Are any of those rust disolving gels worth using?

[aggressive male]

Do any of those rust disolving gels like the one from permatex work as well as they say they do? If not will they at least take care of minor rust?

[danbob67]

well as far as dissolving goes I havent used any but I have used ospho is suppose to stop rust it is basically phosphoric acid very strong smelling stuff Ive seen it used years ago and those same cars today dont have the rust back coming through so I think it really does stop rust.

[BA.]

As I've seen it, it seems to break down to only 3 fixes for rust.

1. Cut it out completely.
2. Chemically change it
3. Chemically prevent oxygen & hydrogen from getting to it.

I think the gels use option 2. I've heard they work ok.
There are sprays available from RustOleum and others that are supposed to chemically change Rust to some kind of black oxide or something paintable.
In this same grouping is the "Zinc Phospate" stuff. Eastwood makes one called Fast Etch. Seems to be the same stuff as another product called "Oxi-solv" that they used to sell. (Now it's on ebay)
That seems to be good stuff also. It does seem to work, but it's a clear so when it finally dries there isn't much visual reward other than the clear glossy coating. Again, it does seem to work though.

I've used Option 3 quite a bit. I used Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator. I like it. It's done very well for me. There are several other products like it also. Rust Bullet comes to mind.

[merriman44]

BA hit the old nail on the head