I've Googled and read forum posts until my head has spun, and I still don't feel like I have a very good understanding of paint...nevermind all the contradicting advice from people with strong convictions

 

My situation: I painted my gas tank with Eastwood's Extreme Chassis Black, and had some bad experiences with it (lifting, poor durability) that necessitate repainting the tank.  I'm also re-doing the interior and have some surface rust on the floor pans and rear deck that I want to address.

 

I'm hoping there's a paint out there that'll work well enough for those applications, be reasonably priced, and be fairly easy both to spray (for the tank) and brush on (floors).

 

I was considering SEM Rust-Shield for the job, but their tech people said that it'll chalk and fade, won't attest to any kind of solvent or fuel resistance, and say that even with the hardener, isn't usually painted over for several months.  My understanding is that those are characteristics of alkyd enamels, but I don't know if those are basic CYA-type warnings for people using the paints for extreme or off-label uses or if I should be using a moisture-cured urethane like POR15, or something else entirely.

 

I'm in Southern California, so the weather is good almost all year round.  I'm not terribly concerned with rust and the car (for now, at least) is usually garaged.  Other than hot summers, there's no exposure to extreme conditions.

 

Any suggestions?

POR 15.  Follow the directions to the letter and you won't have to do it over ever again.

I've used POR-15 and Chassis Saver on several projects with outstanding results, and I can say that both products appear, smell, apply and perform nearly identically. Chassis Saver is marginally cheaper in my market.

Prep is the secret. You cannot skimp on prep, degrease and cleanliness and application directions. Follow directions as mentioned. Did I say clean?

I also have had good results with the POR15 products on my Datsun roadster project. The alkyd enamel paint has to be roughed up for the POR 15 to bind properly to the surface. It works best on rusted areas but does a great job on areas with the factory enamel paint as long as it is roughed up a bit with heavy grit sandpaper. CLEANING, as stated above is the key. I used the POR 15 system-cleaner, etcher, and paint with good results. Just started dismantling a 78 280Z for resurrection, but I do not think there is enough POR 15 available to cure all the rust on this project. They do recommend topcoating the POR 15 to keep a permanent color to the finish if that would be important to you on the gas tank. Good luck with your project, John-Lugoff, SC

Thanks all for your suggestions.  MasterSeries has a product line that, as far as I can tell, is the same basic stuff as POR15 (another moisture cured urethane) and has a kit that includes a satin black top coat all for $70.  I think that's where I'm gonna go.

 

For a while, I did consider going with a primer and single stage paint, if for no other reason than to get a taste of what I might be getting in to whenever I can get to bodywork and paint, but ultimately thought better of it.

I just visited the MasterSeries web site. I like what I saw and believe is well worth the monies. Another product I have seriously looked at is KBS products. I have used their "Nu-metal putty" to repair rust holes in like in the metal scoops with great success vs spotty welding holes up. Stuff sets up as hard as metal!