ZZZZZZZ

[Burton58]

I believe it is not cleared so the rust changes freely. Looks great Joe

[JoeNitro]

Will, it is raw untreated steel no clear. Alex has the right idea, and thanks.

[hippie metal]

Yea man. That thing looks fuckin dope!

[CumminsJeep]

I like it quite a bit….but what happens when it really rots out? One winter in the northeast and I feel like the fenders would have holes within weeks. Do you have to take care of it at all? treat it with anything? Or just let it rot?

[JoeNitro]

Andrew this is not my only vehicle. It will live indoors over the off season. I dont "treat" it or anything just hose it down once in a while to clean the dust off. I'd imagine it will certainly eventually rot out but I'm hoping its going to take a few years. Right now its just light surface rust so.

[CumminsJeep]

Andrew this is not my only vehicle. It will live indoors over the off season. I dont "treat" it or anything just hose it down once in a while to clean the dust off. I'd imagine it will certainly eventually rot out but I'm hoping its going to take a few years. Right now its just light surface rust so.

I figured that it was not an everyday vehicle. I just didn't know if you had to do anything to prevent it from rotting out in a few years other than just garage keeping it. That answers my question.

[hippie metal]

You going to eventually clear it? Not glossy obviously, but ya know....so you DON'T rot out brand new panels in "a few years"....

[JoeNitro]

No Ryan I don't intend to clear it.
I'll give you a little background. My original plan upon the whole raw steel truck idea was to use a tinted clear over the clean shiny steel to give it a smoked gun metal finish. In order to do that i would of had to chemically strip it to avoid the tooling marks from the grinder as you can see in the early photos.
DuPont does offer a epoxy based clear which is intended for use over raw steel how ever it is 800$ a Gallon and requires very special care in its application to get it to adhere properly. Most people who use it do so on smaller parts not entire vehicles and the success rate wasent that well. It tends to lift and haze over time especially in the sun for extended periods of time.
Anyway I didn't think it was worth a shot given the circumstances. So I stripped it all down cleaned it with grease and wax remover and let her go. It say 2 weeks raw clean untreated steel and I got nothing. The pic of it with the bmx bike in it was 2weeks. I got impatient and decided to accelerate the process so I went to the beach and got a bucket of salt water and rubbed it down every night for 4 days rinsing it with fresh water each morning. It has been over a week now since I've done that and its remained pretty much constant since then.

[Riot]

I actually really like it, Joe.


My only concern was that it was going to rot out... Which someone else brought up and covered.

Seems like a bummer than you'll only get a few seasons out of the truck before it turns to a rot box.

Ride it out until then, I guess!

[JoeNitro]

Thanks Chris. You really have to see it in person to understand. Its going to take quite a bit of time before it will rot to the point of being an issue. With what I'm seeing now its going to be long enough for me not to worry about. Its just very light surface rust it almost wipes off.

[hippie metal]

Its going to take quite a bit of time before it will rot to the point of being an issue. With what I'm seeing now its going to be long enough for me not to worry about.

Basic timespan guesstimate?

[JoeNitro]

i have no idea. but id put my money on the 6/8 year bracket. but we all know i wont have it that long so.

[DizzDizz]

1 winter with malloys car killer and it will be gone.

[CSaddict]

I've never seen the attraction to the rust thing. VW guys do it and well the only thing more stretched than their tires is their assholes. The dropped S10 I'm into. I've had 2.