I've found that cast iron pieces look best painted with cast blast or any cast iron looking paint. This would include the pitman arm, tie rods, center link, idler arm, and sway bar. I paint stamped steel parts with stainless steel paint, such as tie rod sleeves, sway bar brackets, etc... I've tried clearing some of these parts, but never had much luck. They eventually rusted.

 

I bought a NOS GM center link not too long ago and the holes where the tie rods go through had a blue tint to them. probably from some kind of heat treat process. I painted with Seymour cast paint and airbrushed the blue back on.

 

Por-15 Metal Mask is what I'm going to use.

 

I just put all new linkage on my 69 SS.All I did was spray clear over them.They look great and wont rust.

 

You can leave them natural and coat them with a substance called boeshield,it's a clear waxy material that will not allow them to rust.

 

pjkemo, not to sound like a know-it-all, but clear over bare metal just doesn't hold up. Rust will develop. It may take a season or two, but it will happen. Painting with a cast iron paint or a product like Boeshield are the only ways to go.

www.boeshield.com

 

Guys, Thanks for the replys, 4spdrat is right, clear coat over bare will rust, Thats what I did and a year later they are all rust, I will have to paint them now. Next time I will try something like boeshield and see what happens.

 

From Boeshields site:

Boeshield T-9® Was developed by The Boeing Company
for lubrication and protection of aircraft components. It is
a combination of solvents, lubricants, and waxes designed
for penetration, moisture displacement, lubrication and
protection. Boeshield T-9® dries to a thin waxy film that
clings to metal for months. It will loosen rusty and
corroded parts and is safe on paints, plastics, and vinyl's.
Boeshield T-9® comes in a variety of sizes from the
industrial gallon sized to a convenient 1 oz. drip bottle.
We feel we have the best product of it's type on the market.
If you can find a better penetrating lubricant and protectant,
let us know, and we'll refund your purchase price.
Tour the rest of our site and click on ordering for sizing and
pricing details.

It states that it clings to metal for 'months'
Is this something that has to be re-applied every 3-4 months? If so, painting seems to be far superior.

 

Re-application of Boeshield will depend on your intended use of the car, and under what conditions. For a show car, i would say go for it. For any ride that will see anything over, say, 1000 miles per year, I would lean towards paint. Just my $0.02.

 

boeshield works fabulous, put on all my parts centerlink etc, the sway bar i had powder coated in natural, brake drums rotors etc i used boe shield, heat affects boe shield but not to bad, i spoke with several people at car shows and thats what they use and only re apply once a year, as someone said earlier depends if your gonna show or use as a daily driver, the more you use the more likely you would have to apply more often, just my .02 cents, steel

 

I just painted mine last week with Eastmans Detail Gray. At first I thought it looked like it had too much of a silver tint to it,but then I compared it next to a couple of freshly sandblasted pieces I had and it was very close. For a driver I would recommend that. Theres a couple pics in my sig.