Surface rust on a steel frame?

Johnny Napalm

I have noticed that where my rear brake caliper bolts are situated on my On-One Inbred the paint has flaked slightly (must have sneezed near it ;-)) and there are a couple of areas where bare steel showing. I know that this happened when I positioned the caliper, but I didn't use excess force, so I was surprised how easy the paint came away. There is a very slight amount of surface rust in that area, and I wondered what would be the best way to address this?

I was thinking of usiing a bit of emery cloth to remove the surface rust and then putting a coat of something suitable on there for corrosion protection. I seem to remember On-One recommending using nail varnish for any areas where the paint has been damaged...anyone tried this?

getonyourbike

This could be about the one time I'd use WD40 on a bike.

peter413

Just leave it, I'm sure I read somewhere that surface rust helps prevent corrosion better than anything else

float

peter413 wrote:

Just leave it, I'm sure I read somewhere that surface rust helps prevent corrosion better than anything else

you might be thinking of aluminium, which forms a protective layer of aluminium rust. im pretty sure iron oxide is porus. meaning water can soak through and form more rust underneath that layer, and under the paint where it cant be seen. probably wont affect it too much, but you could try and sand it back to bare metal then clear coat it.

SWEETY-4x4

peter413 wrote:

Just leave it, I'm sure I read somewhere that surface rust helps prevent corrosion better than anything else

Sadly that's not the case :roll: The only cure for rust is to remove all traces of it & treat the metal before repainting

tsenior

or dont bother i doubt the rust described will affect the structural integrity of your frame.