Newly painted bars - rusting already
Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 2:21 pm
Hi everyone,
I've had my Delica L300 for 8 years and the external bars were getting rustier and rustier. It's been on my wish list to get them cleaned up. Last December I decided to splurge and have a Lower Mainland Delica specialist shop (to be fair, I won't specify the name) de-rust/paint them for me along with a slew of other basic maintenance.
I was told by the shop owner that all of my bars were going to be removed and:
- de-rusted manually (not sandblasted)
- "undercoated" (I believe with Line-X)
- painted white
The shop re-installed all bars afterwards. The bars looked fine when I picked up my van: not as smooth as if they'd been powder coated...the surfaces were still a bit bumpy...but the paint coverage looked okay. I didn't care about the bars looking perfect. I mostly wanted them to be fully de-rusted and coated with paint to deter future rust development and preserve the structural integrity of the bars as long as possible.
This past weekend, though, I noticed that all of the bars have speckles of rust apparently rising up through the paint. Sigh. Pictures attached. This is only 3 months after having the bars apparently de-rusted and painted. Given that I paid $1000+ for the work to be done right, I'm pretty disappointed.
I followed up with my mechanic and forwarded him pictures. By way of explanation, my mechanic simply said that "no problem...the road chemicals are pretty harsh."
I don't commute to work in my Delica. Aside from the summer when I go away camping for the weekend, I maybe drive my Delica 1-2 hours per week max. The rest of the time, my Delica is parked out of the elements in a warm, dry, underground parkade.
Given how little I drive my van and how quickly the rust is spreading, it seems very unlikely that "road chemicals" are to blame. If this were a 'normal' rate of rust development, I assume my bars would have crumbled to dust years ago. It seems more likely that the rust wasn't removed properly in the first place before the bars were painted.
As soon as I can, I'm going to drop by an auto body shop for an in-person opinion. In the meantime, I wanted to consult the Delica experts here. Is there any way my mechanic could have actually done a good job on my bars and that "road chemicals" are in fact to blame for the rust? Or have I been taken advantage of by a mechanic I thought I could trust?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts. :)
I've had my Delica L300 for 8 years and the external bars were getting rustier and rustier. It's been on my wish list to get them cleaned up. Last December I decided to splurge and have a Lower Mainland Delica specialist shop (to be fair, I won't specify the name) de-rust/paint them for me along with a slew of other basic maintenance.
I was told by the shop owner that all of my bars were going to be removed and:
- de-rusted manually (not sandblasted)
- "undercoated" (I believe with Line-X)
- painted white
The shop re-installed all bars afterwards. The bars looked fine when I picked up my van: not as smooth as if they'd been powder coated...the surfaces were still a bit bumpy...but the paint coverage looked okay. I didn't care about the bars looking perfect. I mostly wanted them to be fully de-rusted and coated with paint to deter future rust development and preserve the structural integrity of the bars as long as possible.
This past weekend, though, I noticed that all of the bars have speckles of rust apparently rising up through the paint. Sigh. Pictures attached. This is only 3 months after having the bars apparently de-rusted and painted. Given that I paid $1000+ for the work to be done right, I'm pretty disappointed.
I followed up with my mechanic and forwarded him pictures. By way of explanation, my mechanic simply said that "no problem...the road chemicals are pretty harsh."
I don't commute to work in my Delica. Aside from the summer when I go away camping for the weekend, I maybe drive my Delica 1-2 hours per week max. The rest of the time, my Delica is parked out of the elements in a warm, dry, underground parkade.
Given how little I drive my van and how quickly the rust is spreading, it seems very unlikely that "road chemicals" are to blame. If this were a 'normal' rate of rust development, I assume my bars would have crumbled to dust years ago. It seems more likely that the rust wasn't removed properly in the first place before the bars were painted.
As soon as I can, I'm going to drop by an auto body shop for an in-person opinion. In the meantime, I wanted to consult the Delica experts here. Is there any way my mechanic could have actually done a good job on my bars and that "road chemicals" are in fact to blame for the rust? Or have I been taken advantage of by a mechanic I thought I could trust?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts. :)