I got a good start on strippping the inside of my mercury. I am taking a s****er and getting all of the under coating off. I have a few small places of rot about the size of a pencil. With por-15 do you clean the best you can and paint that stuff on with a brush? Does it react with the rust? How does it work.? Any dealers on here? How much do I need to do the floors? As you can see I have never used it. Is there anything that's better? I have a canadian monarch and found a 1943 canadian quarter in the under coating. TP
Don't clean it to good, it works better when just the loose stuff is brushed off with some surface rust still there. It bonds and reacts with the rust...
I'm glad to here that. I am using a hand held wire brush and a s****per to clean. It's a pain in the ****. The floor is pretty well preserved. I do have a few pencil sized hole{3} and a few pinholes. Will it feel those up? Do you apply a mat with it?
For pin holes you can tape the opposite side of the floor(if you are painting inside tape up the holes underneath the car ) then brush the POR15 on and it will fill the pinholes. For pencil size holes they sell a two part epoxy that you fill the holes with. The fibergl*** type mat they sell is for a larger hole. Just make sure to follow directions and take your time when prepping the area.
And be sure and wear gloves, that stuff will stick to you and won't wash off, literally has to be worn off.
How much am I going to need? Quart? Gallon?. I want to do the floors and trunk area. Any HAMBER a dealer?
POR-15 is the one product that really is everything that the manufacturer says it is. I wish that I had found it sooner.
Just to even to field. My experances with POR 15 were NOT GOOD. It does not stick to any smooth surface like new metal or sandblasted metal. I had a piece that had a little rust on it that got about 1/2 painted with the POR, the other 1/2 was untreated. As things happen, it sat in a corner for a couple of years. While sitting in my dry shop, the untreated part got a very light coat of surface rust that you could brush off with your hand. The part that had the POR 15 on it was rotted through! You could crumble it with your bare hands. I also had a used piece of sheet metal I used as a sign. I wire brushed it, cleaned it with the POR metal prep, followed the directions to the letter. (PORed both sides of the sheet metal) Covered it with white paint ( done according to the POR directions) and used vinal stick on letters. The sign has been in my yard for 3 years. The letters have stuck to the paint, the paint has stuck to the POR, but the POR has come off the metal in sheets. The POR just started letting go of the metal all at once about 2 months ago, and with in a month the metal was almost bare! It came off of the bottom of my plow truck about the same way. For what its worth, the sheet of POR 15 that pealed off was a nice uniform layer and was pretty tough. I can peal the vinal letters and the white paint off the layer of the POR 15, but that isn't doing much for the metal the POR fell off of. Your experances may vary. I can tell you a gallon goes a long ways. You need to do 2 coats. The stuff stinks and is bad to breath, make sure you have good ventalation. Once it dries, it will not wash off of you or your cloths or any other thing you don't want it on. Wear vinal gloves, theow the away after each use. Don't answer the phone or scratch any iches while painting with the POR. There is still a spot on my garage floor with some on it. been three years, won't s****e off the floor. Use a plastic bag or something similar under the lid when your done with the first coat or you will destroy the can trying to get the lid back off. Buy lots of paint brushes, they will not clean up to reuse. I just wished it would have stuck to the metal as good as it stuck to everything else. It's expensive. It's a pain in the *** to use. It's a pain in the *** to clean up after. It's a pain in the *** to follow their directions. I am concerned about all the other things I painted with the POR 15, concerned about it rusting under the POR and concerned about the POR falling off one day. They won't sell me anymore. Gene
I've had good experience, but it definetly needs a "tooth" to grab on. If using clean metal, rough up the surface with 80 grit or something like that.
The best deals I've found were on ebay. I bought a quart and did my frame, third member and the underside of my running boards.
One more thing- I don't recommend buying a Gallon unless you are going to use most of it at once. Even with re-sealing it they say it will lose some of it's properties. I keep it sealed and in an airtight bag.
I just wire brushed down a very rusty frame- brushed it on - and it's tough as nails and has a nice surface finish. The only thing about por-15 is it does not have any uv protection I've heard (on this board). The rust encapsulator from Eastwood does. I have not used the Eastwood product but I'm sure the chemistry is the same.
