Having a hard time finding the asnwer for this question searching around. Any particular product (hopefully one I can pick up at an auto parts store or hardware store) that would be good for getting my part clean (grease remover basically) but won't strip the paint that is already on my LCAs. I didn't take them down to bare metal on the whole thing, just removed rust scale and scuffed up the OEM paint. I guess some of the products out there could actually strip the paint that is already on there and there's no need to do that since I'm just going to hit the bare spots with rust reformer and then do a few coats of enamel on top of that. I'm totally new to rattle canning stuff so just trying to make sure I'm doing it right and will get a coat that will last decently well on the LCAs. Also on another note, since I'm putting whiteline poly bushings in these, how many coats do I want to put on the inside of the bushing sleeve. I assume there's a point where it's too much and I just make it harder to get the bushings in but I also want to make sure there's enough to keep them from seizing up in there in case I ever have to replace them.

Using a parts cleaner (The 1 u find in an auto shop where u can soak and scrub the parts clean) would be a good way to clean the parts and then hit them with a die grinder with a sanding disc on the rusted spots to get said off, other wise ur local shelf car wash and them hit them with a can of parts cleaner.

Any paint u buy a home depot, auto stores, etc doesn't stop rust from continuing to grow/spread under what u painted it with. U have to use an epoxy primer to spray ur parts (with a real auto body paint gun) which will create an air tight seal around the raw metal and stop rust growth. With that said I have/do use rustoleum brush on paint u find at lowes/home-depot, etc after welding on armor and modding the LCAs/UCAs and they have been fine (the rate of rust growth where u and I R in very slow compared to out east). If u use te rustoleum on the inside of where the bushing go u'll just push it all out as u press them in.

I got the grime off and already knocked off the actual rust scale (I'm using rust reformer so I shouldn't need to get all those spots to completely bare metal). I'm talking about the final step of degreasing the surface completely. I'm not sure that's the case with the bushing sleeve. For one there was definitely paint in there between the sleeve and the OEM bushings and I've seen others painting those surfaces. Also the whitelines aren't an interference fit from one end of the sleeve to the other like the OEMs, they have a taper partway down.

Just to be clear too, I'm not dealing with a buttload of midwest rust on these arms either. Just some surface pitting mostly sans a little bit of scale that was on the sway bar mount which I already knocked off.

Go to a local auto body paint supplier and get the de-greaser used to wipe down parts before paint.

The whitelines replace the inner (outer sleeve around the bushing) metal sleeve along with the bushing. The point I was making is if u use a thick paint on Rustoleum, said well get pushed out as u press them into the CA, unlike the thinner paint u would spray to cover said or that was used originally when the CA was made and paint at the factory. Any spray can paint will not stop rust from forming between the CA and the new whiteline outer casting if ur trying to prevent said U need to use a two part part epoxy paint (paint and it's catalyst) to seal off air and stop rust formation.

Okay I think I get you now, that makes more sense. With the degreasers the reason I asked is I was looking those up and at least one review mentioned that it will strip existing paint. Just more than anything want to make sure I get a product that won't do that.

I used POR15 for mine. Now three years later they still look great, though not nearly as shiny as when I first painted them.

Well I got some diplicolor degreaseer that specifically stated could be used on already painted surface. That seemed to go just fine.

Unfortunately it looks like Rust Reformer was the exact wrong product for this job. Not only is it not a primer but as far as I can tell doing a search it does NOT stick to anything but rusty surfaces (it's supposed to be for really really rusty metal which is not what I was dealing with). Going to call Rust Oleum tomorrow to confirm but I guess I get to strip it off >< I did say this would be a good project to learn to paint and I guess it has been that so far.

Yup called Rustoleum and I used the wrong product. Rust Reformer won't stick to anything but actual rust. The guy said I should be able to strip it off the control arms easily with the wire cup so I get to take that stuff off today and buy the rust metal primer (or maybe just the regular primer since all the rust was probably already converted). Learning, yay!

Those are not even rusty to begin with...:-) Do you like the sheen that POR 15/ KBS seal gloss can do..:-)

Any photos of what these parts look like? I like to see what level of rust you are working with..

Oh I know they weren't rusty, we're blessed out here in CA . The nice thing about POR15 is that it sticks like glue to anything - rust, bare metal, previously painted surface.

The shine was actually a bit too much in my opinion, but it dulls pretty quickly.

Fairly minor surface rust, nothing on your level of hell lol.



Went back to the store and just grabbed some regular rustoleum gray primer. Should be better stuff to use.