Hi

I've been trying to get some nuts and bolts clear of rust - I've tried malt vinegar, white vinegar, coke but no joy.

Don't really want to wire brush as I dont want to damage threads - they are small headlight bolts.

Noticed in CKC that Ash used Hammerite Rust Remover

Anyone else used this and what were the results like ?

Also the adjuster screws go into plastic grommets - the plastic is stained with some rust. Anything except elbow grease I can use on the plastics without damaging them ?

thanks
Paul

Electrolysis to remove rust.

http://www.shedworks.eu/projects.html

Wire brush shouldnt dfamage them
Can you not replace with stainless cheap enough if small or are they specials?

Acids won't damage plastic.

For cleaning up rusty nuts/bolts etc (I do a LOT of that with the old cars) I use a wire brush in a bench grinder. Before that, a wire brush in a drill, clamped in a workmate. MUCH easier and safer than holding the drill and object being cleaned.

Reman - I'd only assumed they were specials. They are headlight adjustment screws that screw into a grommet. They have a collar near the screw head which fits into a slot around the headlamp bowls (these are 7'' MX5 headlights). They were quite expensive when I asked at dealers. I wanted to try and clean them as there's nothing wrong with the threads they are just a bit rusted.



Sounds like wire brushing is way to go then with screws/bolts and acid on plastic.

So next question - where might I buy acid ??

ETA - thanks for the advice as well !!

[Edited on 16/4/11 by pdm]

Vinegar, citric acid (heard good things about citric acid for cleaning rusty metal, but should work well with plastic. Downside is the seller will assume you are a drug dealer )or phoshoric acid, sold as rust remover. Guess "wonder wheels" would work too as it contains hydrochloric acid IIRC.

the hammerite stuff was ok but i still had to finish them off with the wire brush to get the shine back. a wire brush wont damage the threads

great thanks everyone - I'll try some wonder wheels as got some in the garage.

Reckon I'll use what I've got to soak them and then get busy with the wire brush

thanks again