The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk I wanna paint my leaf springs

I completely dissassembled my leaf springs and wire wheeled all the rust away. I'm thinking of painting all the leafs gloss black before reassembly. Would it be a mistake? I'm looking at rustoleum paint.

I tried a similar technique when I began doing my resto a few years back. The Rustoleum seems to have stuck pretty well for the most part. We wire wheeled then sanded with 80 grit before the painting. It doesn't get the rust out of any pits though and it won't stick for doodoo to anything like road tar residue that may have accumulated.
For the price per qt of SPI epoxy primer I don't mess with anything else now. That said IT didn't stick to the road tar residue any better than the rustoleum did. They both blew off in sheets with air pressure alone. The lesson I learned was there is no substitute for blasting that crap into smithereens.

Then I'd brush on a couple coats of straight Black SPI epoxy and forget about it. Gloss finish and all.

They are going to show rust no matter what you put on them. Each leaf rubs the paint off the one above exposing raw steel. No paint will hold up to this, so use what ever you have and expect to touch them up every so often if you don't like rust showing. Grease doesn't work any better, it to wears away and rusty stains show back up. I am using a poly liner between each leaf, so far so good (6 + years). The ride is better, the noise is less. and no rust stains.

Joe

What Joe said-

Or use Slip-paint. Its like a graphite paint, it'll help 'em slide too. You can buy it from any of the model T or A suppliers, or I think Tractor Supply might have it.

I used Calyx on the springs on my '54 3100. Covered the rusty spots. Adhered to or mixed with the greasy places. Used a tooth brush to brush it into the spaces between the leaves. The truck is fully assembled / not in pieces. Disclaimer - the truck is a fair weather sissy. Maybe 500 - 1,000 miles a year.

I cleaned and painted mine with KBS. They look good, but I haven't had it on the road as yet. I'll let you know the outcome.