Im getting ready to do a frame off build and I wanted to see what you guys think about chassis paints and which ones are worth the price. POR 15, Rust Bullet, or something else.
Have delt with POR 15, none of the others. DO NOT GET POR15 ON YOU!!!!!! It will not come off without taking the skin with it. Very much painful... It will deteriorate in the sun, so it needs to be sanded and painted after it dries Also it will not stick to primer. It basicaly has to be put on bare steel and becomes primer. It's pretty expensive too.
Rust Bullet is a great product. It works exactly as described. We use it all the time at work. It calls for two coats, but one is usually sufficient. Here's the drawbacks. It's expensive, shows brush marks pretty badly, cannot be sprayed, and will get you stooooooooooooned if you're not working in a well-ventilated (read "outside") area with a respirator. If you can get it to lay down smoothly and don't mind the silver color, it works really well. I've never tried POR-15, but I'd like to. The benifit of the Bullet over POR is there's less prep. Sand it and paint it. Let it dry and paint it again. You're done.
I have used POR15 and if you use there top coat it will not fade been on my bumpers and rock rails for 3 years with not evena chip and not faded either and you can spray it easy
I used POR-15 on my chassis because I lifted my truck 10 inches. I used the marine clean and metal ready. One starter kit did my whole chassis. $14 bucks / I didn't use a top coat cause it aint in the sun much. Top coat in a pint size is about $40 bucks. Will do alot though!! I painted it on with a brush and it looked wonderful. Big improvement from rust and dirt on my 1994. Good product and affordable compared with everything else I checked. POR-15 was recommended to me by some guys on www.fullsizebronco.com / there are some good post on that site. Hope this helped!!
I think I've tried them all. Por15 sucks in my opinion. It will not stick to anything but clean bare metal and I've seen it peel in no time if not painted over. Rust bullet is OK but EXPENSIVE because it takes so much to cover an area due to the fibers in it. The best product I've found is the common blackening stuff as mentioned above. I found the best price at Deluth Trading Company online by the gallon. Goes by a bunch of different names and labels. The hard to reach places can be gotten with the Rust Converter brand name rattle cans from your everyday Walmart. It mixes with anything. It covers anything. It can be sprayed. It lasts a WHOLE lot longer with no covering. And costs right at a third of the price of other products by the gallon.
For the dude that sayd $14 worth of Por15 products did his whole chassis, I'll call BS. One coat maybe but I've never seen it hold up with one coat. Anywhere that you forget to coat again will rust the first time it gets wet.
Another debate I plan on starting is the gas tank sealer debate when the time comes around for my gas tank sealings.
I can't see why anybody would use anything expensive or hard to use on a frame that will be thrashed bashed ground and welded on. Rust Oleum Red Primer and Gloss Black for the frame on mine. Gloss white on the bottom of the tub.
I use black-semi gloss engine enamel, only $1 more than rustolum and dries in 5min. As said for something thats getting beat on, why bother.... cheep paint = easy touch up...
