Pitted Chainstays on a Raleigh

[dg01]

OK – so I have an early 90’s Raleigh 501 frame (Kelloggs Pro Tour) and was concerned about the level of rust on the chain stays. I rubbed down the rear stays, removed the surface rust and noticed that there are a few small areas that have some minor pitting where the rust was.

I’m looking for some advice on how best to treat that pitted area. Is there a product that can be painted or sprayed on that will limit any further damage or corrosion from the pitting, or should the pitting be fully ground away?

Does it need to be treated and/or removed prior to re-painting? I’m presuming that it does, but would like confirmation from the experts on this forum.

Many Thanks,
D.

 

[Jonny69]

501 is quite thick steel, so it's nothing to worry about unless it's rotting like an old Citroen. You can just sand it back to bare metal and spray back over with a same or similar colour. You could resort to rust killers but it's not worth the extra expense in my opinion because it'll just get stone chipped again and eventually come back.

Kelloggs frames were white at the back, I think. Car wheel paint is nice tough stuff for that job

 

[dg01]

Thanks Jonny.
I'm not sure though if the rear stays were 501 - the Reynolds decal said "501 butted main tubes". Not sure if that meant only the main tubes were butted, or only the main tubes were 501....

Kelloggs frames were completely sprayed in yellow, with a blow in of white over the top part of the front triangle, and top of forks.

Thanks,
D

 

[MrW]

Rear stays will be Raleigh's own 18-23 Hi Ten steel tubing...

 

[dg01]

So MrW,
does Jonny's original advice still hold true?

Thanks,
D

 

[MrW]

Providing its only minor then I would go with what Jonny has said

Sand back as far as you can, prime and then paint

 

[t47b]

Re:

If the pitting still has the brown stuff in the pits, put some Jenolite on it, if it's clean you could sand down to smooth out pitting, or leave it and after applying primer use knife stopper (knifing putty) to fill in blemishes if a totally smooth finish is required.