Hey guys,

Bought an Olympic barbell from a gym that was about to stop operating.

It is rusted however the sleeves are able to rotate freely.

The middle part is badly rusted as shown.

How do I proceed to remove the rust?

I read about using Coke / White Vinegar to 'soften' the rust and then use a sandpaper / wire iron to remove the rust.

Is there any other products that you recommend?

No idea. maybe try this? http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Rust-from-Metal

Thats heavily rusted

Im more concern about the safety of using this bar, its quality degrade and it might bend, snap and shrapnels might cut you while doing heavy squat/deads/press.

It looks really bad but spent some time today sanding the rust. Turns out , only the surface is rusted, the metal is still in tact. It'll take probably a few more days to remove the rust but so far so good. I am not at the stage yet where my lifts might cause the barbell to bend, but thank you for your advice. I'll be more careful with it from now on wards, and if I see any sign of it bending, I'll stop using it.

Sand it, and then get a rust remover liquid (forgot the brand name I use), from Ace Hardware. And spray chrome paint on it

The metal looks like is heavily pitted. Can remove the rust but not the holes where the metal is gone.

Use something like Brasso found in most hardware stores or ACE.


Brasso is a metal polish designed to remove tarnish from brass, copper, chrome and stainless steel. It is available either directly as a liquid or as an impregnated ...

If the rust have gone in too deep better toss the bar to be unsafe.

edit:
Maybe post a closeup picture of the rusted section.... seen workers use wire cup brush to remove rust from badly rusted metal gate once!! Might be overkill tho

This post has been edited by aaronpang: Feb 11 2016, 05:39 PM

Hey guys,

Thank you all for the suggestion.

Used a fine sandpaper and sanded the barbell over the weekend. Sprayed white vinegar on it, and cling wrapped it. Used Brasso as well. Continued to sand it until most of the rust were gone.

Fortunately, there wasn't any hole and the metal is as strong as new. Spray painted it over the weekend and it looks as good as new.





* Quality isn't the best. Low Light + black barbell


This post has been edited by AdmiralG: Feb 11 2016, 09:24 PM

* Quality isn't the best. Low Light + black barbell

Nicely done love the black...

Thank you

There's something special about a black barbell.