Alright guys I'm really pissed rn, bought a new frame for my big bear, it looked good when I inspected it but after further investigation at home I notice more and more wrong with it, I'm in the process of sanding it down and re painting it with POR-15 and I keep finding tiny rot holes, the largest one being about half the size of a penny or slightly larger, then a bunch of tiny pin point ones, they are all in the front of the frame where the skid plate would go ahead of the A arm brackets.

My question is should I just sand it down/get all the rust gone and repaint it with POR-15, would it last that long assuming I keep decent care of the bike?

I can't afford to weld patch it(although possibly in the future), so should I worry about it or not?
The frame is solid around the small holes i took a hammer and tapped them and it's solid no more is falling off.

 

All I can say is that if you painted over any rust the paint wont last in those areas. Kinda did the same on the sons boat trailer. We sanded and ground down the frame top and bottom and painted it with Rustoleum. Didn't last as we couldn't get it all. He ended up having a welder friend install new cross rails and most of the main tongue area. Good solid trailer now. I'd sand these areas down and repaint it.

 

I've been stripping it right down to bare metal with a wire wheel attachment on my drill, all around the hole ALL the rust is gone and painted over.

Will probably get a fab shop to reinforce it in a year or so but now is not a option and I was feeling good about this sorta restoration but more so of a "fix it up so it;s all cosmetically working bike", have restored the plastics from a LOT of oxidization, sanded down the very corroded rims, carb rebuilt, all that good stuff, so it was a bummer when I found out about these small holes but I'm not feeling so bad now as I could just get it touched up @ a fab shop.

 

Don't you have a friend with a welder? Shouldn't be that hard to weld a patch or two. Like a six pack of his favorite beverage.

 

Unfortunately no, Will probably get a shop to do it in the future though!

 

If their are rust holes through the frame then it needs to be fixed now. This will compromise the strength of the frame and could fail while you are riding.. Just not safe..
Now for the rust that you are painting over.. Since you are using por-15 it actually bonds better to rust unlike normal rust paint. As long as the loose stuff is removed it will be fine. I painted a toyota frame 20 years ago with it and just used a wire brush.. Still looked good last time i looked at it as well as the bumper i painted at the same time..

 

I have had a shop weld some steel over rusted sections of frame like that and then repainted. It really shouldn't cost all that much. Hell I have had aluminum swingarms welded and patched for under $100.00. If it was me and I had some dime sized holes that thing would be getting reinforced right pronto.

 

X2

 

Do it right the first time...as you'll have to get back to bare metal to fix the holes and then re-paint...


I'm with some others on it being a safety issue having penny-sized holes in your frame...


Personally I'd powder coat it...but that's not in everyone's budget...