Red Layer?

[adsm08]

OK, this might be a question best directed at the farming types, but I'll take anybody's input here.

Two years ago I painted the truck, it was admittedly a quick and dirty el-cheapo job. I used Valspar Tractor paint because it was cheap and I was more interested in getting the truck the color I wanted than doing a permanent paint job.


Over the last two years I have had to strip back sections of the paint for various reasons, like making repairs to the metal, or fixing poor adhesion, assuming from improper surface prep. I keep finding this rust-red substance under the paint, usually between the metal and primer. It is the right color for rust, but I am thinking it isn't actually rust for a few reasons...

1) It is a very uniform coat, but it doesn't cover the whole truck.

2) I am finding it in areas where there was no rust before I painted, and not finding it in some areas that I had to treat.

3) It doesn't react to any of the various rust converters I have. If I use the phosphoric or tannic acids it doesn't turn black. If I use evaporust or similar is doesn't bubble, and if I use naval jelly (not the same as naval jam) it doesn't stink or turn colors (every other time I used it on known rust it started making funny smells and turned a yellow/pinkinsh color).

My most recent encounter with this stuff is stripping the roof again because it was bubbled and peeling. What I am finding is that the spots that bubbled were over areas that had been badly (not deep, just a large contiguous area) rusted but there is no fresh orange rust, just the black converted iron phosphate. I will admit I forgot to re-sand the roof after the converter was used, which is probably why the paint didn't stick.



Anyway, enough rambling. Does anyone know what this red layer is? Does the Valspar T&I primer turn red after it is applied and painted under?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I have never seen anything like that.

I like white primer, it makes A-C Orange pop a little brighter and is easier to cover than a darker color. Most of my stuff is A-C so I pretty much just use the white.

 

[Curious Hound]

Almost sounds like "red lead" primer. But I'm no paint expert even though I work in a huge automotive paint shop.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[adsm08]

I dunno. I just hope this stuff I used tonight for my base-coat holds better on the roof. Its a new (to me anyway) product from Dupli-color. It is supposed to be able to go onto bare metal, or go down over an already rusted surface and seal it in, kinda like POR15, it goes down like paint, but is supposed to be rubberized, kinda like undercoat, can be sanded, or painted over.

My plan is to let it dry until Friday evening, which is the next break in the weather, and then put a few coats of their Chassis and Suspension epoxy paint over it. Hopefully this holds up until I can get the money to get it painted professionally.

I know a guy who has a paint booth in his barn and works for a body shop, but he is swamped and I have too many things to pay for this year.

 

[adsm08]

Almost sounds like "red lead" primer. But I'm no paint expert even though I work in a huge automotive paint shop.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

I have never heard of that before, but that may just be it, or something similar. This was oil based though, and wasn't supposed to have any lead in it.

I went and did a quick Google search for it and it brought back a bunch of stuff, with the common thread being rust inhibitors in the primer. Both the paint and primer I used had rust inhibitors in them, which is why they were chosen. I got the stuff originally because I had been told it was nice for using on chassis parts, and once I started spraying the frame I like how well it went on that I used it on the body too.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I've used glazing putty that was red. It could be under the primer but usually over.

 

[adsm08]

I've used glazing putty that was red. It could be under the primer but usually over.

I know it isn't a glazing putty because I sanded, stripped, and painted the truck myself and know I didn't use any putty.

 

[Curious Hound]

The heat created by friction with the air as you traveled off-road at hypersonic speeds through the hills of Pennsylvania all these years has changed the chemical composition of your primer.

 

[adsm08]

The heat created by friction with the air as you traveled off-road at hypersonic speeds through the hills of Pennsylvania all these years has changed the chemical composition of your primer.

That's good. This truck doesn't see hills anymore. Heck, it barely sees hills.

As disappointing as it after all the work I did to it, she rarely gets part 3rd gear anymore, because most of the driving is on roads going 35 or less.

And even with that I shift into 4th more often than I get the thermostat to open.