Mr Greedy

Sure, but depends on how much time you want to donate to the project and where the problem is.

If it is easily accessible (as the inner lip of the arch is, then you should buy a wire brush attachment for a drill (you do own a drill I assume ) such as this one and after removing appropriate bits of componentry such as wheel arch liners, screen wash bottle, coolant header tank, wheel, whatever, GENTLY remove the rust from the affected surface down to bare metal. The benefit of this metal is that you are not introducing a different metal (so no galvanic effects) and you are not introducing water (wet & dry). If you can't see the area, this method is good because it is quick, but if it is a cosmetic surface (e.g. outside of front wing) then you may want to consider wet and dry if very slight, or the above, and the some car bodywork filler, then wet and dry. You may also be able to buy sandable primers, where you would use the drill brush method, spray/fill the wholes with sandable primer, and then wet and dry smooth.

Then if you use some Jenolite painted over the bare metal surface, this will remove any traces of rust you cannot see. The main ingredient in this product is phosphoric acid (safety equipment please, esp. glasses), which reacts with the iron oxide to form iron phosphate. Yes, the acid will also react with the bare iron, but at room(ish) temperature, the reaction is so slow (almost non-existent over the timescale here), it is the rust that will be removed first. After a couple of minutes, wipe the phosphoric acid residue off with a dry rag. You can then also use a rag slightly soaked in meths to wipe down the area for a proper clean.

After this, the hair dryer comes out to ensure the surface is dry (don't do this whilst it's raining or about to rain).


Next, use a zinc-based primer (Halfrauds do one that is O.K.) following instructions on the can, then paint, then lacquer. Hopefully you will be treating an area that no one usually sees, so and exact colour match is not essential, and importantly, cheaper.


You must complete all of these steps in one go, as any time the metal is left unprotected, it will just be rusting again and you will be painting over the top of rust and sealing in moisture. You can miss out any of the above steps, but each one you miss out will seriously degrade the performance of the coating you are applying. Something like a wheel arch inner as have been mentioned on this thread could be done really well on two wheels, on a Sunday for about £30 max. Primer, paint and lacquer £5 each. Jenolite £8 for 500ml. £2.50 for drill brush. Meths £1.99 anywhere.

P.M. me any questions if you like. I am sad, and am more than happy to provide advice on this issue. I also have the benefit of the experience of actually doing this on nearly the whole front end on my 145, which had began to rust on every joint, seam, edge and spot weld.