Raising a car.

[Brad1234]

The rocker panels on the car that my son drives are rusting out. Right now its not visible because it starting from under the car & the car has fairing that covers the rusting areas. Its not worth a lot of body work but I want to clean it & put on some POR 15 to try & slow it down. My problem is getting the car high enough to lay under it & have enough room to work. The cars lift points are at the rockers & will also be in the way. I don't have access to a lift so I am looking for any ideas that I have not thought of. Cribbing under the wheels is all that I have been able to come up with. Ramps don't look to me to be high enough either. Anybody got any other ideas?

 

[ghnl]

How high do you think you need? Ramps under the front wheels and jack stands under the rear axle should get the tires ~ 12" off the ground. The floors/rockers will then be a few inches higher than that.

And why isn't your son lying on his back painting POR15 on his car?

 

[NitroPress]

And why isn't your son lying on his back painting POR15 on his car?

Because raising kids is even harder than raising cars?

 

[willbrown82]

Try lifting from the subframe instead of the rockers. You can also lift from the control arms if you don't feel comfortable using the subframe. Another option is to jack it up from the lift points and place your jack stands under the subframe or suspension/control arms.

 

[James Aiello]

POR-15 will not save your car. POR-15 also needs to be top coated or will fail in less then a year. It is UV sensitive, and the UV rays will bounce to the underside of your car. You may slow it down some but of course the best way is to cut out the rust.
Here are the steps I use:
Wire brush it, then spray it with Prep & Ready from POR-15. It will leave a zinc coating on it so the black paint with stick better. Brush on your POR-15 and then top coat with another paint or their Chassis coat before it dries.

Also this stuff is stupid dangerous.. use some kind of protection for your respiration. I learned the hard way.

I think the ramps would be enough to get under the car to do this. You don't want to get under this stuff because it drips like a mother... also it will dry forever on what ever it drips on so wear something you can toss and wear gloves.

 

[Zeke]

Did you mean "Metal Ready?" That stuff is ****. I must be rinsed with water otherwise it leaves a sticky film. I use "The Must for Rust." Jasco also leaves the film.

While I can't dispute the UV thing, if this car is so low that normal ramps won't work, I doubt if the rays reflected will have that much effect. Anyway, once it's cleaned up and painted it won't be hard to recoat down the road.

 

[bazzateer]

Did you mean "Metal Ready?" That stuff is ****. I must be rinsed with water otherwise it leaves a sticky film.

How does rinsing yourself with water prevent the sticky film from forming on the car?

 

[Jack Olsen]

POR-15 will lose its gloss and look chalky when exposed to a lot of direct UV. I don't know if this has any effect on its ability to cover or inhibit rust, though. I tried it on one section of my non-galvanized steel fence, and it has not rusted.

You can get the same thing with UV protection from POR-15 with their Chassis Coat product.

I agree about the respirator and gloves protection when working with the stuff.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Back to the original question...what kind of car is it? Knowing that may help with suggestions on how to lift the thing safely.

 

[ClickClickBoom]

I did this with my jeep last summer. Raised each corner on jackstands, then, made cribbing out of 2x4's (about a foot tall, as the jeep is already lifed). Lifted the car taller, and put the cribbing under each tire.

There was much more room than using jackstands, and I was able to lift the jeep higher.

check out these links, discussing the same thing:
http://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...safely-work-under-your-car&highlight=cribbing

http://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?45721-Dse-Stands&highlight=cribbing

 

[camarotoolman]

Please be careful. I came very close to being killed under a car. Doing something like you are talking about doing.

 

[ddrewyor]

Because raising kids is even harder than raising cars?

We used to raise Cain, but never cars or kids

 

[James Aiello]

Like I said before, you don't want to get under the car when painting.. it will be a huge mess. How low does this car sit? you should be able to peek under enough to see what you are doing.

I've used Metal Ready which they now call Prep and Ready before for my frame on my 1970 Olds 442. Worked fine, don't remember any sticky mess. Sprayed it on, kept it wet for 15 min.. rinsed, let dry. The metal frosted over with a zinc coating.

In 1997 I painted the chassis of my every day driver Dodge Ram 4x4. It was a year old and had slight surface rust. I just used gloss POR-15 black. No prep or top coat. In a couple years it was rusting again. This year I pulled the front axle and I could hardly tell I even painted it. Major rust flakes falling off. Looks like it was under water for years. I would have been better off if I just sprayed ATF on my chassis every year. It seems like it made it rust worse.

 

[Brad1234]

The car is a Grand Prix GT so it already sits pretty low to the ground. In 3 years this thing has gone from no visible rust on the rocker panels to almost having holes.I plan to top coat the Por 15 with something so that its not exposed. Most of it will be underneath. I am doing the job while he is away at college & its not needed. Can't take a car his first year. I know that the process will be messy. That is why I am trying to get it as high as safley possible. 24" or so would be nice. I have been having trouble deciding where to safley put jack stands since a couple of the jacking points are rusting also. Are there any places on the net that would show a pic of alternate jacking points? This car still looks fairly good but is not worth expensive bodywork. I am just trying to keep it that way as long as possible. Until he graduates, finds a job, & can buy his own car.

 

[1983Camperspecial]

its a waste of time unless you cut out the rust, you might be able to paint the outside of the rockers but the rust inside is gonna keep on chewing away, You have to think of rust as cancer, either cut it all out to stop it, or enjoy the time you have left. if the rockers are rusting then it has rust in other seams and places you can't get to, tell your boy to drive it till it quits , don't waste time putting lipstick on a pig.

 

[nehog]

POR-15 will lose its gloss and look chalky when exposed to a lot of direct UV. I don't know if this has any effect on its ability to cover or inhibit rust, though...

I did an experiment with an old lawn tractor hood. I had some POR-15 left over from an automotive project, so I brushed it on the hood over rust. Did no surface prep, just kinda glopped on what was left in the bottom of the can.

One year later, it was nicely chalky, but no rust. Two years later, more chalky, but still no rust. Eventually, about five years later, it did start to break down, but realize that it was exposed to weather and sun full time.

POR-15 (the company) does say that the chalkiness doesn't affect the ability to 'block' rust. I agree, based on my (non-scientific) test.

BTW, most areas where I used POR-15 that were not exposed to directly to the sun also turned chalky though not quite as quickly. Reflected UV probably was the cause.

I've had great results with Rust Bullet, however this is a two layer product. The base layer is silver in color while the top coat is (in my case) black. I think they have other top coat colors. It does not get chalky, but if you manage to chip the top coat, you will see the silver under!