Bed Stiffener paint prep

I'm looking to install a set of bed stiffeners. Any recommendations on what to use to prevent future rust issues on the new mounting holes that have to be drilled into the bed sides? Thanks for any input

 

Which bed stiffeners did you go with?

I personally keep a rattle can and a paint can of STEELIT and apply that anywhere I drill a hole out and prefer to use it on raw parts to coat. Even if im coloring ontop of the Steelit, i use that as a base on the raw material or on freshly drilled spots. But thats overkill for a little hole in the bed, rustoleum paint + primer is plenty

 

The only 4 holes I had to drill for TotalChaos (2 each side) were both small and are covered by the taillight housings. That does not mean "no rust", just that simple rust preventer paint/gel should cover you for a long time.

 

This is what I did. I just spray painted both sides of the drilled holes and bolted everything up

 

When I put my Total Chaos set in, I used brush on Rustoleum

 

Meh, nail polish is even fine.

I’ve drilled many holes in those bed supports and never had any major issues with rust. Same goes for drilling many holes in the bodywork, never had an issue. The frame will rust away sooner than the Toyota bodywork.

You can let the paint dry and then topcoat with a rust protectant both on the outer surface as well as the back from the tail light if you want but sometimes that just attracts more dirt and crap.

 

I haven't drilled my Total Chaos Bed Stiffeners yet...but I plan on filing the residual metal from drilling and then brush painting.

I'll be using the same paint I used when I installed my hood struts that required drilling.

 

For a small spot like that, I’ll spray paint into a red solo cup and dab it on with a q-tip.
Makes for a mostly mess-free job.

Pro tip: the paint in your solo cup alters the flavor of beer, so take appropriate safety measures.

 

Sounds maybe like I am unclupetent, but ... the nut for the top bolt for the TotalChaos is under a bracket, and the first side I did I was being absent-minded and dropped one of the nuts down the taillight-well. They only provide the exact number of nuts needed. Fortunately it was not a rush job and an Ace Hardware is 2 miles from my house, so got 4 replacements in case my grip failed me again.

 

Most auto parts stores sell Touchup brush/pin kits.
Go get one close to the color you need. (I bought the cheapest color, because you wont see the holes)
Brush it on the holes.

I used Dupli-color brand.

I've also used it on paint chips and scratches. The stuff has held up for 7 years so far.

 

So you are suggesting drink all of the beer from the cup first? There are advantages to NOT drinking while tooling.

 

Be careful with that top bolt on the TC stiffeners. I had read of people breaking that bolt by tightening to the recommended torque. "That won't happen to me because I know what I'm doing" I said. So, I put a torque wrench on it and broke the head off the bolt. Luckily, I was able to get the threaded portion out without too much trouble. I hand tightened those top bolts instead.

 

I often treat such bolts (including skid plate bolts) as "I can recheck". Grab a wrench and slide under for skid plate bolts, remove taillight assembly to tighten if needed. Not saying that I am sloppy, but it is not as important as torque on a UCA bolt.

 

Total Chaos, I used black rustoleum spray paint as that was what I had. Can't even tell the color difference on the inside of the tail light housings with magnetic grey metallic.

 

I use galvanizing paint over all exposed metal followed by either steel it or nail polish, depending on coverage size and geometry needed.

Steel it for coverage, nail polish for exposed edges.