My 04 bucket of rust badly need some rust recovery. Especially my brush guard, I've tried a lot of different paints but in the end they chip ding and rust. So this time, as a temporary measure I rubberized them... LOL with, of all things, flex seal. Eventually I'm going to sandblast it down and Rhino coat the brush guard and both front and rear skid plates. But for now it got rid of the rust freckles...

 

I'm working on mine as well. I have the front end torn apart. Using wire wheels, brushes, etc to get rid of all the rust but I haven't locked in on anything specific to coat the areas with.

 

I've tried normal paint and even DuPont chip guard but no joy.
So I'm going with a rubber base, next is most likely like u-pol Raptor
U-POL Products Raptor Liner Black Base-.75L Coastal Tool Supply
I figure after I give it a good sandblasting t should stick pretty good..
I am kinda even thinking of powder coating..

 

I just did the first coat of POR-15 and I'm not overly impressed to be honest. It's not POR-15's fault by any means, its the nasty waxy/greasy coating these things have. I'm working on the front right now, under the bumper.


I wire wheeled the troubled spots which was all just light surface rust then I cleaned those spots with brake cleaner to remove the waxy coating still there. POR-15 next which was much thinner than I thought it would be. I felt I put it on pretty thin and it still ran all over the place. The annoying part is you have to wait 2 hours minimum for a second coat. This was where I stopped.


My center link was rusted to hell so I brushed some POR-15 on that and it took great and looks really good now but the front frame rails and everything coated with the waxy stuff is a real PITA to coat.

 

"the waxy stuff is a real PITA to coat."

Right?

Mine has a couple places where something hit it and chipped off the rubber, and I know from past experience that taking that wax off and correctly wire-wheeling, priming, and painting isn't a worthwhile endeavor. The wax holds on a lot better than even the most valiant effort to paint as far as time is concerned.

 

The plan is; blasting it down and staring with some industrial red oxide primer as a base coat. I know standard automotive primer is worthless as a sealer, it will suck up moisture like a sponge so I avoid it if possible. So the eventual plan is red oxide primer then something like a Rhino Coat..