How long after grinding a panel do I have to paint it, or do rust protection of some sort, given that I'm not driving the truck?

I'm waiting for a few things, including a little cash before I can do the overall paint/wheels/appearance look, and I was wondering if I can do some of the rust grinding, bondo work, etc...or will 3 or 4 weeks sitting in my attached, normal-home-use garage just let the rust grow back? I literally don't need to drive the jeep ever, and have only taken it to the junkyard a couple times, and once to a car wash to rinse off some trail dirt so i could work on it...

 

It can depend a lot on your environment. Here where I am, I'd have about 24 hours before the surface rust would have to be cleaned off again. We have warm temps and tons of ambient moisture at the moment. It can depend a little on the quality/composition of the metal as well. So somewhere between 24-72+ hours depending on your local conditions. (you may want to do a small test area to see for yourself before going big).

 

is there a way to protect it until I'm ready to paint? Even just given the bondo work and rust grinding, with my schedule, I don't think I'm able to commit to 72 hours start to finish...

 

WD40 works as a temporary rust barrier for bare metal.

 

If I go that route, what should I use to clean the body when I'm ready to paint?

Thanks for the tips

 

Primer, as long as you don't leave it out in the rain.

 

Yep, primer. If you spray any kind of oil on it, you'll just have to strip it off before you paint, and if you don't get it all, you have wasted a lot of work.

Eastwood makes some good products. Take a look.

You might want to re-think the Bondo. It's not waterproof. It will slowly absorb moisture and hold it against the metal. If all you want is a year or two of looks pretty, fine, or if you want to fix it to sell it to some unsuspecting victim, yeah, Bondo away.