This really works! Heard about it, but was never sure. Vinegar is about 40p for a big bottle, so it makes total financial sense.
Will be trying this out on a seized brake caliper.

http://wiki.retro-rides.org/removing_rust_with_vinegar.ashx

Wow, only just seen this hahahaha.


Theres one or 2 spots of rust in my engine bay that Id like to deal with. Cant really take them off though (Bolts etc)

Ill give it a go at some point, layering it on and leaving it for a bit, see if it has the same effect

wow, impressive.

Gotta try that

Good for descaling the kettle too

Just remember to wash it out before making a brew

Is that where I'm going wrong?

It might be the reason why you need 18 sugars to make it drinkable

Note to self...

I know where there is a car sized tank but don't know how you can transport the vinegar!

Your car has rust??? Quite frankly I'm shocked!!

Yeah, british made bolts I assume

Just ones around the front of the bay, where water and things can get in.


And dont give me Crap about how the Micra is better.... Mine was rusty as in the bay when I got it

I did try this:

Four bottles of Aldi vinegar (I nearly dropped the lot in the shop):



Use some kind of container and put rusty stuff in (this case, one v.rusty caliper, one new but surface rust caliper):



Put vinegar on:



Couple o' days later:



The 'clean' caliper had a surface of rust from the other caliper, but it had removed the original surface rust, and the oil/grease:



Tougher rust, wasn't so good, but the rust felt looser:



Wire brush brought some of it off:





Let it dry out with boiling hot water, and then gave it a proper going over and then painted it.

Did a couple more new ones, which cleaned the grease off:



The verdict = good for slightly rusty components, not that great on very rusty stuff.

Will try home-made electrolyting next!!

White vinigar any good?

Not too sure, think it's the high acidic content in malt vinegar that does it, but can't say on other types.

Using an adjustable battery charger in cleaning soda/water is the next mission.

dissapointed by that

was hoping you'd have some really shiny calipers

Just wire brush them and paint them...

Maybe it depends on the quality of the metal used in the casting

Tried wire brushing them, and tbh with a bit of elbow-grease, some of the rust came off. But to be honest, I wasn't expecting miracles. I think it'd make the difference if you left it in there for over a week.

electrolysis if much better at removing rust. all you need is a cheap battery charger, sodium carbonate, water, a bucket and some crappy bits of steel.

wire it up and walk away. come back the next day to clean components.

if anyone wants to know the details, pm me and i'll stick photos up of how its done.

What type of battery charger - I think you have to set the ampage - not available on most chargers!

I did end up rebuilding a load of calipers the other week, and managed to get all the rust off using electrolysis:





Rebuilding is trickiest thing I have ever done on a car - never again!

Nasty:

Cool, looks like you done a good job there dave

The joys of working from home, I get really bored sometimes!