After this very harse winter we just had, I've noticed little pin-hole sized surface rust spots forming on my silver WAAG Sportster push bar. Does anyone know a good way of removing this surface rust without wrecking the paint, or having to repaint the whole thing?

Sean I have the same problem on mine, I tried sanding and spot painting and now it seems it's spread like the flu. I plan on taking mine off sometime in the near future and completely sanding it down, then primeing and painting. I first thought about match painting (Aztec Red) but thought it may look tacky so I may just go with the original color, I may also try a flame spray or powder coating.

Body scrub or scratch removers have worked in the past when I've tried to remove light surface rust. . .and if it works, it should not harm the nearby paint.

Sean -
I'm not 100% clear on your problem. If you just have rust stains above the paint, cleaning and waxing should remove them. However, if the rust is coming from the metal under the paint that's a different story. You'll have to remove the rust, prime and repaint.

dave and xtoy - rust is a four letter word

This is what I'm dealing with:

http://www.grovestreet.com/jsp/onepic.jsp?id=182804

It looks like over the winter months little rocks have been kicked up from other vehicles and hit my push bar. The matching Nissan paint is textured, so sanding and repainting on my part would be tough to do. I was hoping there was a product out there that would remove the rouging (surface rust) before it got too bad, then seal it up somehow.

The only thing I could think of is to spray it down with some WD-40 and using some elbow grease rubbing them out and then wipe the whole thing down with a de-natured alcohol covered rag to remove the WD-40 and spray a coat of clear coat over it to seal it up..

I am having the same problem on my Silver sportster as well. Only my paint is also flaking off. I took it down to the car wash after a snow storm and when spraying down the front, the paint just flaked right off of it. So now I am going to have to find a way to sand it all down and repaint it, or have it powdercoated. Not looking forward to it.

After reading the warranty card that came with my WAAG Sportster, it states that the powder coat is good for three years (I installed it end of Sep 01). So I got on www.WAAG.com and sent this email to WAAG's customer service:

"To Whom It May Concern,

I bought a WAAG silver Sportster (17754ST) from Truck Stuff USA, and installed it around 9/23/01. To my dissatisfaction, the "WAAG" emblem has fallen off, and the lower cross tube is developing quite a bit of rust:

http://www.grovestreet.com/jsp/onepic.jsp?id=182804

My Sportster has NEVER been hit, and it's only been through a car wash a couple of times (I mostly hand wash my Xterra with good car soap). After reading the warranty card that came with my WAAG, it states that the powder coat is good for three years. Please let me know how I can get this problem solved. Thanks in advance.

Sean
Billerica, MA
email "sqandbh@att.net"

I'll let everyone know what happens next.

Sean -
Please keep the forum updated. If waag does not answer the e-mail, try the phone or snail mail. In the mean time, I would search other 4x4 forums for which waag makes products - are other owners reporting faulty rust protection also? The reason I say this is because they'll give you the usual line of BS - "never heard of this"(has to be your fault). If you have a stack of posts from unhappy ford, toyota, jeep and... owners, you can call their bluff. I used this method get nissuck to fix my rear hatch rust without the usual bull.
Realize that spot repairs are only a short term solution. What happens if next winter causes more rust events - sooner or later a full clean, prime and repaint is the only solution. FWIW I would use the hi-impact paint, like the product used on rocker panels.

dave and xtoy - nothing is simple anymore

I had a rusting problem with my silver taillight guards from WAAG and what they told me to do was to contact the dealer to get a, I guess, RMA ticket? After I contacted the dealer they told me where to ship it. Of course I had to pay for shipping to and fro. But WAAG repainted it all nice! However, taillight guards are different in sizing and weight so I doubt it may be worth it.

UPDATE

After 3 days with no response from WAAG, I deceided to give them a call at (800)492-2452. Bob from WAAG told me someone would get back to me shortly with a "RGA #", and I would have to ship my Sportster out to their plant in CA for sand blasting and repainting (primer and paint). Bob also told me I would be responsible for all the shipping (to CA and back to MA), and that the 3 year warranty clock DOES NOT restart again. I'll let everyone know how much shipping was, how long it took, and how well the repainting job was.

You could always get the Rhino Lining treatment on it from Rhino. They can spray a grill the same way they spray truck beds.

not only that, but they will warranty the lining and it would probably be cheaper to have that done locally than the shipping would be to CA and back!

That sounds great. Does Rhino treatment come in colors (i.e Nissan silver)?

Thats a great idea. It might even look better than before! There is a rhino shop down the road from my house, so I will stop by there tomorrow to see about price and colors and let you all know.

Another Update

I just received my RGA# from Linda at WAAG. I have 60 days to send it to them out in CA for refinishing. Now all I have to do is find a box big enough to ship it to them, and of course I have to pay the shipping both ways (I have to give them a credit card number to pay for the shipping back to me).

Hey Sean how are ya, I just hit mine up with the dremel, spot here spot there, this summer I am going to remove it and have it blasted and refinished, the local shop here said they would do it for 50 bucks

Can't complain...err...yes I can, my dam push bar looks like shit! I considered "spot" fixing it like you did, but there's too many rust spots. How come you don't want WAAG to refinsh yours? Are you out of warranty? This way when WAAG refinishes it, even the areas under the vinyl strips will be repainted. The reason I don't want to go to a local shop is I want that stock Nissan "textured" look to the silver, and I'm afraid those very same vinyl strips will be damaged if a local shop tries to take them off, this way WAAG is responsible. Oh well, I hope the shipping isn't too much.

FINAL UPDATE

I just got my silver Sportster push bar back from WAAG. The repainting job looked pretty good, and it's back on my truck (looks MUCH better when it's on). I don't think I'll be buying another WAAG product in the future because:

1) I only had it installed for a little over a year when I first noticed the surface rust.

2) I had to pay for the shipping BOTH ways ($64.00 total).

3) The three year warranty DOES NOT restart after WAAG's repainting job.

If and when my WAAG rusts again, I'll repaint it myself.

Happy to hear you got it back, so far my spot job is holding up, I plan on doing the whole thing if summer ever arrives here. BTW lets hook up, BBQ, wheeling, anything, let me know what your sched looks like this summer, later.

Nick,

Sounds good to me. When's the next weekend you guy's plan on off roading?

Sean