3 replies to this topic

[Cactus]

I've had a question brewing in my head for a while now about stopping the dreaded rust. I'm not sure if there is a "right" way to do this, but what do people generally do with new panels coated in the generic black? I've been told by a few people that its for travel protection only and should be completley stripped off. Others have told me to simpley spray over it.

My initial thoughts were that before the panels are welded to the car, to key the panel, acid etch, primer, then generic base-coat colour.

But then how to weld it to the car? You have to remove the paint and primer at the area you are welding, doesn't this mean you've now got a seam between 2 panels in bare metal and no way to properly protect it?

I guess really i'm asking more than one question... its just a little bit confusing. Panels like the sills trouble me. It seems people just weld them on in panel-black and only respray the outside, doesnt that mean the insides of the sills are left in a thin coat of black paint with no other protection?

Another thing is home-resprays. I've known people to leave cars for months in primer, wouldnt they be rusting something horrid underneath? Or are you fine in the hot weather?

And since primer is porus, does that mean any bare-metal area of your car needs to be prepped, etch primered, primered and base-coated just to protect it till you can do a full respray?

I'm finding it kinda hard figuring the right way to go about replacing panels, any help or advice would be appriciated

[danoz24]

hi mate, i replaced my sills and i used weld-through-primer. UPOL do a real good range of spray paints including this one (green tin). this keeps the primer on the metal throughout the entire welding process and enough to keep it protected when finished. once i have welded ill use etch primer to be sure that everything is covered, next ill use seam sealant, and then ill use heavy duty paint such as rust bullet to prevent anything from reaching the metal. I'd finish with black hammerite to finish the job.



i have used zinga before which is galvanic protection and paint it direct to clean, 80-grit blasted/ metal. in order to paint on top of zinga you need special metals primer such as from hammerite. once primered then top coats can be applied.

[widerim_pickup]

If its a non genuine panel the black is really for stopping rust and should all be removed. Easiest way is a wire brush (and possibly heat gun). Genuine heritage panels have a special coating on them this can be left on. Then where there is an overlapping seam, weld through primer should be used to protect bare metal. Etch primer on areas you cant get to once fitted.

Etch primer should be used on open areas of panel. Then primer then paint etc.

With the sills, fit genuine ones anywhere you need to weld clean off back to bare metal where the 2 panels lap use weld through primer. Again where you cant get to once fitted do not leave it bare etch primer it.

If you keep your car in a garage, it should be fine with just etch primer then primer.

Lastly do a search most of these questions have been asked before

[Cactus]

I had tried a search and the faq's, but to be honest most of what i found seemed just to be opinion. Like having 5 guys reccomend por-15, then another guy come along and scientificly explain that por-15 is rubbish, for example. Last time i bought zinc-182, it being the reccomended thing at the time, then 2 weeks later i'm told its useless and should be removed. Left me kinda clueless to be honest

The garage is... well... its war-era, sunked half a foot into the ground, paneled with asbestos (mostly now replaced), and leans to the side so much that we've had to prop it up. It leaks too in the corners, so it doesnt prevent cold/moisture but it does keep off the rain.

Cheers for all the advice, it sounds pretty much spot on. Certainly takes a load off my mind. Didn't know about the genuine panels either, mine always came from mini-machine (pretty good i've found) and just in the black coating.

I'm hoping to do welding/spraying during the summer while its hot, put off doing it over the winter. So hopefully the weather won't be too punishing if i leave the car in primer. Gonna be a pain to strip the black off all those new panels though, heh.