Eastwood Versus POR15

KCKKen said:

Hi Everyone!

FINALLY starting the first stage of reassembly, painting the frame. I'm tired of not finding someone to blast the frame, so I'm going to do it myself in the driveway.

Once I get it "clean" (no old flaking paint, it's not very rusty so I'm looking for a good surface for the paint/coating to stick) I will be putting it back in the garage and starting the process with a metal prep and paint/coating/topcoat as needed. This truck will get plenty of use, so I want to protect it as much as possible.

I've heard good about Eastwood products as well as POR15, so I'm looking to make a decision between the two. Thoughts?

Thanks again to all who reply, this forum has great posts and really enjoy reading about others' rides!

Take Care,
KS in KCK

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Por sucks, very expensive , peels off if not applied per instructions.

PawLou said:

Por sucks, very expensive , peels off if not applied per instructions.

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It's the magic cleaner and magic phosphoric acid,not magic paint

POR15 never stood the test of time with stopping rust but one thing I did use it for was with cheese cloth and patching a floor seam on the fly. Was rock solid - sealed well - and lasted 2-5 yrs.

It was ok for what I used it for but hated the cleanup and the speckled tattoos you'd wear for a couple weeks.

JD Miller said:

Ive never had the desire to pay that high price for some Por 15 to even test it....
Is Por15 just a way over $$$ priced gimmick? I read somewhere that Rustoleum Semi Gloss Black is better and they are basically the same ingredients. Dont know if that's really true or not. Alkyd enamel

I have frames, axles, springs etc painted with rustoleum semi gloss black 30 years ago that have held up great.

Im sure there's people that think por15 is a gift from god... ?

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I've used it on springs, and a few wheelbarrows. Prep is key. You used to have to do it with a brush, because there was no solvent to reduce it for a gun. That's changed. It takes knocks and chips really well.

I did a frame up pickup resto once. Had everything dipped. Frame got PR'd. That was a waste of time and money. Even dipped, you just can't seal the thing up enough to keep it from peeling. The only way to keep it from rusting is.... Well,......

So, I'm going to say something (some will) think is real stupid here. ANd sorry, this only applies if it is not a show truck, where the only goal is to have it look neat, smooth, black and avoid rusting.

What I have been doing is really, really cheap, but it actually looks great. And, I've never seen it peel because there is nothing really to peel. Geez... I don't know if I should even say it...... I know I will get ripped on, but here goes!

I just knock down all the rust in the normal ways, mostly wire brushing, a little hand work. Knocking off good tight paint doesn't make sense.

Here we go. >BLACK PRIMER<..... soaked with fluid film yearly. But primer is porous! Yes, perfect ! The fluid film permeates to the frame always and without melting the color. The fluid film never resides on TOP of the paint, but IN the paint. Frankly, it looks really nice and has become my go to on any non-show car scenario. Its the bottom of the dang truck and all I care is that it stays in good shape.

Touch up is amazingly easy too. Those few areas that get water blasted off and surface rust appears just get wiped off, wire brushed, black primered and Fluid Filmed again. Everyone looks at it and thinks I did a major frame paint job. NOT!

I painted the frames of my K5 and C20 after blasting with a quality primer and 2k chassis paint from the same company. I applied it with brush and roller as I can't use a paint gun at my garage. The K5 frame was done over 10 years ago and still is spotless. I went to a local paint store and asked for advice.

Wire brushed my frame, degreased, black epoxy primer, Magnet Chassis black, on clear coat, but I should have, ran out of time. Used POR15 on the 55 panel engine bay, completely chalked out in five years, repainted after prep with Duplicolor and has worked well.

Craig85 turned me on to this stuff, It's great.

KCKKen said:

Hi Everyone!

FINALLY starting the first stage of reassembly, painting the frame. I'm tired of not finding someone to blast the frame, so I'm going to do it myself in the driveway.

Once I get it "clean" (no old flaking paint, it's not very rusty so I'm looking for a good surface for the paint/coating to stick) I will be putting it back in the garage and starting the process with a metal prep and paint/coating/topcoat as needed. This truck will get plenty of use, so I want to protect it as much as possible.

