Did some bolts in various combinations of paint and T9 Boeshield and sat them outside for 3 months. Just went out and dug them out of the snow a couple days ago. Before and after pics are shown below.
I was doing this anyway for my own satisfaction, so hope it is useful to someone else.
Setup:
- bolts from a 66 donor coupe, all were fairly rusty to begin with
- All bolts were prepped by cleaning and glass beading
- Bolts with T9 were heated with a heat gun prior to T9 application, except for one as noted below
- Dark red marked bolt was heated with a torch prior to T9 application, but it discolored the bolt.
- Bolts with paint were given 2-3 light coats.
- A bare steel bolt with no protection was added as a control.
- Finishes used were:
- Eastwood Silver Cad spray paint
- Eastwood Zinc Phostphate spray paint
- Eastwood Diamond Clear spray paint
- Caswell Black Oxide solution
- T9 Boeshield
- Bolts were put outside 12/3/14 and picked up 3/7/15
- they were kept in a pie pan with drain holes so they wouldn't be in standing water
- exposed to rain, snow, and sun, although for sun they were in the shadow of a wood fence a lot of the time.
Results:
- Paint with T9 Boeshield held up the best. Both the Phosphate Paint + T9 and Silver Cad Paint + T9 look almost as they did the day they were set out. No rust on either, but some discoloration.
- All others - paint alone, T9 alone, Black Ox + T9, Black Ox + Clear - had similar results. Light rust in spots. T9 alone was one of the best, if not the best, in this group. It's hard to tell in the picture, but only had one rust spot.
- The Black Ox + T9 didn't do as well as the paints + T9. This stands to reason as I understand the BlackOx alone is like gun blue...it relys on a second substance like oil for rust protection.
Observations:
- T9 does work, at least in the short term (3 months), and does provide a significant benefit when added over paint vs paint alone. I would imagine it would last a long time in the protection of a garage.
- It's pretty obvious that more protective layers (paint + T9) work better than fewer, but it's nice to have a definitive visual of how well they hold up after a defined time period (3 months) vs something relative or non-defined, i.e. coating A is better than coating B, etc
Possibilities:
- On bolts with T9 only vs paint only, T9 might flow into crevices better than paint, thus providing more complete coverage.
- On the bolt with T9 only, it may have done better because it was heated with a torch vs a heat gun.
- It would be interesting to compare T9 with products that do the same thing, like wax, rust prevention magic, etc
I haven't gotten to the plater or setup a phosphate and oil process yet, or I would've included those. Be nice to see. Maybe next time.
Thanks,
Rich
