I have not been able to find a definitive answer as to the best way to protect bare, raw metal. Sure, clearcoat powdercoating or spray paint could work, but it cant protect wear surfaces without chipping very well. I decided to test a few products under controlled circumstances:
Penetrol by Flood (This is a bit of a cheat since it is a topcoat, but is less prone to chipping). Flood can be painted over, but you would probably have better results by removing it first.
Gibbs Brand Lubricant - Some swear by it. I have seen people who have had great luck protecting unpainted metal with this, if applied every couple weeks. This product can be painted over directly.
And good old WD-40 - Not much explaining to do here, it's WD-40. It works great to protect bare metal, but leaves an oily residue which tends to collect dirt. Cannot be painted over.
To test these products, I applied each product to sections of steel stock and sections of a part off my bike. I first wire-wheeled, cleaned, prepped, and applied each surface according the each product's directions. I also put a heavy scratch straight down the middle of each piece to show the product's ability to withstand surface damage.
Here is the UNTREATED sections of steel after being left on my lawn/dirt for two weeks. After the first week without seeing any rust, I sprinked salt water on the steel. In all the below videos, be aware that the heaviest rust spots are where the salt water landed (winter road salt, anybody?)
And now the TREATED areas
Flood - This section had the least rust overall, though rust readily formed in the scratch since Flood doesn't really absorb into the metal.
Gibbs - More surface rust and the salt spots really ate through. The scratch though is rust free (outside of the salt spots), showing that Gibbs absorbs well into the metal.
WD-40 - Protected against the rust and salt better than Gibbs, though the scratch showed more rust than Gibbs.
So my plan is to clean everything up real well, treat it with Gibbs, then treat it with Flood. The Flood will be the main line of protection, and the Gibbs will protect the nicks and scratches that happen after-the-fact. I'll let you know how that turns out. Hope this helps!
Penetrol by Flood (This is a bit of a cheat since it is a topcoat, but is less prone to chipping). Flood can be painted over, but you would probably have better results by removing it first.
Gibbs Brand Lubricant - Some swear by it. I have seen people who have had great luck protecting unpainted metal with this, if applied every couple weeks. This product can be painted over directly.
And good old WD-40 - Not much explaining to do here, it's WD-40. It works great to protect bare metal, but leaves an oily residue which tends to collect dirt. Cannot be painted over.
To test these products, I applied each product to sections of steel stock and sections of a part off my bike. I first wire-wheeled, cleaned, prepped, and applied each surface according the each product's directions. I also put a heavy scratch straight down the middle of each piece to show the product's ability to withstand surface damage.
Here is the UNTREATED sections of steel after being left on my lawn/dirt for two weeks. After the first week without seeing any rust, I sprinked salt water on the steel. In all the below videos, be aware that the heaviest rust spots are where the salt water landed (winter road salt, anybody?)
And now the TREATED areas
Flood - This section had the least rust overall, though rust readily formed in the scratch since Flood doesn't really absorb into the metal.
Gibbs - More surface rust and the salt spots really ate through. The scratch though is rust free (outside of the salt spots), showing that Gibbs absorbs well into the metal.
WD-40 - Protected against the rust and salt better than Gibbs, though the scratch showed more rust than Gibbs.
So my plan is to clean everything up real well, treat it with Gibbs, then treat it with Flood. The Flood will be the main line of protection, and the Gibbs will protect the nicks and scratches that happen after-the-fact. I'll let you know how that turns out. Hope this helps!
