wiped my Datsun 510 chrome bumpers down with white vinegar before painting them black. Seemed to work.

[Brad54]

I've used this method several times.
Vinegar is a mild acid--acid dissolves iron... and iron oxide.
It eats iron oxide at a much faster rate than iron (the base metal).

You don't have to leave it in that long, either. A couple days usually takes care of it, but check your progress.

It will also remove the plating on hardware-store bolts if left in vinegar overnight. That's how I prep any plated bolts that need to be painted--it strips the plating off and leaves a surface ready for paint to adhere to.

Molasses also works fantastic for stripping metal--just fill a 5-gallon bucket with a molasses solution, throw the parts in and come back in a week or more.

In the summer, I keep a bucket of the stuff outside the shop door, ready to throw parts and garage-sale tools in for a fairly-quick, no-effort cleaning.

One thing to be aware of is this: Acid and molasses DOES chemically mill the metal. Meaning, it'll be thinner when it comes out. Probably not noticeably unless you put a micrometer on it, but it is thinner. And it will weaken and take the tension out of springs.
I know race car builders who use pool acid to chemically mill their parts... one Factory Appearing/Stock Tire racer told me he acid-dipped more than half the weight out of his bumper brackets, battery tray and a lot of other pieces.

Finally, I've found that molasses and vinegar will make dull metal file teeth hurt-you-sharp. I had a couple old, very rusty files that I found in the bottom of a rusty pawn-shop tool box. I threw them in the molasses for ten days or two weeks or something, and when I rinsed them off, the teeth on the file were amazingly sharp.

-Brad

[rustbelt]

Great information, thanks.
Any ideas on how many gallons of vinegar it would take to submerge a 61' stepside? lol

[jayoldschool]

Add salt to the vinegar. Works better. Makes a horrible looking black scum as it works, but parts come out looking brand new. There's a big thread on it over on the Garage Journal forum.