Frame Painting

[cole3444]

I don't like to complain on the Forums but thought others might be interested in my issue. I purchased Rust Bullet two years ago and redid my frame and a top coat on exposed areas of the frame. After sitting in my driveway for two years while I refinished my Airstream surface rust has started bleeding thru the Rust Bullet that had been applied. Contacted the company and all I am getting is a run around about getting replacement paint to repair. They want to offer a discount and tell me I did something wrong and no replacement paint to repair the problem. Has anyone else had this problem with painting their frames with any brand of rust paint. Trying to get the problem fixed. Any help would be appreciated

[AldeanFan]

It sucks, but all the rust paints and rust converter products over promise and under deliver.

I put myself through university working in an autobody shop and have restored several collector cars here in Canada, so I know about rust.

If you don't cut it out, it will come back. Sandblasting works, grinding works and replacing metal works. There is no paint that will stop rust. If you paint over rust, you have rusty metal with paint on top of the rust. sooner or later the rust will be back.

I've used Rustoleum, Tremclad and POR15 on my projects. POR15 lasted the longest, but the rust did come back.

Either sandblast your frame and repaint right away before it rusts again, or just paint it every few years.

[cliffcharb]

Proper prep is key! You must get rid of the rust before you paint. The only alternative that has worked well for me over the years has been Ospho. Also Rust-Oleum Rusty Metal Primer has held up very well in my experience without a top coat, but I've only had experience with that laid over new metals, not rusty metal. I have repairs on front end loaders and skid steers that were never painted years ago and that rustoleum is still holding up.

[Al Boondy]

I've used OSPHO and a simular phosphoric acid based product called Chemprime for decades and have never had rust bleed through the paint.
Call me old school but I shy away from painting rust. Spray with Chemprime or ospho then wait for it to work. Sometimes it takes a couple of days for conversion to finish but it hasn't failed me yet.

[cole3444]

Thanks for the info so far, My apologizes I forgot to say my frame was blasted then treated with the pre clean then painted with Rust Bullet per the support people I talked to before starting. Each one told me that this paint would work great on my frame and stop the metal from rusting due to it being sealed up by the paint. I guess I learned a valuable lesson about listening to employees of the paint. My truck frame was rusty and I used POR-15 four years ago and it still looks good today.

[Axelrod]

Hi all. I'm pretty new to this. I have my own Airstream and I'm working on an Avion with someone else. For my Airstream, I want to go all out and lift the shell off and blast the rust off.

The Avion owner and I aren't looking to get that thorough with the Avion, just something that will improve what's there and do a good job/hold up for a long time.

I was wondering if I could put Ospho on and then put a POR-15 top coat on later.

(POR-15 also has a rust preventative paint, but it's a moisture lockout paint, not a chemical change to the rust already there. Actually, POR-15 has a lot of different products, so it would help if you all could specify which products you used.)

The advice in this thread has already clarified things quite a bit, so thanks, it's all very much appreciated.