What do you guys and gals use to protect parts that you have fab'd up or small stock parts you have cleaned and sand blasted knowing that in a few weeks or months you will be spraying epoxy primer on them or other automotive primers? I have used Gibbs and I like it but I'm talking about a spray bomb type primer that can be sprayed on to protect the part from rust and not have to be removed before spraying better quality primers. Thanks Mike
I've been using a spray bomb can of axalta 410A primer. I really like this stuff but it's not cheap, around 50.00 a can. What I like is it dries fast and I use it on parts I'm going to use spray paint on, in my case, suspension pieces. But I'm building a driver not a show car. My frame I had powder coated but the suspension I wanted to be able to touch it up easily. For a test I took several new 1" bolts and knocked off the plating with a power wire brush, wiped them down with prep-sol then primed each one with a different spray primer, rustoleum, duplicolor, and this stuff. I sprayed them at the same time, waited 24 hours then I sat and with my finger nail (my nails are tough, lost many several times) and after a few minutes I could scratch the first two primers off, the axalta I could Mar but not remove. And I like the fact I can top coat in an hour and I do... ....
I've used Gibbs for years with no problems down the road when I'm ready to paint. I just sold a fresh bare metal deuce highboy roadster that had been m***aged with a DA & Scotch pad then wiped down with Gibbs and it went to Florida stayed rust free.
Most ordinary primers are porous and will still rust tho you might not see it 'til you sand the primer off. Gibbs is also my go to anti-rust for bare metal. Dave
Cody Walls, who lives near the ocean, did some tests and Bulldog Adhesion Promoter won. Gibbs was one of the products in the test. It's not cheap but it works. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IUBMS6/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Hello, My brother had me go get a pair of steel 15 inch diameter Chevy rims from the local dealer parts counter. He already knew his next step for us was to get a larger and wider set of slicks for the soon to be radiused wheel opening on our 1940 Willys Coupe. The 7 inch original Bruce Slicks worked well, but everyone we talked to, including Reath Automotive, said that wider slicks will get us faster in any cl***, with the H.P. we were getting with the 671 SBC motor. The original set up was to have the Bruce Slicks inside of the rear wheel opening, which it did with plenty of clearance. But, if we got wider rims, a radius arch was going to be needed. Jnaki So, I took the stock 15 inch diameter rims to Henry’s Machine Shop in northern Bixby Knolls and they knew exactly how wide we wanted the modified rim. When they were finished, I went over to pick them up. Here were two super wide rims, but they were not black from the dealer. They were sandblasted and the welds looked super neat. All I had to do was to pick them up with gloves and take them home to spray paint black. The shop told me to not touch the surfaces with my hands and to use gloves until they were sprayed with primer, then paint of any color. YRMV They also said that now that they are clean, any moisture will start the degrading process, so the faster I spray on a primer, then final black paint, the better. Afterwards, the two super wide Chevy rims were sitting on our workbench on top of a large, white towel, until my brother came home from work. He was impressed with the work I did on the bare metal rims. First it was a basic primer. Then two coats of black spray paint. But, despite all of my hard work prepping them for paint and having a nice black finish, they sat on a white towel in the corner of our backyard garage until we were ready to move to wider slicks. The sad thing was, those new, wide rims, painted black, never saw action. By the time we had ordered new M&H slicks, we were going to get a set of Halibrand Mags all around, starting with the wide ones for the new slicks. And then… all action stopped in early August, 1960.
When I was out of high school, I worked in the San Diego Sears Garden Shop which was exposed to the elements. To keep the surface rust off of garden tools, we used cheap hair spray as it had a concentration of laquer (sp?).
Check out VCI treated paper or stretch wrap. Parts will sit for a couple years and still look good as new. No oil, grease, dust, or residue!
I spray down cleaned bare metal parts with a high quality brake cleaner. This off topic control arm was treated this way a couple months ago.
Either I spray epoxy primer or if it's a part that will need modification or repair etching primer. I have a frame that I sprayed with etching primer almost 30 years ago and was stored in various attics and garages that weren't particularly dry (condensation covering everything from time to time) and it still didn't rust.
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