Guys, I decided I needed to go ahead and refinish the rain-rail on my 2002 while repainting the roof. Attached is a pic of the rust and my first pass at cleaning the rain-rail out. My plan is to use a silicon carbide disk to finish cleaning the rail, add a top coat of epoxy primer and then use Eastwood self leveling seam sealer. The final coat will be to Raptor liner the roof and hood.

Checking to see if anyone has any tips before I get started?

 

I think a wire wheel on a drill, would work fairly well in there..... (wear safety glasses...... )

 

I used a cup brush on a 4-1/2" grinder and hung on. I used eye protection and welding gloves and got it done. I did my whole roof with 80 grit and an orbital sander. Epoxy primed it with a spray gun and Rhino liner with a roller. It will be there when the rest of the van rusts underneath it.

 

Great feedback gents!

How does the rear brake light housing come off?

 

Just an adhesive thats really stuck on there. I worked around it.

 

Slowly but surely... just waiting on the Raptor anti-corrosive epoxy primer and Raptor liner kits to get here. I'm doing the hood in black and the roof in white. Will do the rest of the van either in the fall or next year.

 

I've been down this road with Chrysler paint. You either strip it all off and start from scratch or the rest will peel at some point.

 

I agree with the above statement but the adhesion problem seems to be between the top coat and the primer, not the primer to bare steel.

 

Correct because the whole problem stems from the original primer being a water based one and that's why the top coat loses adhesion. It happened the first time and it will happen a second time unless the primer is replaced.

 

Not good. Guess I have more sanding to do ;-(