Preferred paint for new bare differential?

The Strange S-60 that I got from Dr. Diff earlier this year is still on the shipping pallet. Looking for suggestions on what paint to use on it, since I opted not to have the housing powder-coated. I did hit it liberally w/ an anti-corrosion spray after inspecting it when it arrived.

I've used VHT's epoxy chassis paint on my rollbar in the past, which seemed pretty durable, although it took a long time to dry. I'm open to that, or feel free to suggest other spray-can paints which you've used on chassis parts w/ good results.

Thanks. - Brad

Brad. I have had good luck with Rustoleum paint and primer. Your metal must be clean clean clean! Did I mention clean? I use Acrysol and wipe the metal down good. Then apply primer and let dry at least 24 hours. If it looks good then I hit it with the paint.

First I'd make sure all the anti corrosion stuff is completely off the axle or otherwise it will cause adhesion problems later on.

For right out the can, I think Eastwood chassis black is one of the better harder drying paints. I have had good luck with it and have never found anything better from a spray bomb. my

.... I used Chassis Saver before.. but it chips
off easy.. I wont use it again

Clean, clean, and clean again. Sand the surface to give it tooth with 180 grit.

Spray with a Quality epoxy primer ( like SPI) and you are done.

Epoxy can come in different colors including black.

Aerosol products are extremely light duty.

Being a rear end... most of what happens is they get
dirty... yes on the street rocks can fly up and hit it
but over all its just to protect it from rust.. you dont
need a high impact paint... I've painted them with everything
from base/clear to rustoleum and now I just use the rustoleum
out door black

Powder coat.....

I like an Etching primer as a base the just regular spray bomb in the color of your choice.

I been using Dupli-color spray cans for both. There cheep and easy.

I can respect that point of view. Being a body man I tend to over do it and go full nuclear to paint anything. lol

POR 15 works great. Adheres to rust, no problem. It's like putting a vinyl coating on the metal. It stops rust because it seals tight so oxygen can't get in to promote further rusting. It's the only thing that I paint my leaf springs with because it stays flexible forever. 10 years later and still looks good, don't get it on your hands, nothing takes it off. The only thing that breaks it down is UV light from the sun, under the car no problem.

POR 15 is a good product if used on seasoned metal like you said. A word of caution though. It will not adhere well to fresh clean steel.

This!

1st choice Powdercoat.

2nd choice spray paint made by Kimball Midwest. Some of the best out there!

I'm not really a paint guy. I have done power coating, two part epoxy, urethanes, hardened enamels, and for a lot of stuff like this I still use Rustoleum. I prefer the brush stuff and I think it is more durable and levels real nice.

I too like Rustoleum. And clean very well first as mentioned. The red "rust stop" spray bomb primer works well on clean or rusty steel. On all clean steel the etching primer. Then semi gloss or satin (semi flat) finish.

Like most Rustoleum spray can products "re-coat within 2 hours or wait 48". What I like to do is put the primer on and let it set up for 1/2 hour to an hour then paint. If you can roll it out in the sun and wind after, it will dry pretty fast.

Powder tends to peel in large sheets / pieces.

POR 15 is hit and miss for adhesion as well

Your best bet is to use an oil based enamel (rustoleum, implement enamel etc.) and add hardener / catalist to it. Hard as rock!

Thanks for all the replies. I already have some of the products mentioned on hand (2 cans VHT chassis paint; 3 cans Eastwood Chassis Black; 2 cans surface prep cleaner), but need to check if they are still good, since I would have bought them back before I sold my 440 6BBL Road Runner.

FWIW, I took advantage of nice weather this weekend to do a thorough cleaning on the S-60, then applied two coats of Eastwood's Gloss Chassis Black spray-bomb paint. Since I've already removed & sold the 3rd member & axles from my 8.75", the S-60 needed to be ready to bolt in before the car can be rolled around again.

The Eastwood paint contains epoxy and looks similar to the VHT paint I used on my rollbar. The instructions say it's compatible with either bare or primered metal. I chose to pass on the primer stage and did two rounds of pre-paint metal cleaning to remove the anti-corrosion treatment I applied 6 months ago.

One small step for Brad... one small step for Brad-kind.