Over the last few trips under my '05 Renegade, I've been noticing the effects of close to 5 years of driving on the beach, over winter time road salt, and the occasional creep through salt water during Nor'Easter storms.

Mopar rockrails are not immune to the corrosive effects of salt, and mine were really showing it, so this morning they came off.....


First thing I did since I knew a trip to the hardware store was going to be a part of this project, was to shoot a blast of Tri-Flow into the threaded inserts, and put the bolts back in with just enough torque to keep them in place. The Tri-Flow helped to wash out the rust and grit that were in the threads.
next I popped the plastic end caps off, sprayed the rails down with Greez-Off high strength soap, scrubbed with a stiff bristle brush, rinsed, and let dry.....



This is only a third of the rust that came out of the end of the rails, I had two more piles like this before I was done.....


While waiting for the rails to dry I took a photo of the Renny without her rails on......


Then the wire brush, slag hammer, and 80 grit emery cloth went to work on them......




Two coats of Rustoleum Hammer finish black....(Rustoleum has two grades of hammer finish, one is formulated for multi surfaces like plastics, the other is for metal....I always use the one for metal)......


And this is how she looks with her newly finished rockrails.......


I'm seriously thinking about doing the rims with this paint next......

_________________
2005 KJ Renegade
3.7 Lt. V-6
2.5" Daystar Lift
Thrush Welded Muffler
K&N (Poor Man's) cold air intake
Goodyear Duratrac 245/75-16

Looks way better!
Those stock rails do a decent job for no stronger than what they are
The Hammertone Rustoleum is great paint, my Rock Lizard "Custom" Rock Rails and Gecko Roof Rack ( just repainted it Friday), are all painted with it, easy touch up after a wheeling trip if it needs it as well!

_________________
MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

Those look good black. I need to repaint mine.

_________________
2003 KJ Renegade, 5 speed, frankenlifted,Al's a Arms 4.5,Moabs 245/75/16 BFG KM2's, custom rock rails, full Mopar skids, Hella ff220 lights,Hd cooling,Front DTT,Riddler diff cover,Rola safari rack,Cobra 29 peaked & tuned.

Pastafari Alum, Pink shovel recipient

Tom....If I lived in an area where I could get into serious rock climbing I'd probably replace them with something better, but for keeping driftwood...(on the beach)....or fallen branches.....(in the woods)..... from beating on the rocker panels, these stock Mopar units are more than enough.....

In the past year I've found more uses for this Rustoleum hammertone paint than you can shake a stick at. besides the KJ, I've used the silver on all my amateur radio antenna masts, painted a couple tool boxes, and a number of other things around the house.....

_________________
2005 KJ Renegade
3.7 Lt. V-6
2.5" Daystar Lift
Thrush Welded Muffler
K&N (Poor Man's) cold air intake
Goodyear Duratrac 245/75-16

i had to do this to mine as well.

_________________
2006 Renegade. Completely stock.

My RL roof rack, sliders, rear bumper and ARB from bumper are all painted with that stuff. I figured where ever I go there's going to be a Home Depot, Lowes or Walmart so touch-ups are a snap. When you wheel a KJ, touch-ups are always required.

_________________
2006 CRD http://www.UtahPowderCoatings.com/ http://www.gorecon.com/ I'm kind of a big deal.
RL rear bumper, ARB front bumper, Mile Marker winch, Power Tank, Skids by Mopar & Skid Row, RL Super Skink Sliders, 235/85R16 MTR, Air Flow Snorkel, DTT, 4.10 gears, Frankenlift II, Katskin leather, JL Audio stereo, Rosen video.