The POR didn't stick to my sand blasted box sides, even after using their metal prep. The box sides were clean, a little rough, warm and dry. About a year and a half the POR 15 started lifting. I had bought several quarts and a few gallons along the way. I thought it was the best stuff ever made. The 1/2 PORed sheet metal deal was the first sign of any kind of a failed product. Then the sand blasted box sides, then the bottom of my plow truck. Now my sign. I am a little nervious, I painted a lot of things with that stuff, including the underside of the fenders of my 54. Gene
50Dodge- thanks for the info. Mine has been on for about 9 months. I guess I'm going to have to keep an eye on this stuff.
Don't forget about Zero Rust. I never remember who on the board is a dealer but maybe he will chime in. So far I'm happy with it.
I've used almost a quart of POR15. It's lasted about 2 years since opening it (kept in a refridgerator). Getting pretty thick now, but was told by a dealer that as long as it's still liquid it's still good. The metal I painted with it was pretty rusty. Sheet metal pitted all over. Just wire-wheel'd it, sprayed it with the prep stuff, and painted 2 coats of POR15. It's held up so far, no lifting. Even p***ed the hammer test. One thing I didn't like about it is the restrictions on topcoating it. If you are going to paint over top of the POR15, you need to do it exactly 4-5 hours later, while it's still tacky but not too tacky (unless you buy their special primer too). PITA IMO. I'd like to try the Eastwood stuff. From reading on here it works as well, and you can topcoat it anytime.
I painted the ch***ie of our old truck it cleaned up well with hardly any rust, a year down the line and its lifting off all over the place.
I'll probably get a lot of flack from you guys for saying this (probably just because I'm a newbie to the HAMB), but I have been a member of hotrodders.com for far longer than the HAMB and have given people a lot of advice on POR-15. Over there if you say the word POR-15 you'll get death threats. The reason is that there is a right and a wrong way of doing things, and the right way is often harder and more time consuming than the quick and easy fix. If you want the job done properly, you need to get rid of every last trace of rust, no rust converter, no special magic sauce... it has to be gone completely! The best way to do this is to spot blast the area if it's really bad, or to use a phosphoric acid based rust dissolver and some wire wool, or a wire brush. It may take quite a few applications of the acid, and some elbow grease, but you can get it all out, even from badly pitted metal. A wire brush wheel mounted to a reversible drill is great for this. When all you have is clean shiny metal, rub it down with a wax and grease remover, and once it's clean, shoot it with a couple coats of 2 part epoxy primer. I promise you, you won't ever see that rust again! You can paint any topcoat you want over that epoxy and your paint job will probably outlast the car. The only places I would even consider using POR-15 would be in hard to access or closed areas behind inner sheetmetal and in that case, it needs a rough surface to bond to, and it works by sealing the rust from coming into contact with oxygen and stopping it from getting any worse. Even saying that, it would be an absolute last resort, and I probably wouldn't admit to anyone I had used it. That's the way to do it, take it or leave it. Rich
It seems like the worst thing you can do is apply POR15 over nice clean steel. It likes rust. We painted a nice shiny frame with it, but we sprayed on some stuff to rust it up a bit before applying the POR. Works okay in a spray gun too. But the brush on application is nice because the brush strokes even out. I give it my thumbs up, especially for underbody stuff that you need protected but doesn't need to be pretty. Nearly as good as powder coat in my opinion.
You rusted up a clean bare metal frame for POR-15? I'm sorry, I'll take whatever is coming to me for saying this but that is the most retarded thing I've ever heard. Rich
If you understood the chemistry involved maybe you wouldn't shoot your mouth off so quick. Kind of makes you sound retarded really. POR-15 will fail on a clean metal surface. I would never use it where there was more than surface rust. But a nice bit of surface rust and no loose flakes and it's the bomb. I've used it on the last few pick up beds I've had. It's worked better than most anything I've run into. I'll do the underside of a car with it if I'm not taking it apart. Yeah it grays after bit from not having UV but can be painted over top. So lighten up Francis or take your *** back to ruff riders or where ever the hellyou said you came from.
