JKJB

Unfortunately I live in an area that has long cold winters. A few years ago our city started using a different de-icer on roads and it has caused alot of rust on all my steel parts-Bumpers,rock sliders,etc. Im getting old and lazy and tired of stripping these down and repainting each summer. Wondering what others have done? Are there any more permanent options?

Im contemplating these options:
-take to powder coater
OR
-take to linex
OR
-remove and sell and buy new ones(might not cost much more than the above options?! but who knows how long the new ones will last). Any brands that have better coatings that dont or prevent rust?

Thanks

jedg

Or, take them off... sand them down (I used a 3M scuff pad on a grinder)... then prime with etching primer.. the spray with 'Steel-It' paint (only comes in black or grey though)... that paint is exceptionally durable..

Rednroll

Which brand items are rusting, and a picture of what you're currently dealing with could help.

I'm no stranger to dealing with rust but knowing what you're starting with will be key since there's not a one size fits all solution.

JKJB

lod rear bumper with carrier
lod rock sliders
smittybilt xrc front bumper

the smittybilt finish has held up bettet than the lod. i dont have any pics but the rust is in typical spots like welds and where rocks or gravel has chipped paint away over the years. nothing unique about it.

jedg

My LOD sliders rusted too in the weld areas... I suspect that's from not cleaning properly prior to coating them. Like I said, I got tire of seeing the rust so I removed the coating myself and then sprayed them. They've held up well since and when I scuff the bottoms, I just sand and repaint.

Rednroll

I don't know if you've had any powder coating done before but it tends to be pretty expensive, especially on larger parts like bumpers. Through some trial and error I've kind of developed s more cost effective rattle can refinishing techniques for fixing rust spots on my powder parts. It's probably not as good as an actual powder coat refresh but I feel it looks just as good and rivals the scratch resistance of powder coating.

It sounds like you just have some basic surface rust going and that the reason I asked, since if you had reached the rust flaking stages then there's a bit more prep work that needs to be done.

So anyways, the 1st step is spray down any of the surface rust with rust reformer. I use this stuff from Harbor Freight and it works great but there are others out there.


What it does is transform the rust into an inert material which can then be painted over. This will prevent the rust from continuing to grow and come up from under any paint you put over the top of it.

Then after the reformer dries, you confirm all the rust color has turned black which is part of the transformation process. If you still see brown, then spray it with reformer again. Then re-paint the entire part with Rustoleum Fine Textured Black. It can be found at Home Depot, Lowes, and Meijers. It's a great color match for black powder coat. It's a flat black with a small amount of texture to it. This will give you the color and look you want.


Then the final step is to spray over the black paint with "Matte" Clear coat. The Matte will make it so you don't get that glossy clear coat look. However, it will add durability so the paint does not scratch off easily. I put 2-3 coats of this over the top of the black. The more coats, the more scratch resistant it will be. Think of it like a woman's hard clear coat that they put over their expensive nail job to protect the nail polish from chipping and their nails from breaking.


Here are some of my powder coated parts I've used this process on which looked pretty bad.

Before


After


AEV Bumper
Before


After


Teraflex rear brake light extension
Before

After


I've been pretty pleased with the results.

JKJB

thanks all for the replies. rednroll-thanks for all the details and pics

Sodak

My lod rocksliders rusted at the weld area in less than a year..took them down got them sand basted and then line-x'd.. when I changed front/rear bumpers.. I didn't chance it.. just line-x'd them..

JKJB

thats kinda what im leaning towards doing. mind if i ask what the cost was?
thanks

Sodak

Sand blasting and linex=600. linex new bumpers was 300 a piece