Protecting bare metal. Need a tough finish.

[darwink1]

So the plan for my fj 40 build is to bed line the interior/under body then clear the bere steel exterior panels. This thing will be off roaded therefore I need something thats tough and scratch resistant.

I looked into tintable bed liners but if you dont tint them Im told they dry to an opaque finish so thats out.

Best option Ive come across so far seems to be Amershield VOC. Its a Polyester-Acrylic Alipathic Polyurethane according to the data sheet I was sent (whatever the hell that means). Was told that you can build it up with many layers (up to 5mm) and its scratch resistant and uv resistant. Dude I spoke to who works for the local distributor said it would be perfect and even knew what a rat rod was lol, which was encouraging.

A shop who my buddy works for made a fence for a local restaurant out of steel plate with decorative patterns cut out of it a couple years ago. They just sand blasted the plate and coated it in this stuff, went and checked it out a couple weeks ago and it seems to be holding up pretty mint and this is right next to a parking lot that sees snow/salt for 5 month/year.

This is the plan so far but feel free to post up alternatives that have worked for you.

Thanks in advance.

D

 

[Dirtyrat]

We tried clear coating a few bare steel items in the past without much luck, perhaps others have had better experiences... Most of the time the rust forms anyhow and eventually you lose that bare metal look.

 

[darwink1]

Yeah, thats what Ive heard happens when you just clear steel as well. This stuff is kind of like if clear and bed liner had babies.... if that makes sense.

Im not aiming for a perfect shiny bare steel look, kinda want to leave some of the "patina" or whatever thats been forming on the bare steel. I obviously plan to clean the surfaces before applying this stuff but Id prefer a weathered look.

Planning to use phosphoric acid (kleen brite) to get rid of the rust in the places that are going to be bed lined. The tub was sand blasted a while back but some corrosion has formed since.

D

 

[Dirtyrat]

I'm sure some of the paint & body guys on here have a product they recommend for stopping the rust, and being able to clear over it to maintain the patina...

 

[Tyster36]

Not sure there is such a thing. Just about any rust protector is going to tint the bare steel, thus leaving a dirty look.

 

[ronnysplymouth]

What about clear POR15 with a UV inhibitor?

 

[stringtowndude]

ive use miratic acid it took awhile for it to get to a deep rust and like 10 times of application . maybe I was doing it wrong??

 

[darwink1]

Im not looking for rust remover. Im planning to use phosphoric acid since it doesnt attack the steel itself like muratic acid. Muratic will eat away at the steel if left on while phosphoric just goes after the oxidation on the steel.

Not looking for straight up clear either.

A clear bed liner would be perfect but doesnt exist. This amershield stuff seems like the best option Ive found so far. Ill go snap some pics of the fence they used it on and post em up.

D

 

[Stroker McGurk]

How about this new trick that all the hot rodders are trying....Its called primer and paint. Apparently it holds up real well...........

 

[rainbow lungs]

Eastwood sells a clear for bare metal

Lungs

 

[darwink1]

How about this new trick that all the hot rodders are trying....Its called primer and paint. Apparently it holds up real well...........

How about.... Paint and primer? Could you please provide a more in depth explanation? Ive never heard of this method of protecting steel and am interested in learning more. Is this what the auto manufacturers use? I think theres some silver stuff on my dd that just might be paint? Should I provide some pictures of what Im talking about?

Thanks for the input, really helps with the original question.


Ill check out the eastwood clear lungs.

D

 

[smallfoot]

OSPHO(phosphoric acid), sold in ACE and other places...get the body looking the way you want, wire brush the loose stuff off, apply osho, Then WAX hades out of it. Have been a restorer/maker of knives for years. Some of the guys who like to keep blades looking "as found", opt for that method. It will turn the rust effected areas black. A powder forms on the surface and can be rubbed off. Phosphoric acid chemically reacts with iron oxide(rust) to form iron phosphate. Iron phosphate is the black areas and they are much harder than the rust preceding them.
I'm talking wax. Doesn't matter what brand you personally approve, just that it's done regularly. It protects it well, but will be a little shiny for a patinaed rod. But it will have the look of all the different shades of the original steel.
My AA project is nothing but rust. I'm doing the osho when it's time to halt the rust that's still going on. But my final project will be dark metal using some other tricks I've used in other knife making projects. It'll still be bare metal, chemically cleaned and treated with another product, then application of "heat" to turn the rest of the bare metal black again. And we're not talking enough heat to make panels warp, just enough for rapid vaporation of the moisture on the surface and a rapid oxidation process starts that you can visualize as it's happening. This allows you to somewhat regulate how dark you want it. When it's there, you remove the heat and let it cool....wax hades out of it....i'll wait till I see how it does on my ride before I give the product up...but I'll tell you this, it's cheap and eveywhere...

 

[darwink1]

Cool, let me know how it turns out.

My 40 will see use offroad, think mud, tree branches etc., so Im hoping to throw something on there that will resist scratches. I dont know how well wax would hold up in that environment..

D

 

[smallfoot]

Just getting in my driveway is an off road experience. I figured if you were going bare metal, scratches would be present already. I can wash mine at the house and by the time I get to the hard road it looks like it's been mistreated for a while. Maybe not the finish for you.

back step to primer and paint....Imron or epoxy...

 

[pistolpete]

Rust Check Rust Converter then a clear on top of that may work. I have used the rust converter on a ton of parts, and bare it has stood up to light use for a few years on misc things around the garage. I does do like the ospho, and turns the rust to a black/purple finish, but it supposedly chemically converts rust into an almost primer type finish ready for paint.

I haven;t cleared it before to speak to the specifics, but I've been debating doing my frame and suspension this way on the A.

 

[DJ3100]

No one mentioned this but, a friend has a bare metal bobber that he treats with W-40 periodically. It is the best bare metal finish patina I have seen and has stayed the same without rusting for years.

 

[Neto]

Im not looking for rust remover. Im planning to use phosphoric acid since it doesnt attack the steel itself like muratic acid. Muratic will eat away at the steel if left on while phosphoric just goes after the oxidation on the steel.
D

From my experience working in a plating shop years ago, I don't think that muriatic acid really eats into the steel, although I could be wrong. We didn't use phosphoric acid very much, because it is too slow for that type of operation. Muriatic acid quickly cleans away the rust, but it will literally rust before your eyes after you take it out. We ran the parts first through a water rinse, then through another type of weak acid rinse (a combination at least two acids in mostly water), then the parts went immediately into the plating tank.

I used phosphoric acid in a set up I had at home, and I have some parts that have been 'bare steel' (except for the phosphoric acid residue) for well over 30 years, and they have not rusted. (But also not exposed to outside conditions.) But as I said, phosphoric acid is a lot slower. I sometimes had parts in the tank for a day or more before it got all of the deep rust. It also was not quite 100% full strength any more, because the drum it was in had rusted out on the top, and the liner was also broken. (I bought it from the shop where I was working at the time. They had had it stored in the back shed for many years.)