Practically Classics Forum

I once foolishly asked my Bodywork tutor what's best to use to avoid rust in the first place.

I wasn't expecting his reply of "Fibreglass"

For gawds sake!!Coke does nothing!!! It's flavoured coloured carbonated water- lots of sugar but nothing much else! There are no magic rust removal or convertor chemicals in it, no phosphoric acid, nothing, it's just sticky water!!!

Citric acid is used in some variations of the "Cola" drinks, though the major player that we had the contract for certainly did use Phosphoric and I can still feel the cold when I think back to standing on the storage tanks (four of them, at a guess about 60ft high, with cold wind blowing in from the Irish Sea!). Even then, PPE was the byword - proper face shields, gloves and whatever, with an emergency shower by the tanker filling point!

As I say, Coke , and possibly this other firm, may use other ingredients now, which may not be so good for rust conversion!

I won't mention the row that happened when a plant that was working over Christmas put some of the "gunge" from a process into the (special, food-grade)tanks as they'd run out of storage space. I believe it took some effort to get them clean enough for food-grade products again!

I'm sorry to say that, apart from some warehouses, the plant/site no longer exists - cheap foreign competition killed it off. They made the base for many washing powders, shampoos etc. It took me a week or two to realise what "Flash Speckles" were!

Well for whatever reason I have found that a 50/50 mix of old (sugary, coloured, water with or without acids of any kind or whatever) insert brand 'coke' and Harpic works better than plain Harpic.

And 'By the way' Coke definitely contain phosphoric acid as it is listed in the ingredients.
Carbonated water
Caramel
Aspartame/Sugar
Acesulfame
Caffeine
PHOSPHORIC ACID
Citric Acid
Go check the side of a can if you don't believe me.

What I will say is that I have actually used Phosphoric acid and in my experience it tends to turn ferrous oxide a bluish colour which is at odds to the results obtained using 'coke' which results in something rather more brick red. The point is that phosphoric acid does not remove the rust (and I never suggested it did by the way) rather it converts it into a phosphate that acts as an anti corrosion barrier of doubtful durability.

Harpic on its own certainly removes rust very well indeed but it seems a bit aggressive and as I mentioned denatures very quickly.
I'm only trying to give you an alternative to paying through the nose for proprietary brand rust removers.

Coke must have something aggressive in it, just look at what it did to Daniella Westbrook's nose.
Or maybe she's been at the Harpic again?

The wrong sort of coke!

OK cola may have a tiny bit of phosphoric acid in it but it's a godawful sticky way of doing things! A bottle of jenolite is a lot less messy and if you must buy the stuff in industrial quantities then your local tractor and farm supply place will do you a drum of milkstone remover.......to my mind though, you should only be using it in the nooks and crannies that the rotating wire brush won't reach and a small bottle of jenolite or equivelant should do.

JPB wrote:Coke must have something aggressive in it, just look at what it did to Daniella Westbrook's nose.
Or maybe she's been at the Harpic again?

Well Mr. Rusty I have tried Jenolite and when it comes to using it as a dipping solution I have found it to be pretty poor value.

Equally I have found that brown sauce is better at cleaning brass than anything actually intended for the job but I must inhabit a strange parallel universe where normal rules no longer apply.

Also, if sugar is a real issue try a Diet brand, they don't contain any of it.

It might also be to idea after dowsing the rusty car panel in Cola to have a container underneath to catch the fluid which can be drunk as originaly intended
Quite a green idea don't you think ??

JIM wrote:It might also be to idea after dowsing the rusty car panel in Cola to have a container underneath to catch the fluid which can be drunk as originaly intended
Quite a green idea don't you think ??

Yes, but it's not a new idea and the result has already been in production for quite a few years: