As it for any paint/coating work, surface prep is the most important thing.

Wipe the whole thing down with acetone. Let it dry, it takes 5 minutes.

Get a propane torch, heat the metal up to 150 degrees. It is porous, it absorbs water and oil. You can actually see the moisture on the surface pushed by the heat. If you see smoke, keep cook it over till the smoke it gone. Oil is not your friend.

Spray while it's hot, but below 150F. Make sure the first coat is thin, thin, thin, it doesn't need to cover 100% of the surface.

Check the manual for whatever the material you use for the time required in between re-application.

Do it in the shade, not directly under the sun.

I used the POR15 Super Started Kit, not called their Stop Rust Kit which has degreaser and metal prep solutions included. My SSO slides came with a little bit of oil coating them as a rust preventative as part of the manufacturing process. The degreaser took care of that and the prep solution was basically a metal etching solution to give the final coating good adhesion. I then did coating of Rust-Oleum automotive clearcoat enamel over them as a final step which made them a little glossy but also gives them some UV protection.

Great thread. I recently order SSO sliders and this was very helpful. I am going the POR15 route. On SSO's site they recommend using this - Internal Frame Coating Aerosol Black 14oz Has anyone coated the inside of there sliders?

Thought I should give a quick followup on this thread...

It has been 2.5 years since I did this treatment to the sliders and they still look as good now as they did when I was done. I have taken them over some rocks and while I thought I would get some deep wearing of the metal on the underside, I only ended up with some scratches to the finish. The top side of the sliders still look perfect with zero rust anywhere.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

3 years on my All-Pro's with Rustoleum primer and paint......no adhesion issues and easy touch-up when an Accord hit me and bounced off!

gonna do a quick revival on this thread and ask, how much por-15 are you guys using to cover your sliders and skids? im about to do mine and dont know whether i should buy the quarts or spring for the full gallon.

I used a quart for two sliders and it was plenty.

I bought the 6-pack of 4 oz cans from Amazon. I opted for the smaller cans, so I didn't have to worry about not properly sealing a larger can. Two 4 oz cans were plenty to coat my RSG sliders with two generous coats. I used Herculiner along the top of the sliders and tread plate. I used disposable foam brushes from Home Depot to apply the coatings. Whatever you use to apply the POR15, plan on throwing it away afterward. For prep, I washed the sliders with blue Dawn dish soap, let them dry, scuffed the dry metal with a green Scotch-Brite pad, and then washed them again with Dawn.

I mostly use my 4R for family/daily duty, but I drive dirt/gravel roads weekly, and the coatings have held up great. They're pretty dirty in the pic below, but you get the idea.

This guy has the right idea. Anything I have ever had that was powder coated ended up getting touched up with black rustoleum anyway after some time.