I didn't mean to sound quite so aggressive, that at***ude won't make many friends here. I know that POR-15 will fail on a clean metal surface, it needs the light rust to bond, no problems there. What I don't understand is why use it at all on a bare metal frame? If you have to use the stuff, your pickup beds sound like a good application, no problems there either, but I would still argue that getting them stripped completely to bare metal, shooting epoxy primer, whatever filler is necessary, maybe a sealer, and then your basecoat / clearcoat is the longer lasting, and professional way of doing it. It depends on your goals I guess, if you want it to be fixed quickly and that's about it, then fine POR-15 it, but if you want anything more then surely it makes more sense to take it all the way down to the metal and start from there? I have yet to meet a professional body guy that would not get rid of every last spot of rust entirely from a repair before priming and painting. It just seems like a sad excuse for laziness to me, but to each thier own! Build your car the way you want to! I'm not trying to make any enemies, I'll think before I react like that again. I just wanted to offer an alternative. Rich
I'm not sure we're even speaking the same language here. The stuff is hard as nails. I coated a frame with it to keep the thing from being damaged by stone chips and severe rust in the future. A cheap alternative to powder coating. You got the point as far as it needs a little rough surface/rust to bond with. But I don't think you understand the fact that the stuff keeps further rust from developing, and you can hit it pretty hard with a hammer without any real damage to the coating. This idea of epoxy primer/etc./basecoat/clearcoat sounds really nice for your trailer queen F350 monster truck with Yosemite Sam mud flaps and diamond plate rocker guards. But some people like to throw rusty old motors in their pickup bed. Basecoat/clearcoat doesn't like that so much. Myself, I like the Herculiner roll-on DIY bed liner. But it's no good over rust. A pickup bed done with POR15 and bedliner over it would be bomb proof. Actually, the same goes for a floor pan. (You'd have to figure out the compatability between POR and bed liner though. I'm sure POR would sell you an adhesion promoter or something.) Perhaps the problem in our communication is the difference between vehicles built to win trophies and vehicles built for over the road transportation. I prefer the latter.
I think you're right, and I want to apologize for shooting my mouth of at you. That is the difference, I would just argue that it doesn't only have to be done that way on a show car or trailer queen, it can be done that way on any car with just a bit more work, it doesn't even have to cost much more. Rich
Yep, I also been there, and was deeply involved in those POR-15 debates. And this is where the problem arises, because if there is visible rust on the exposed sheetmetal, there is certainly even more of it concealed in the seams and hidden areas, and no amount of fancy "right way of doing things" on the exposed surfaces is going to touch those areas that you cannot get to without totally dis***embling every single lapped or folded panel. (stripping by dipping 'might' get out some of this hidden rust, but then there is no way to restore the original sealers, or insure paint coverage inside of these seams and enclosed areas) POR-15 is usually used only on frames, ch***is parts, floorpans, and inside of interior body panels, and what the "do it right" crowd always wants to neglect is that their methods do nothing to stop the rust in hidden areas, I'm sorry, but your "promise" that "you won't ever see that rust again!" is NOT a valid guarantee. Unlike most of the "do it right" posters and 'advisor's' on 'hotrodders.com' who live and build their show cars in the dry sunny South and West, I live in Michigan, where the continual treatment of rust is an expected and ongoing part of maintaining an older vehicle, even during the summer, I can sand a panel down to clean shiny metal and let it sit in the garage overnight and have it covered fresh rust caused by condensation. I have been using POR-15 for at least 15 years now, and have also tried the competing products, and although some do have a few advantages, (ease of painting over, and adhesion to smooth or painted surfaces) nothing has in the long run outperformed POR-15 when it is applied over a lightly rusted surface. As you took the liberty of pronouncing painting over rust "retarded", I am hardly out of line here in pointing out that your ignoring of all the rust that forms in flanged panels and hidden areas is also a bit retarded.
It is pretty retarded. It's impossible to get the rust out of hidden seams, and to me that would be a good place to use POR-15, I'd want to somehow make sure it got deep right into the nooks and crannies though, I still wouldn't use it over a whole panel. A perfect example of this would be rusted out drip rails. Mine are terrible, and I was left with no choice but to grind off the spot welds, remove them, clean up the metal underneath, and fabricate new driprails. It's a lot of work, and some would argue why bother? I'm not building a show car, or a 100 point restoration. It's a traditional custom, but for some reason I sleep better at night knowing I got the rust out. It's probably purely pshycological, my drip rails will probably rust up again. Rich
Another aspect I should have touched on is the removal of POR-15, I have found that if there is an area that I am dissatisfied with, because of bubbles or defects, I simply take my heat gun, or torch and flash it over it and the POR-15 liquefies and it can be wiped right off with a rag, this saves a lot of time, labor and expense on strippers.
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