Stopping the rust!

Hello to all on the other side of the pond, I've bought my questions here because... its got to be said, you guys "American Rodders" seem to have a much better idea what your doing when it comes to stopping the rust than us in the uk

I work in a bodyshop in the uk and apprently etch primer is the best thing for stopping rust :rolleyes: from my research this is crap!

So far my search has unearthed (with no help from anyone at work) Epoxy primer (whats epoxy mastic?) Vactan... Por15 and Hydrate80, and etch primer is an adhesion promoter only

ok so I've got my 88 Ford Capri that at the moment is in bare metal, question is whats the dogs big swetty bollox for stopping the rust, I dont care about the cost of paint, because I'm not spending all this time just to see it rust again a year down the line

I was under the impression, get rid of the rust, 2k epoxy on the bare metal, fill over the top then another 2 coats of epoxy over that, level it off with 240-320 w/e then highbuild on top for the base. It would now apear I can get even more protection by applying Vactan to the whole lott before the epoxy, converting/ensuring my pitting is all good metal (I've gone nuts at it with a wire brush, but theres odv pitting left, in areas I really really dont want to weld!) and the vactan will also protect against rust as well as convert.

Also a qwickie... would you apply seam sealer over epoxy or etch then seal then epoxy over, I was thinking thinn the epoxy rite down so its piss thin and get it to penatrate the seem, then sand it off and etch then seal then epoxy... how would you lot do it?

So question is do I vactan all over converting the very small areas of tiny bits of rust left (where I cant get) and ensuring all the small areas of pitting is converted (and apprently being protected its not just a converter? or do I f'it and just epoxy the whole lott?

So what do I do, lets have some smashing adivse

Thanks for reading!

If you put a good epoxy based primer on bare metal, you can submerge the car in a lake and pull it a year from now and it will not be rusty. But you must get any area that is bare covered in the epoxy . I have been using PPG 50dp and 40 dp hardener for years and have never had a rust problem. The other nice thing about using epoxy based primer is that body work can be done over it with a light scratching with some 80 grit paper for better bond.

I don't know what kind of epoxy primers you have on that side of the pond, but most available here are pretty good. I have heard some complaints about the PPG being a problem - lacquer thinner evidently will soften and raise it. I've used DuPont which gets hard as nails as well as a smaller company's product, SPI. Neither are affected by reducers after cure. The SPI can be easily sanded (280-320, and even to 600 if you choose) and used as the final primer without any 2K urethane. There is one thing with any paint system - if there is any rust, it will continue to oxidize - that stuff never sleeps. Some folks have used converters, but everything I've seen including my own use, it will just slow the 'cancer' down. POR-15, love it or hate it - some say it works fine, I've mixed results.

You don't need nor want any etch primer. That's old school and seldom used since 'wonder' primers (epoxy, urethane) have come available. Scuff the metal to bright with 80 down to 320 for a good tooth, then epoxy away.

Body filler, seam sealer, final paint or whatever - goes right over the epoxy.