The fog light brackets and the light housings on my 90 are horribly rusted and corroded. I want to repaint them but they are going take a lot of prep work. I've begun to grind the rust from one of the brackets but this is taking too long and not doing a thorough enough job. Maybe I'm watching too much TV but on an episode of American Hot Rod, they dipped an entire car (the "Junkyard Dog") in an acid bath. This sounds like it will work for me.

So I have three questions:
Generally, where can this work be done? I looked in the yellow pages but could not find any specific listing. Quite frankly, I really don't know what to look for. There are a number of plating companies in my area, chrome and what not. Would they have this capibility?

Also the light housings are a softer type of metal. I call it "pot metal". I not sure if that is what it'* called. Will this material survive an acid dip?

Lastly, are there any other home remidy type of solutions that are relatively easy and safe to do at home? I once read about a guy that used lye to remove rust and another that used electrolysis to restore a 100 year old horseshoe.

Pricey!!!!! The chrome shops should have this, or have someone that does it for them.

Do you have a ballpark figure on cost? Or shouldI just buy new brackets and lights?

What I have read about most often is POR-15. It goes on right over the rust and "converts" it to a harmless material. Do a Google search and you should be able to find it.

You can't dip those brackets in acid because the acid will eat up the pot metal. Try sandblasting or glass beading ,any local machine shop has a glassbeading cabinet.If the not that expensive buy new ones.

Randman:
I am not familiar with the 90 Bonneville but if the bracket from a 95 Bonneville will fit let me know and I may be able to help you out.

The part number is stamped right in the bracket. Mine is 16507227. What'* your'*?

I had my brackets and lights apart not too long ago. I needed to replace the glass and the insides of both lights. I was unable to save the rear of the lights since the screws had become part of the housing. I was only able to save the front steel grill that covers the glass. I ended up having to get regular lights ( they were the same size) and used the rear sections along with the glass. I had to modify the mounting bracket also, so I am no longer using the adjusting screws, ( the one thing I really wanted to keep).

I don't think they will survive the acid bath. Possibly the brackets themselves ( mount onto the car) could survive that since they are "real" metal. Not sure on cost. So if the "pots" are that bad you may end up having to change them like I did.

randman1
Sorry, My bracket number is 16514764. Oh well it was a good try.

Thanks for trying, though. I'm in the minority having the older generation car. It'* a bummer sometimes.