This is my 2000 Cherokee - it is my baby and has 134k on it. It has lived in the North East for its entire life and has been subjected to a lot of harsh weather - therefore, a lot of rust. Like many Cherokees that I have seen, my roof developed hundreds of rust spots, that, if left untreated would've eventually led to holes in the metal. Fixing this problem was one of my priorities this summer and it took me a very long time to complete! Here are 10 photos with explanations on how I tackled this job. It was a learning experience and I am sure that others may have better ideas on how to take it on… Regardless, here is my story:



Day One. The roof rack was removed and eventually sanded and painted. The spray paint seen in this photo was a hasty cover up job that I did last year in an effort to stop some development of rust in the worst locations. The bolts for the roof rack came off easily except for one - I had to pry up on it while spinning it with the screwdriver on my drill.


Day Two. I began sanding and removing the black plastic strips. The strips had to be pulled up and thrown away. I used GooGone to remove the glue that holds these strips in place.

Day Three. More sanding. After trying many different ways to sand, the best option for removing all the paint/rust and to get to bare metal was a "polycarbide abrasive wheel" that attached to my grinder. I went through about 4 of these and purchased them from my local Harbor Freight (https://www.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-...abrasive+wheel). I highly recommend this method. It stripped down to the metal very effectively. Just be careful not to go too deep and damage the good metal underneath.



Look at all that rust! Gross!

Day Four. More grinding.
Day Five. More.
Day Six. Grinding complete. This is a photo after I completed sanding by hand - with several different grits of sandpaper - to remove more of the rust.
Day Seven. This is a close up of the rust spots after hand sanding. They appear black (not brown) which was good - but it took me a lot of work to get to it to this state. During this time, I also experimented with a rust dissolver from Rustoleaum and another product called Naval Jelly. These may have helped, but I FULLY RECOMMEND the complete POR15 process which I will explain later.
Day Eight. After a lot of experimentation, I finally landed on the POR15 process, which definitely seems like the way to go. The three stage POR15 process involves a degreaser/cleaner, a metal prep (that neutralizes the rust) and finally the POR15 paint that acts as a sealant. (https://por15.com/collections/rust-p...op-rust-system) This photo was taken after two coats of the POR15 paint had dried. POR15 guarantees that any trace of rust will be sealed permanently if you follow the directions of their three-step process. Keep in mind that it needs to be primed with paint soon after the POR15 paint is applied - this is because it is sensitive to UV rays and eventually will deteriorate.
Day Nine. This photo was taken after I applied a primer over the POR15 paint. In retrospect, I would've probably used their primer, but instead I used a "Universal Primer" from Rustoleaum. It seamed to work ok and the POR15 company does say that you can use their paint with other products - just follow their directions. AN IMPORTANT NOTE: you can apply a primer over the POR15 a couple hours after application, but in my case I ran out of daylight. I therefore had to apply the primer on another day so I had to sand the POR15 coating - - this is important because once dried, the POR15 coating is far too hard and smooth to accept any paint on top of it without sanding. I sanded with a few different grits of sandpaper - ultimately finishing with a 300 or 400 grit. I then sanded this primer coat with a 300, 400 and then 600 grit to give a smooth finish before top-coating.

(After sanding with the primer, I noticed a couple of brown spots so I applied another couple coats of POR15 over those spots)

Another tip: Once you open the POR15 can, and expose it to air, it is very difficult to reopen it again and use the paint. Either use it all in one application, or purchase the smaller cans. I have since ordered a six pack of smaller cans and I am looking forward to applying it to rust spots underneath my Jeep.
Final Product. This is after 3 coats of topcoat and 4 coats of clear coat. It required 5 spray-cans of topcoat and 5 spray-cans of clear coat. For the paint, I used the company Automotive Touchup. The cans are expensive ($25 each) and it is very difficult to get good coverage when the can is not completely vertical. It would've been better to have a real spray system with an air compressor, or to have this part done by a professional, but I was satisfied with the result considering I did it in my drive-way.

The bumps on the lower left portion of the roof could have been avoided if I took more time to sand this section. In retrospect, I felt like an idiot spending so much time on this and then skimping on the end. Oh well.. Perhaps I'll go back and redo this section in the future.
The hood is next!!!
Well, there it is. Feel free to post comments or questions!

-M.