I have recently purchased a bunch of frame parts. the previous owner said they wire wheeled and primed some parts with eastwood etching primer (grayish color) and other parts with eastwood rust encapsulator
(the red stuff). My question is:
The primers seem tough, they seen hard. I cant scratch them very well and theres no chipping or flaking. Do you think if the primer was going to fail it would have already done so? (meaning the primers not adhering to the metal) I want to top coat them with eastwood chassis black but dont want the paint flaking in 3 years?

 

Hi C,
I think to be absolutely sure you need to re-do them.
Only then can you be sure of what you have.
Re-doing them later will be a LOT more work than prepping them now!
I see many parts at Carlisle that have been quickly primed to make the easier to sell.
Regards,
Alan

 

Thanks Alan.
I know the guy i bought them from and trust he did them right.
I guess my question is more along the lines of should the primer have already failed if its gonna fail?

 

Really no way to tell until it fails. I agree with Alan. If you think the parts were prep right then your good. If not, it might fail right away or a year from now.

 

If the parts were prepped properly and coated properly and not exposed to any elements, why would they rust? Personally, I don't like the rust encapsulator. Better to remove ALL rust elements and use a good etching primer. You'd be way better off financially using something like the Crossfire (NAPA) etching primer than eastwood. The thing about etching primer is you need to topcoat it within a certain amount of time after spraying to get the proper adhesion. At least that's what MOST products say (haven't read Eastwood can cause it is usually the most expensive product).

The reason for it is: Self-Etching primer has a product in it that literally etches the metal 9to a small degree) and thereby has a stronger bond, and also is a MUCH better rust inhibitor than standard primer. I've used it for 25 years since it first came out and parts below just don't rust even if left outside for years. In addition, it is also heat resistant. To get the best topcoat adhesion you want to spray it within a certain window (hours) so that the topcoat will 'melt' into the still-gummy self-etching primer. That gives you a chemical bond between the two products. The labels indicate that if you wait beyond a certain time-frame you need to scuff the parts for adhesion. This then becomes a 'Mechanical' adhesion and mechanical adhesion is NEVER as good as a chemical adhesion. (Picture the cheap repainted cars where the paint flakes off the hood).

I've painted lots of parts that were primed long before repainting and the paint is going to stick just fine. But if you want the best adhesion, you'd want to do as indicated above.

Secondly, if you want a superior paint on your frame, consider spraying a Urethane black single-stage paint (something not too expensive like Crossfire or Nason) with hardener (the activator) and a flattening agent added (to get you the 'right' semi-gloss look. This route will probably cost about the same as the Eastwood product but be a superior lasting product. Urethane has a lot greater chip resistance. You add the amount of flattening agent to achieve the flatness you desire. This is the weapon of choice for me and a lot of pro restorers I've known. Just a thought.