I've heard good about Eastwood products as well as POR15, so I'm looking to make a decision between the two. Thoughts?

Thanks again to all who reply, this forum has great posts and really enjoy reading about others' rides!

Take Care,
KS in KCK

Click to expand...

If you’re going through the process of blasting it clean to bare steel, you don’t want rust reformer type coating, you want paint.
Clean bare steel should get an etching or epoxy primer or any flavor of direct to metal or direct to rust type paint.
Any surface that gets blasted decently and primed/painted or at a minimum well coated with a dtm/dtr type paint over surface corrosion (not flaking) will be as protected as it can be.
Do some tests, but you’ll find that most all paint will bond well to decently cleaned surface rust as well. And rust that is sealed from oxygen will not continue to rust.
The devil is in the details though. Getting 100% clean and 100% coverage is almost impossible on something like an assembled frame. And it’s the 1% of crevices and mating surfaces between pieces of around rivets or bolts/holes that DONT get completely sealed that start the rust creeping again.
Not a huge issue if not left outdoors in the rain/humidity for years or if chlorides aren’t involved. (Road salt).
To counteract those conditions that’s where the oil/wool wax type penetrating coatings come in. They creep into those little spots that can’t be reached and provide a level of surface protection but they’re sacrificial and require periodic reapplication.

Bottom line is plenty of use is fine. Wet isn’t even too bad. But salt kills.
Keep the salt away and you’re good. Remember that frame lasted 40-50 years already with arguably less care than a fresh sand blast and paint. You’re not gonna make magic happen but it’s not gonna rust away for a long time.
Case in point. Buddy is restoring another old truck he’s had since a kid. 30 years ago he wire wheeled and painted the chassis and jambed it out for paint. In those 30 years it sat outdoors in seattle for about 20 years. Frame looks cherry and could eat off it after removing the dust and dirt. Little bit of rust poking out around from the nooks and crannies is all.

Or different scenario, daily driver, when we lived in the Rockies. Some chloride exposure in the winters. Every couple years, spray the chassis down to get as much dirt off as possible and spray bomb it with a couple cans of black paint. Did a pretty good job at keeping the rust away.
Part of the reason it’s generally easier to keep the rust away on a truck vs a low to the ground car and unit body construction. Less nooks and crannies hiding.

But in your scenario, unless “plenty of use” is gonna involve involuntarily turning it into a rolling salt lick in the winters, you have nothing to worry about until your kids are at least your age now if you just cannot up and paint it.

Doppleganger said:

I know 2 guys who make a living sandblasting and spraying semi trailer frames. Both use POR15 and both told me to use it as a primer and not as some miracle sealant paint. They make a top coat to go over it (it gets so hard no paint will stick to it plus it is very UV sensitive (will turn white/chalky if exposed to sun).

I have used this stuff since it was a back page ad in a cheap car or club magazine. What Restomotive Labs (POR15) used to say to do was to paint it with POR15 and when it tacked up, mist a self etching primer over it and then you can paint (to that). Did it that way alot too. And fwiw.....I would brush it on and not spray it - its beyond toxic and you dont want it sticking to your lungs the way it attaches itself to your skin.

I had mine blasted and powder coated - if it was just me doing it again, I'd spray it in epoxy primer (2-3 coats) then use a truck and tractor enamel or maybe Rinoliner, etc (which is what I did with my fuel tanks).

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Can’t wait to see a truck on that frame someday!
You make some good points.
1 being, powder coat isn’t any better. It won’t get into the inaccessible surfaces that water and chlorides can. So POR with the right top coat, powder, paint, it’s all about the same because it’s the places you can’t reach that start the surface oxidation again.
Now regarding the bedliner material. Great application for something like the tanks that you can coat 100% coverage. Not great and not as good as paint imo where you can only get to 98% coverage like a frame assembly. At that point it’s inevitably just bridging over some small portions of the surface somewhere and the tough water proof coating is now serving to trap moisture.
I tested that theory before. Snomobile trailer frame. Mainly because I was just using up random black colored coatings to paint the frame. Some got some spray on bed liner, most got spray bombed with rattle can paint. And I tested plasti dip on some as well. Used up all my half empty spray cans, lol.
Paint held best. The rubbery materials not as much. Why? Paint bonds better, all other things being equal.
The only reason bedliner gets the nod is for chip resistance. But once it’s broke through, it’s actually worse.
I’ve recently seen a couple of our work trucks from the Midwest older ones with spray in bed liners. Seen spots where the rust got going under the bed liner presumably from a scrape down to bare metal.
Of course imo.

