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I was wondering how much cleaner degreaser and paint i should get for my beetle. Planning on doing the whole pan and suspension



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While I am aware of POR 15 I have not used it so I did an on-line search using this line: "is por15 any good"

Got some interesting replies. Do some research but do not rely on one finding as you will want to find out if there is a common thread between yes or no.

Lee

I've used POR15 a lot.

It's very good on older metal that has rusted and been cleaned up as the paint has something to key into.

It's not so good on clean smooth metal. It will stick but if the film is damaged it peels off in strips.

It's not UV stable so it will gradually lose it's gloss and form a misty white film if exposed to sunlight long term but it's fine for suspension and chassis parts. If it's going to be permanently exposed it needs overcoating with a suitable top coat.

You need to apply it exactly as the instructions in very thin coats. As it cures it releases a gas and if the paint is too thick the gas forms bubbles in the paint. You need 3 or 3 coats each applied before the previous coat has fully cured. The instructions explain very clearly how to tell when the next coat is due.

Once it's cured it's a very hard finish.

The word "cleaned" is the operating word here. I haven't use this product but the key to all of the coatings is wire brushing (rotary preferred in my opinion) getting any loose materials out of play. I usually try for shining material if and when possible. Don't forget your wrap-a-round safety glasses either.

Abrasive Media Blasting is aces for "clean" from loose materials... once cleaned with media"washing" the metal free of all dust is the next hurdle, which isn't as easy as one might think either. You cannot wipe a blasted surface once it has a texture, without leaving behind something unless you can find "The perfect rag". A pressure washing with a Metal prep and conversion coating is best if you can find a way to do it or have it done. Washing with water is no good as rust can form so fast you can watch it happen under the wrong conditions. Something as large as a VW Pan, I light do a little research and see about finding a good Powder coater to do all of the above and coat it with a Chemical resistant powder as well. And LIKE POR, chemical resistant powders are usually Epoxy based and don't like the UV exposure. You can generally paint over powder with most of the newer types of water based paints to coat with something that won't chalk up with exposure, or as stated above, use only UNDER the vehicle to avoid the UV exposure. I kind of like undercoatings but really don't know if there are any that won't eat powder coating or cause some other undesirable outcome.