Would Rust-Oleum on new truck work?

I know, another rust thread, not sure why its not pinned so we don't have to keep making new ones.

My truck is 3 months old, just filling some paint cracks around welds. So was thinking, is it good idea to just paint over the already painted frame with rust oleum? I am also planning to fluid film it so i was thinking maybe might as well 2th layer paint first

 

Sure

 

Coating a bare metal never a bad idea.
The worst that happens is it doesn’t stick, but you tried. Especially if you’re gonna get a spray coat anyways.

 

Its not bare, its already coated from factory. I was just thinking coating over it with 2th layer before fluid film

 

I touched up with rust oleum around the welds, etc when mine was new 16 years ago... it's held up fine. Fluid film has been applied over it with no issues. Didn't spray the paint... used small brush and a can of matt black rust oleum.

 

That looks like brand new. Yes I have the cans , just wanted to get it done before salt pours here in NJ

 

I did this with Rustoleum as well. Primer and flat or satin back over the visible parts like the trailer hitch. I used those disposable black foam brushes. They work real well squeezing paint into the tight spots. The worst piece under there was the hitch. Lots of scraping to remove all of the loose paint. It has to be redone every year.

Don't forget to Fluid Film the inside of the rear bumper. They slowly rot and disappear from the inside. I sprayed almost a whole can in there and it still rusts.

 

The concept with paint on metal is that you eliminate the ability of the electrolyte to come in contact with the bare metal.

A corrosion cell needs 4 parts for traditional (galvanic) corrosion to occur; an Anode, a Cathode, a metallic path between the two and a common/continuous electrolyte (an electrically conductive medium) that both the anode and cathode exist in. Removing any one of the 4 parts will make the corrosion cell cease to exist.

On your trucks frame, the relationship between the 4 parts of the corrosion cell are:

- anode: sections of metal (microscopic) of the trucks frame where there’s some energy density (it’s an electrochemical process, but ‘energy density’ makes the point) in the metal from an uneven manufacturing process

- cathode: section of metal (microscopic) of the trucks frame where there’s less energy density in the metal (relative to the anodic areas) from an uneven manufacturing process

- metallic path: the metallic frame between those microscopic areas of anodic and cathodic areas

- electrolyte: any moisture, dirt and grime that coats the expose metal frame during normal use

You can’t remove the anode, cathode or metallic path and they’re always going to exist within the metal frame, but you can remove the ability of an electrolyte to interact with the anode and cathode by coating the frame in a non-conductive layer (aka paint, fluid film, rubber undercoating, etc). That’s what these coatings do to eliminate corrosion, they’re just a barrier. How well a barrier works is dependent on how good the coverage is, how well it stays put through wear and tear and how clean the metal was that the barrier was applied over.

A coating applied over dirty metal will not be effective in protecting against corrosion as some electrolyte will exist under the barrier and still allow localized corrosion to happen. If you’re going to paint your frame, clean and dry the areas well so the coating has a proper chance at doing what you want it to do.

Know any unreachable corners or crevices are able to get moisture, dirt and dust in them…so if you don’t get paint in them, they’re not protected.

Hope that breakdown helps some with the goal behind what you wanna do here.

 

I fully coated my frame in rustoleum satin black. Looks good, I recommend it

 

There is no metal, truck frame is already painted. I am just painting it over with 2th layer. Just like I did 3 layer wax on car paint

 

You can do it (paint) but there will be a TON of places that you can't get to so you'll have to decide if it's worth it. I would scuff the existing paint with a scotch brite pad for better adhesion.

Personally, I would skip the paint and concentrate on doing a thorough job with the fluid film. That means getting the wands to get in all of the enclosed areas.

 

I understand that, but you’d be wrong to assume the factory coating has 100% perfect coating, even just considering the areas you can easily see and that look “new and perfect”.

Let me stress, the electrochemical reaction occurring with corrosion is on an atom size scale, so it really doesn’t matter if the brand new frame looks good and well coated, it’s probably 5+% bare steel on the easily accessed areas of frame, considerably more if you count the inaccessible areas between layers and in crevices…it’s just millions of microscopic pin holes in the coating adding up to a considerable amount of exposed bare steel.

Painting a second coating on can help from a couple stand points, if done right. It can help cover some of those pinholes as the pinholes in the second layer may not line up with the first layers holes and it add sheer material there for wear resistance (think rocks pinging up on the underside and taking coating with them).

That said, don’t put a second coating OVER a dirty factory coating otherwise it’s like waxing a dirty car…mostly pointless, though little areas might be ok.

 

Do it, do it. The more the merrier....

 

My Taco is almost 3 weeks old and I have an appointment to have it undercoated with a rust prevention next Thursday by an outfit that specializes in this sort of thing. They’re going to keep it in a heated bay overnight to help the curing. I was going to try it myself, but….

 

yeah get that tooth layer on it

 

If the undercoating is rubberized or tar based, and you plan on keeping the truck a long time, I wouldn't do it. Maybe if you're not in a salt belt you'd get away with it, I don't know.
In any case, here's a graphic example of what can happen (note that this video is from 2018, so the truck featured in it was only 7 years old at the time):

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...wqsBegQIARAG&usg=AOvVaw1IKgrNVU7HLsmUh27qJwCH

 

Thanks, poor choice of words on my part. It’s like a black paint (I looked at the owners truck) I just called it “undercoating”

 

Stay away from anything that dries hard. With a wax/oil coating like Fluid Film, Woolwax, Boeshield T-9 etc... you can still see/access all the fasteners under the truck and it won't hide problems underneath like rubberized paint would. I'd stay away from anything black... translucent is a better option in my opinion.