Rust Belt Sliders
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I like the idea of POR 15, but you'll need to top coat it.
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Top coat? I haven't top coated areas in the past with POR 15, but then again they have been very small areas. I thought the entire POR 15 process (as I recall from doing it once but not again) alleviated the need to prep with any other product?
Hmmm. For $1000 shipped? No, thanks! Even in the rust belt, pc should hold up better than that. Very surprising. I've had incredibly good luck with por-15, but yes- it needs a top coat. It will gray with uv light.
Yeah, the stuff is great, but anywhere it's exposed to sunlight it'll need to a top coat.
As 1407 said, the UV will eventually break it down.
Good luck.
I thought the bolt on plates for the steps was supposed to resolve some of that on the Slee sliders. I have the gen before that where the plates were welded on and the seams started rusting after 2 winters. At least you can unbolt yours (if the hardware isn't too rusted out) and either replace the steps or refinish them, I have to cut welds.
The sliders are good, it's their powder coater that sucks.
There's nothing wrong with Slee Sliders.
You guys out west have no idea what driving your truck in BRINE all winter long does to it.
I buy my stuff uncoated where possible and do something along these lines. Needs to be redone every 5-10 years depending... My ARB bumper and it's as delivered powder coat is due - this is year ten, but probably should have been done a few years ago.
You guys out west have no idea what driving your truck in BRINE all winter long does to it.
I buy my stuff uncoated where possible and do something along these lines. Needs to be redone every 5-10 years depending... My ARB bumper and it's as delivered powder coat is due - this is year ten, but probably should have been done a few years ago.
Good point. My 55 spent most of it's life in Cali with only surface rust issues.
After the 15 years it spent in the midwest, I've got this to deal with...
I spent 20 years in the rust belt. I'd still be p***** if my sliders looked like that on the top (bottom, yeah) after 3 years. As long as you wash the salt/ dirt off regularly you should get more life out of a pc job. Btw- I have Slee's Blueberry- I think the craftsmanship/design is impeccable. I'd definately buy from them again. I hope you find a good solution.
The other reality is any sharp point, corner or opening on an object subjected to winter brine will rust. It's just the nature of electron flow.
These sliders wouldn't look half as bad if the logo were not cut into them. I have some stuff on my vehicle that usually has a logo cut into them when ordered. When I ordered I asked to not have that part done for exactly this reason. The vendor accommodated no problem.
These sliders wouldn't look half as bad if the logo were not cut into them. I have some stuff on my vehicle that usually has a logo cut into them when ordered. When I ordered I asked to not have that part done for exactly this reason. The vendor accommodated no problem.
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The bolt on vs the weld one eliminated the issue with corrosion in the sharp valleys where the powder coating could not adhere. From pics, the environment that these are being used in is pretty corrosive. The zinc coating on the hardware that attaches the steps is also completely gone.
The textured powder coat that we use to make the step slip resistant does trap more contaminants. So regular cleaning and making sure corrosive material does not collect on them is important. The step plate is also prone to scratching that compromises the coating. The bottom of the sliders get sand blasted with road debri and I bet the bottom of that looks a lot worse. Once can normally see it on the vehicle as well. Look at the front frame and axle vs rear frame and axle on these trucks and the amount of corrosion is pretty obvious.
We have offered the step plates in stainless before, but that is pretty costly. We have also looked at zinc coating or galvanizing before the powder coat process, but that added so much cost to the product that it would be priced out of the market.
I went through this last year with mine too. You can't re-powder coat them properly because you can't get the rust sanded out from underneath them well enough. See my Featured100 thread starting on page 4 for much more detail on what I ended up doing.
Last year I was quoted $500 to galvanize my sliders and they wanted to drill holes in both ends of the tubes to help with the galvanizing process and drainage and they were worried that the finish wouldn't look as good compared to how nice they look powder coated. I would be curious to see how some turned out though.
SCrub off the rust. Use an acid/rust neutralizing prep spray. Wash that off. Use a rust encapsulator, then top coat. Then follow up with a wax undercoating type spray that can seal off those cracks. I live in SoCal and still have rusting problems with sliders because of the nightly sea spray from the ocean.
I can't speak for the top, except to say that your feet will scratch the finish off eventually. But the bottom will get beat to death if you use the sliders for what they're built to do. They're steel and meant to be smashed and scratched. That makes them susceptible to rust, regardless of where you live.