KBS Rust Seal Review (Picture Heavy)

Hey TW,

A couple of weeks back I posted about KBS Rust Seal, and no one on TW seemed to have used it. Rust Seal is a product much like POR-15, or Rust Bullet, it is a moisture cured urethane, creating a barrier not allowing oxygen, moisture, etc to get to the frame or existing rust. The KBS System is a three part system like POR-15:

1. KBS Klean- Degreaser
2. KBS RustBlast- Phosphoric acid metal etch
3. RustSeal- Top Coat

So I ordered my KBS Frame Coater kit for a price of $65.00, pretty nice compared to POR or Rust Bullet in my college student opinion. So the box was nicely packed and arrived quickly, shipped and came in three days.

I started by getting all the loose rust off the frame, and then sanding the painted section with 320 grit sand paper per KBS directions. I used a wire brush for the loose stuff and a file for the top of the frame since a brush wouldn't fit between the cab and frame. After that I used a diluted mixture of water and the degreaser (5:1) and scrubbed down the frame. It was crazy how much dirt and grime came off the frame.

So now the cool part, RustBlast is like any other rust etching product but it seeing it first hand is pretty damn cool. The stuff is nasty as hell, I wore a mask and eye protection. I also work long sleeves and gloves. You have to keep the surface moist with the product for a minimum of 30 mins for it to work. After doing that, the prepared surface had some white powder (zinc phosphate) on the frame. The rust was literally gone, it was really cool because some of the surfaces were corroded badly. Then I rinsed the surface thoroughly.

So after that, the RustSeal goes on, the actual paint goes on very thin, a little bit goes a long way. For the passengers side of the truck I paint the fully boxed section of frame and the top, bottom and side of the C channel. I will go back and paint the inside of the C channel tomorrow. One of the coolest parts of the stuff is how well it self levels.

Before:











After:
Yes, I know my drums are rusty , and that shock








My frame is about 45% done at this point and I hope to be done by tomorrow evening, I am doing this before I go back to college for a summer class and internship.

Overall I am excited about the results, but I still need to finish. I would say that prep takes the longest, where as painting took no time at all. I have about 12 hours on this project, which included painting the leaf springs, and skid plates as well.

RustSeal is an awesome product and it seems tough as nails.

I will post more pictures tomorrow and in a few months to show how it holds up!

Thanks,
Tommy

More Picture 5/14/2015

 

Looks good. Make sure you get inside the frame.

 

Be nice to see what it looks like next year If we get any winter.

 

how much time did the entire process take you? just wondering cause i will likely be doing exactly the same thing on one very soon, and wanted to get a idea if this was a day, weekend, or set aside several days project

 

I did it in about three days, 6 hours a day. I was a little bit dumb and did it in smaller sections though. I would do like the drivers side one day and the passengers another.

 

Once done make sure you soak the inside of the frame with oil of some kind or you will just have wasted your time, the rust on the outside is less of a problem than the rust working its way from the inside out.

 

Yes, I know, the majority of my rust was actually on outside. My inner frame sections look brand new.

 

I plan to lift my cab and bed off and fully apply kbs Rust Seal. I will be taking my truck in for the rust recall but there are no holes so I don't see them doing anything for me.

 

I did it while leaving the truck fully together. It was harder and I for sure couldn't reach every spot, but I would say I reached 95% of the Frame with two coats. My warranty was never extended as the original owner didn't take it in , in time. I highly recommend the KBS system.

 

Nice job, OP. Thank you for directing me to this follow up thread. I think I'll try removing my bed for easier access to the frame. It sounds like you did all the prep work by hand (no power tools), is that right?

 

I did do all of this by hand. I used sand paper, metal files, then used KBS degreaser, KBS rust convertor, then rust seal. It's a time consuming process but it's all in the prep!

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/kbs-coatings-rust-seal-frame-coater-kit-lessons-learned.401827/

 

Update: After 6 months, the KBS Rust Seal looks great and has not changed since the day I applied it. There is no flaking of the coating. In addition to rust seal, I used KBS cavity coater for the inside of the frame and that was also easy to use.

Although we haven't had a major snow storm on the north east yet I have gone off-roading with the recoated frame and driven a fair amount.

 

Update: After 10 months, and the end of winter, the rust seal has held up great! I did actually miss one spot on my frame so I painted that area this last week. Aside from the KBS products have held up great to the salt.

I also applied rust seal to my rear axle, and third member. (Painting in progress to show the difference between unpainted and painted)



I have also inspected the frame for weak spots and found none!
I am hoping that all of the work I have done has added many more years on to my truck.

 

Glad to hear that it's doing well. I bought my truck in November and applied the KBS kit in December. It's pretty much thanks to you/your thread that I decided to use it. My coating is still looking good. And now seeing your update, I feel even more confident that it will last and protect further. Thanks, man

 

No problem! It's a great product

 

I've just got one question. You said you used a KBS product for the inside of the frame. I went with Eastwood's Internal Frame Coater. Any experience using that before?

 

I personally haven't use eastwoods product, from my understanding it was more of a paint product. I went with KBS cavity wax because I thought it would adhere to the metal inside the frame much better than a paint because the lack of prep.

The wax is actually pretty damn tough, when you spray it, it's a liquid. But once it cures it's like a more flexible candle wax. The excess that drained out of my frame and collected on the frame rails was pretty difficult to remove when I was prepping my frame recently for touch up work. It propagates through the frame which helps seal it. KBS did the ASTM standard salt tank test with great results.

 

The way you describe it, it sounds quite similar to the Eastwood product. It came in a rattle can and a flexible hose that lets you direct the spray. The hose is fairly long, allowing you to get farther in, which is nice. It comes out liquid but dries rubbery. And just like the KBS, excess would drip out. Eastwood utilizes zinc phosphate, which is used to prevent rust. KBS doesn't specify, but it's probably the same. Eastwood has good reviews, so I'll put some faith in it. If I see it isn't holding up, I'll use the KBS since their products have proven effective.

The application for internal coating is weird to do, though, so it might be user incompetence that causes it to fail...

 

I was going to use eastwoods but I just ordered all at once from KBS so it was easy. I totally agree about the application , I had to buy a second can to coat the inside of one the frame rails because I thought the one side was coated better than the other