Por 15 for hitch parts

[dznf0g]

So I've got to do some hitch repainting soon and have read up on various paints used for hitches, receivers, and A frames.

For those of you who have used Por 15, how has it held up and for how long?
Is the gray color anywhere close to the dark gray used on AS A-frames?

What prep products from Por 15 did you use?

Any other advice?

[LI Pets]

6 years and counting, works great.

No real prep it likes rust, don't clean it too much.

where exposed to sunlight needs a top coat, I used a spray can.

[Alumaholic]

Direct sunlight fades and degrades POR-15.
As LI Pets says, It must be topcoated, but a rattle can topcoat only lasts a couple years before flaking off. POR-15 sells its own topcoat, of course.
Why bother?
I've spent beau-coup $$ on POR-15 and its ancillary products, but there are better coatings for your hitch parts.
Hope this helps.

[Soyboy]

So Alumaholic what are the better coatings? You kinda lefts us hangin'!

[dznf0g]

Yeah, Alumiholic....so are you hinting at some epoxys? I've been doing some other reading on other forums, like boat forums and I'm kind of leaning toward epoxys now. If that is the recommendation here, what kind? Simple Krylon epoxys or 2 parts or marine or what?

For my hitch, I plan on sandblasting to clean bare metal.

[Alumaholic]

Once POR-15 fails because of exposure to sunlight, it is very difficult to remove, and paint will not bond to POR-15 (POR-15 is not paint)

Since touch-up painting on my hitch and receiver is part of my annual maintenance routine, I just a good quality rattle-can paint I, knowing I will want to clean it and do touch-up paint again next year.

I have used two-part epoxies with success on other projects, but never on a hitch, so I can't offer an experienced-based recommendation.

One thought: Don't we expect certain hitch surfaces to wear down to bear metal from the steel against steel contact as the hitch does its job? Since we keep these bearing surfaces lubricated and are we really concerned about paint? (These are the trunion pockets on a Reese and the top and bottom surfaces of the square, bar sockets on an Equalizer, for example.)

My POR-15 experience came from a frame-off restoration of a 1946 Willys Jeep. I used the complete suite of POR products. The frame was so beautiful when I was done, I wanted the exposed frame members, bumpers and wheels to have that same POR-15, black finish. It looked great! Then the POR-15 exposed to sunlight failed and started to look really bad. I top-coated some items with the pricey POR-15 topcoat, and it worked fine. Discovering I had overlooked the front bumper after I already had my paint gun all cleaned up, I top-coated the bumper with rattle-can black. It looked great for a year or two before it began to flake. (The jeep was always garaged when not in use)

[dznf0g]

Yes, wear point are not my concern. I recently found a really good deal on a Hensley and it has been just painted over old chipped and rusted areas. Next fall I am going to completely disassemble it and sandblast and paint it.

Whenever I have had a new hitch I just keep it touched up, but this one sat out a lot.

[LI Pets]

if you sandblast it don't use por