Rustoleum with or without Vactan ?

[ghost123uk]

Now I have my tin of Rustoleum Pastel white L90D, as soon as it is a bit warmer and drier, I will be attacking a few minor areas, mostly in the engine bay and the interior. There is no bad rot really, mostly just areas with a bit of surface rust. I will be wet and dry rubbing down, allowing it to dry, then painting.

My question is related to the "anti rust" properties of the Rustoleum.

Might it be advisable to give the areas to be painted a thin coat of Vactan first, or is the anti rust properties of Rustolem sufficient on it's own?

[themagician]

I used Vactan first and then Rustoleum. I will be touching up areas also when the days get warmer / longer. I'm going to use the same combination. I don't know what the official verdict is however. My thinking is the more the better!

[CovKid]

Agree.

[what2do]

I can confirm that Rustoleum alone won't hold back the rust. Last summer, I cleaned and applied 3 coats of Rustoleum to my rear arches (underneath), areas behind the rear lights, and others. There wasn't anything more significant than minor spots of surface rust, however, it is starting to come through again. As mentioned in another thread about what colour arches are, I stated that I wanted mine white so they would show WHEN the rust returned, I didn't expect it to be this soon though. In future, I'll be liberally applying Vactan first.

Hope that helps.

[CovKid]

Most folk who roller their vans spot everything with vactan months ahead of rollering as it acts like a sealant too. Rustoleum isn't a rust converter. Its a rust inhibitor but only effective on clean steel. Vactan it first or remove all traces of rust (not as easy as it sounds) and Rustoleum should do its job. Its important not to view it as the equivalent of Hammerite

[ghost123uk]

Cheers folks, a good clean up, a light coat of Vactan, then the Rustoleum it is then

In future, I'll be liberally applying Vactan first.

I did a bit of research on this, before actually posting, and one thing I did learn is that it is better to apply Vactan very thinly for best results. Apparently 40 micron thickness is the ideal. Not sure how you measure 40 microns, but I know it's pretty thin!

[what2do]

Cheers folks, a good clean up, a light coat of Vactan, then the Rustoleum it is then

In future, I'll be liberally applying Vactan first.

I did a bit of research on this, before actually posting, and one thing I did learn is that it is better to apply Vactan very thinly for best results. Apparently 40 micron thickness is the ideal. Not sure how you measure 40 microns, but I know it's pretty thin!

Cheers john, by liberally, I meant that be using on everything and anything that is suspected of being rust. Planning on doing the engine bay and entire floor pan in white, with luck the Vactan and 3 coats of white rustoleum will keep it shiny shiny for some time. Problem is, sooooo much underseal to remove beforehand

[BOXY]

I'll be liberally applying Vactan first.

We've just started a job de-rusting some steel pipe supports in the dockyard. Two of the guys who work for us managed to use a 5 ltr container of vactan "touching up" the rust spots a 100m long piece of 60x60x6 channel! When I went to look at what they'd done they'd used it like an undercoat and painted the whole bloody thing.