Rust removal

[krausen]

I saw in one of the video tutorials it said you can remove rust with a light oil, steel wool, and a rag.

I also saw something else that said you can remove rust with tinfoil and water?

My question would be;

first, what is a good light oil for this process?

second, does anyone know of any other ideas for removing light rust from handlebars and rims?

[Bill]

(04-06-2010, 10:55 PM)krausen Wrote:  I saw in one of the video tutorials it said you can remove rust with a light oil, steel wool, and a rag.

I also saw something else that said you can remove rust with tinfoil and water?

My question would be;

first, what is a good light oil for this process?

second, does anyone know of any other ideas for removing light rust from handlebars and rims?

As far as the tinfoil and water I really never heard of that?!? A good oil is just about any common household penetrating oil, i've used 3-in-1 and anything with that weight. Triflow can be used but it gets expensive for those purposes. Just a note on the steel wool, don't get the kind that has the detergent inside of them. You can also use the brass wool too that is what I use. Here is a couple before and after pictures where I used the brass and 3-in-one method on the wheels...
http://forums.bikeride.com/thread-995.html .
Also be careful of the parts you use this method on as some bike have a very cheap coat of chrome on them and you will end up scratching it up.

[Joe_W]

tinfoil + water is more for silverware... it is actually a galvanic process, maybe somebody with a solid background in anorganic chemistry can comment? I believe it has something to do with the electronegativity of the reactants, but I am not sure.

[KC-Steve]

Just to add to what others have said, I would also recommend finishing the job off with a chrome polish or some other water repellent so that it doesn't return again too soon. Oil does repel water, but this is just for added measure.

Steve