Rust solutions, POR15 vs Eastwood

[Mless5]

I picked up another e28 and it has some minor surface rust spots. I am going to clean, sand, clean, sand, clean... and protect. Does anyone have expirience with both companies? Which one would be better. What is recommended precedure? There are so many cans out there, what should I get to do the job right? Most of the spots will be affacted by road chemicals during New England's winter.

http://www.por15.com/

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?item ... itemID=372

Thanks for your input.

[BKCowGod3]

Por15 is traditionally regarded to be the best brand, but Eastwood is also known for having quality products at good prices. Personally, I'd stick with Por because it's a known quantity, but my opinions are based completely on reputation. I've never used either myself.

[John in VA]

I used some black Eastwood Rust Encapsulator - not impressed.
The 2002 crowd is very pleased with the POR product line.

[Mark 88/M5 Houston]

I've had good luck with Ospho in the past.

http://www.ospho.com/

[dcbrewmeister]

POR 15 is "considered" the best, but don't waste your time if you are not able to follow the instructions practically to the letter, temp, humidity, prep to metal and such... but that's the same with all of them. If it's too cold, forget it, wait until spring... If you choose not to follow the instructions, you might as well save a ton of money and buy spray primer because you will wind up with the same results.

I had a small 4 x 4 sheet that I tried it and 7 others on (rustolium, the stuff from eastwood and others) and threw it out in the yard. Followed the instructions for POR on one part, and threw caution to the wind on another section (because I had heard POR was such a pain). 3 months sitting in the sun and rain the only one that really showed any resistance at all was the POR. The "quickie" section of POR didn't hold much better than the others.

When I recover the files from my laptop, I'll get the pictures. The key to POR is prep... Spend time on the prep and it will work, get in a hurry and get sloppy, and you just wasted your money.

[Velocewest]

An interesting test, but not very real-world unless you intend to strip your car to bare metal, paint it with one of these products and then leave it outside all the time.

POR-15 recommends top coating because it is UV sensitive. Eastwood claims their product is UV resistant. POR-15 does recommend more prep than Eastwood; Eastwood just tells you to use acetone or similar to remove grease, where POR-15 suggests using their Metal prep as a primer. I've used the Eastwood product on several cars, and have been happy with the results. Generally it has been topcoated unless it was on the underside or inside, but I did use the black to cover some rust spots on the outside of my crusty black e21, and I didn't notice it fading over the year it was on there. I have not used POR-15, so I'm not dissing it, just have no experience.

[dcbrewmeister]

[QUOTE="Velocewest"]An interesting test, but not very real-world unless you intend to strip your car to bare metal, paint it with one of these products and then leave it outside all the time.

POR-15 recommends top coating because it is UV sensitive. Eastwood claims their product is UV resistant. POR-15 does recommend more prep than Eastwood; Eastwood just tells you to use acetone or similar to remove grease, where POR-15 suggests using their Metal prep as a primer. I've used the Eastwood product on several cars, and have been happy with the results. Generally it has been topcoated unless it was on the underside or inside, but I did use the black to cover some rust spots on the outside of my crusty black e21, and I didn't notice it fading over the year it was on there. I have not used POR-15, so I'm not dissing it, just have no experience.[/QUOTE]

Yup, "optimal" for POR is bare metal and then using their primer and cleaner... The idea behind POR is much the same a "Rino-lining" your truck bed, only for POR to REALLY bite, it should be bare metal... No it's not real practical and you wouldn't do your whole car this way... But for floor boards and trunk area it makes it almost like an armor shield, much the same way as Rino-lining.

POR... tuff as nails when done the way "they" recomend, but a pain in the ass...

[SW]

I ve used both and have to vote for POR. I have, in general, been disappointed with Eastwood stuff and I think I did everything right. POR, I definately did right and have been impressed with it right from the get go.

[TimGinCentralNJ]

I've had excellent results using POR-15 for both the floorboards on my '89 Wrangler, as well as under/inside the doors on a couple past E28's. Highly recommend.

HTH,
Tim G.
'01 740i Sport
52k

[Tim in N FL]

You might also consider Wurth Rust Guard. The application process takes two stage process...Wurth Metal Prep (blue liquid) followed by application of the Rust-Guard. I used this to good effect on my former 1990 Acura Integra RS that was eaten up with the tinworm in several places (rear hatch, doors, hood)...

I've never used POR-15 but have heard nothing but good things about it over the years.

Best,
Tim

You also can order these products from the fine folks at http://www.carcareonline.com in Upper Saddle River, NJ. I have NO affiliation with them other than being a satisfied customer many times over...



[Edit by Tim in N FL on [TIME]1132695411[/TIME]]

[BayMW_John]

I've used POR-15 in my trunk. I disagree that "optimal is bare metal". My recollection is that they advice you to get rid of loose scale, but that the oxidized metal was almost a preferred substrate for the stuff. I think they go so far as to tell you NOT to scrape off the rust.

Don't get any on your hands.

I bought the full system - the marine clean and prep - and thought it was pretty easy. Granted, I also did this in the fall in the desert of SoCal, so humidity was not an issue.

From what I can tell, several years later it's held up perfectly. I did only have some "surface" rust - nothing too severe, just the by product of a previous owner's issue with a leaking trunk somewhere.

The fact that the 2002 community swears by it should speak volumes.