Grit dog said:

Can’t wait to see a truck on that frame someday!

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Yeah, me too. LOL

bucket said:

I'm pretty sure it was this video:

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Thanks for the video, very informative!

It gave me a new perspective on what to use (and what not to use). My objective with the blasting is to remove some partially-applied white paint that has came off in some places, but not in others. For the most part the frame has some surface rust, but nothing large and flaky. Getting the repairs done right to the "repairs" made around the front shock mounts is the big item right now, I'm going to have this work done prior to the blasting so as soon as it's "clean" I can roll it into the garage and start the process of getting it prepped/primed/coated so I can get it back to a rolling chassis. Thanks again!

Take Care,
KS in KCK

Grit dog said:

If you’re going through the process of blasting it clean to bare steel, you don’t want rust reformer type coating, you want paint.
Clean bare steel should get an etching or epoxy primer or any flavor of direct to metal or direct to rust type paint.
Any surface that gets blasted decently and primed/painted or at a minimum well coated with a dtm/dtr type paint over surface corrosion (not flaking) will be as protected as it can be.
Do some tests, but you’ll find that most all paint will bond well to decently cleaned surface rust as well. And rust that is sealed from oxygen will not continue to rust.
The devil is in the details though. Getting 100% clean and 100% coverage is almost impossible on something like an assembled frame. And it’s the 1% of crevices and mating surfaces between pieces of around rivets or bolts/holes that DONT get completely sealed that start the rust creeping again.
Not a huge issue if not left outdoors in the rain/humidity for years or if chlorides aren’t involved. (Road salt).
To counteract those conditions that’s where the oil/wool wax type penetrating coatings come in. They creep into those little spots that can’t be reached and provide a level of surface protection but they’re sacrificial and require periodic reapplication.

Bottom line is plenty of use is fine. Wet isn’t even too bad. But salt kills.
Keep the salt away and you’re good. Remember that frame lasted 40-50 years already with arguably less care than a fresh sand blast and paint. You’re not gonna make magic happen but it’s not gonna rust away for a long time.
Case in point. Buddy is restoring another old truck he’s had since a kid. 30 years ago he wire wheeled and painted the chassis and jambed it out for paint. In those 30 years it sat outdoors in seattle for about 20 years. Frame looks cherry and could eat off it after removing the dust and dirt. Little bit of rust poking out around from the nooks and crannies is all.

Or different scenario, daily driver, when we lived in the Rockies. Some chloride exposure in the winters. Every couple years, spray the chassis down to get as much dirt off as possible and spray bomb it with a couple cans of black paint. Did a pretty good job at keeping the rust away.
Part of the reason it’s generally easier to keep the rust away on a truck vs a low to the ground car and unit body construction. Less nooks and crannies hiding.

But in your scenario, unless “plenty of use” is gonna involve involuntarily turning it into a rolling salt lick in the winters, you have nothing to worry about until your kids are at least your age now if you just cannot up and paint it.

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Thanks for that advice, will definitely keep that in mind.

Yes, here in Kansas it will get a diet of salt in the winter. I plan on driving it a lot in the winter, I have plans for a second set of rally wheels with off-road-type tires on them for winter time - the house we'll be moving to is on a street that sometimes doesn't get plowed until just before it's all melted off, and the rest of the roads get nearly covered with a full layer of the stuff if the conditions are right.

I was able to find an attachment for my power washer that has five nozzles and wheels that you can roll under a vehicle and spray the bottom with, this will get regular use after the salt baths and I will look up the penetrating coating materials you mentioned.

With this advice I think I'm ready to get this project started, thanks again for all the advice!

Take Care,
KS in KCK