Evapo-rust vs. White Vinegar

[JoeW]

I did a not too scientific side by side comparison of a 24.99 gallon of Evaporust and a 2.79 gallon of white vinegar.
Before...




Here are the results after 24 hours and some gentle scrubbing with a nylon brush...


I'm going to have these re-chromed anyway but, it was a good chance to see which one worked better.
All the pieces are in the vinegar now!

[Triple Jim]

Pretty interesting, Joe.  I may have to try a similar test.

[oldbike54]

 Wonder how Evaporust tastes on salad 

  Dusty

[canuck750]

Interesting!

Jim

[Groover]

Nice comparison, thanks for doing that. Careful if soaking items that are aluminum alloy for too long. I soaked a tank for a week or so in vinegar and it ate the percocks to the point they just fell out. That's an extreme case (time wise), but just thought I'd mention

[Triple Jim]

Nice comparison, thanks for doing that. Careful if soaking items that are aluminum alloy for too long. I soaked a tank for a week or so in vinegar and it ate the percocks to the point they just fell out. That's an extreme case (time wise), but just thought I'd mention

Could they have been pot metal?  Aluminum is normally fairly resistant to acid.

[charlie b]

Comparing a product that works mainly as an acid to a product that says it contains no acids.

I'd say the no acid product did fairly well.  :)

[canuguzzi]

If you dilute the vinegar with hot water it works really fast.

What works really well? A soda blaster. You can pick them up at Harbor Frightful for a reasonable price and the results are instant and very nice. It can't get inside of tubes but for any exterior pieces you'll wonder why you didn't get one before. Sure beats tanking, scrubbing and messy liquids.

Set up a big plastic bag to hold the part and clean up is easy to, close up the bag and toss it. Non toxic.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  What kind of soda?  Coke or Pepsi?

 I never could get either one to blast.  But I never tried mentos.

[leafman60]

Thanks, Joe. The vinegar did better than the expensive Evapo-rust!

Good to know. 

A lot of the expensive rust-proofing primer coatings can be trumped by using phosphoric acid (usually the active ingredient in the expensive primers etc.) Phos acid can be bought cheaply at most hardware store and big box suppliers like Lowe's and Home Depot under the brand name Ospho and others.

[Groover]

Could they have been pot metal?  Aluminum is normally fairly resistant to acid.

It's the petcocks that come on our bikes, My factory G5 ones specifically. Not sure what type of alloy those are, I thought maybe antimony aluminum alloy.

I've also tried Oxalic Acid, and that works great on rusty parts like the ones JoeW tested out. It's just not as user friendly as vinegar, but it will cut some nasty rust. I think it's also known as Wood Deck Cleaner at some hardware store brands.

I do like White Wine Vinegar. Apple Cider Vinegar also works great. I think if I remember correctly it's higher acidity.

[56Pan]

Worked at an aviation repair facility back in the '70's and they had two large heated metal stripping tanks in a shed off the flight line.  One for ferrous, one for non-ferrous metal.  I sneaked in two motorcycle pistons  and suspended them with some stainless lockwire into the closest tank when I came on shift one night.  Nobody worked in that shop on 2nd shift.  Went back out right before end of shift and pulled out just two steel wrist pins.  Wrong tank.

[oldbike54]

  What kind of soda?  Coke or Pepsi?

 I never could get either one to blast.  But I never tried mentos.

 Coke and steel wool are great for removing surface rust on chrome . Don't know about Pepsi , however peanuts dropped into Pepsi are pretty tasty 

  Dusty

[Chuck in Indiana]

Coke and steel wool are great for removing surface rust on chrome . Don't know about Pepsi , however peanuts dropped into Pepsi are pretty tasty 

  Dusty

Plain old aluminum foil and water is good for surface rust, too. Cheaper. (Guzzi content) 

[jmac851]

The aluminum foil and water thing is too labor intensive.  This stuff does most of the work.

[Chuck in Indiana]

The aluminum foil and water thing is too labor intensive.  This stuff does most of the work.

Kids these days.... just don't want to work...
 

[rboe]

We have outdoor stainless steel water bowls for the dogs and cats. With the hard water in Phoenix they get pretty crusted up. Two were so bad my wife had pulled them aside to recycle with a third one well on the way. Well I scrubbed out most of the rust and algae in the third one and let some vinegar soak in it over night. Came out pretty clean but there were some nasty crust on the bottom that probably needed another week.

Fast forward a month and I picked up some muriatic acid to work on two tiller gas tanks (one in use TroyBilt rear tine I'm trying to make run better, and our original Craftsman front tine that "ran when parked"). My first experience with muriatic acid was at Van Dale manufacturing were a job one night was cleaning castings with the stuff. Didn't even use gloves. Must have been pretty exhausted stuff but because of that I was never impressed when folks talked about using it. Funny thing, fresh stuff is wicked!

So on a lark I stuffed the third water bowl in the acid, watched it foam up pretty good and in a matter of about 15 seconds it was shiny clean!! Woot! Grabbed the other two bowls, grabbed the wife and proceeded to show her better living through chemistry. Much more foaming, more elbow grease - two more like new bowls!!

Down side; muriatic acid leaves the metal surface highly conducive to rusting which lead to some reapplication, some paint and POR15. Jim turned me on to phosphoric acid which will go on some carb bits shortly. Supposed to leave a thin coating of rust inhibitor after application which would be sweet.

[canuguzzi]

  What kind of soda?  Coke or Pepsi?

 I never could get either one to blast.  But I never tried mentos.

Try using the other end.

[neverquit]

Evap-o-rust ate most of a brass chain and spring clip on the cap of an old Honda CB gas tank.  I used it to clean out the rust and since it is supposed to be safe I sealed the tank with its' regular lid (vent was sealed).  The the Evap-o-rust worked so slowly that I left it in that tank for two or three days.  It eventually did the job but was hard on the brass chain.  The filler neck was brazed onto the tank but was not affected, maybe because the fluid didn't go up that high.

[NCAmother]

Wonder how Evaporust tastes on salad 

  Dusty

Kind of tangy

[normzone]

I have used white vinegar since finding an old fishing reel on a scuba dive and wanting to etch the barnacles off it. A couple of days took the chrome plating down to the copper striking underneath. Great stuff but don't underestimate it.

[charlie b]

Yep, acids are not very particular on what they 'eat'.  Yes, they may take out all the rust, but, they will take a bit of the metal as well.  As long as you are aware of that go for it.

Kinda like using Simple Green on Al parts.  Works well, just rinse it off quickly and don't soak the parts in it.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 The vinegar tastes better and costs less.  Because of the costs less factor I predict it will be more popular with the red suspender crowd.
 BMW owners?  Maybe not.

[jas67]

The vinegar tastes better and costs less.  Because of the costs less factor I predict it will be more popular with the red suspender crowd.
 BMW owners?  Maybe not.

Unless they're airhead owners.  Airhead owners are often just as thrifty as the red suspender crowd.