What's new

Paint/coating for frame and flatdeck

Squamch

Canadian
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
93
Messages
1,498
Loc
republic of Vancouver island
I'm flatdecking my superduty, and need to clean up the frame a bit since it's going to be exposed. Plan is to pressure wash, then wire wheel if necessary, and hit it with...POR15 or a similar product? Tremclad? Something else? I know POR15 needs to be topcoated, any special considerations as far as what paint gets used?

Then the same question for the flatdeck itself. Tremclad spray? Something else?
 
I'm in the Canadian PNW. I've dealt with that spray on waxy shit and never fucking again. Full marks for effort though! Good to know about the POR15 though.
 
We had a POR15 rep come into the shop one day with our Sherwin Williams guy. Laid out exactly what we needed to prep with etc...and the shit still didn't stick. If you can get it to work my hats off to you.
 
I painted the floor and top of the boxes on my service truck with Mastercoat AG111. Supposed to be tough as all hell. I haven't beat on it yet, so I dunno, but it seems pretty tough. Its kinda pricey though. Stinks to high heaven. I brushed it on and it's kinda weird to work with too...
 
Oh also a needle scaler is a must if you have any kind of shit on there that you need to get off before coating it, and I'd buy some Ospho and put it in a squirt bottle and hit everything with that before painting if it has any kind of surface or flash rust on it.
 
I've been quite pleased with Tremclad. I painted my flat deck in 08 and just repainted in 2018. It has held very well considering the minimal investment. I'm another one that has had poor results with POR15. Everyone says how great it is but good old Tremclad works far better for me.
 
I've been quite pleased with Tremclad. I painted my flat deck in 08 and just repainted in 2018. It has held very well considering the minimal investment. I'm another one that has had poor results with POR15. Everyone says how great it is but good old Tremclad works far better for me.


How did you paint it? Just cleaned the steel and sprayed it? Rolled/brushed? Actual spray gun?
 
Tremclad with some enamel hardener mixed in and thinned with mineral spirits, through a cheap HVLP gun.

8:4:1 I think was the mix ratio I was using.
 
I just picked up a 2002 that had been sitting for a while, everything below is surface rusted. I'm not pulling shit, so my plan is to hit it with a wire wheel / hand brush and then use one of the spray cans of Eastwood rust encapsulator that I picked up. After thats set up I'm gonna use some of the cheap-o harbor freight chassis paint and rattlecan it.

I'm not dealing with anything structural at all, so it's really all cosmetic for me, but that's the plan so far.
 
How did you paint it? Just cleaned the steel and sprayed it? Rolled/brushed? Actual spray gun?

Originally, I just let the completed bare steel frame sit outside so it got a little patina on it and then just painted right over it with a roller and a brush. I find Tremclad bonds much better to the patina finish than clean, bare steel. Unless it is blasted...but I couldn't be bothered blasting it.
 
I have good luck with Rustoleums rusty metal primer. You can top coat it with whatever you want, but I can't recall a time it never stuck.
 
Hot dip galvanized or don't bother. :flipoff2:

in the pnw, as i am too, this!

when talking with customers i always recommend galv first. after that its powder coat. the powder coat and galv shop are over an hour drive each way for me and i make at least one trip a week. well worth the time and money.

the last option i offer customers is shop painted, which is a through degrease and wash with the hotsy. then hose it down with Ospho. and spray with Sher-Kem a direct to metal paint that is thick as peanut butter in the can. i thin it a little and spray with the 3m Accuspray pressure pot hvlp gun. and i add a little enamel hardener, i dont know that it helps too much with overall hardness but with out it, it takes a week for the paint to get to full hardness.
 
I've used cheap rattle cans every few years with decent luck. On my 71 I am going to try epoxy since it has plenty of time to cure but prep is the key for epoxy to stick.
 
Top Back Refresh