Cali Raised rock slider rust

Noticed a little rust starting on my rock sliders. I want to address it before it becomes too bad. They are powder coated. Any thoughts on how I should go about this?

thank you

 

This matches the powder coating very well on my RCI sliders.

 

My buddy's rci sliders....paint started to come off immediately where dirt kicks up. We were thinking of taking them off to put bed liner on the bottom where this is happening. Otherwise as suggested people just spray paint black.

 

I've been meaning to do this to my "Predator" steps for a few months now. They always look oxidized and generally look like shit. Especially after I run my SloRunner through the local car wash (which is a lot).

I don't want to take them off to do it, so I think I'll mask up the area and hit it with 2 - 3 coats of this stuff. I may even splurge and go with a rhino liner to give them a nice textured look. Maybe they'll look newer-nicer for a bit longer.

 

This is why I keep my mudflaps on the the front. Makes a big difference. I'll tolerate a little rubbing in the wheel wells.

 

I just mask everything I don't want painted. I only touch up though. If I were to do the whole thing, I would probably remove them and apply multiple coats. This stuff provides a pretty tough coating. I was surprised.

 

We removed them to fit 33's on his 2nd gen and did a BMC so we then barely had to cut into the bumper at all to get full articulation with the steering wheel turned all the way.

 

Hey thank you so much.

 

The spot treatments suggested are good, but depending on how badly the powder coat was applied, it may be for nothing, especially if you live in the salt-belt.

I bought mine in 2021, and the rust was so bad by last summer that I took them off, and stripped them completely to bare metal. The rust just crawled behind the powdercoat and deeply rusted most of the metal all the way around. Sandblasting was too expensive, so I used a combination of flap discs and wire wheels on a grinder to strip them. A lot of the powder coat came off easily in strips because the rust crawled behind it, but the portions with good adhesion was a pain. And the areas that were rusted were so deeply rusted into the steel that it took some careful work to get it down to solid metal. Lots and lots of messy work. It came out nice, but let me tell you the amount of work was insane.



If you off-road a lot of miles, the gravel bouncing off the sliders will pinhole the coating and eventually compromise any powdercoat or paint you decide to use. Water gets in through the pinholes, and rust takes hold after one winter.

Thats why I decided to keep the paint simple. Regular rustoleum primer and spray paint. The idea being that a thin coat of regular paint is much easier to sand and recoat for spot touchups or a full repaint. A thin coat will be less likely to stay attached if a pinhole causes rusting. A thick/hard coat will stay attached and wick moisture behind it causing deep rust.

 

I found a rust treatment process years ago when I owned sailboats. 24/7 exposure to ocean water was hard on all the steel & iron components of inboard engines. The marine stores sell a rust lock liquid that chemically reacts with rust to turn it into a grey material that stops the regrowth of the rust and paints well.
I wire brush the rust (scrape & chip if deep), brush on the rust lock liberally (does not affect powder coat). Let it work overnight. Next day I nylon brush with water same areas. Let dry well. Then I brush on Rustoleum oil base paint For my OEM rock rails flat black matches well, brushing applies a thick coat where needed most, on welds and in corners.

 

Nice work!