To paint subframe before fitting or not?

Wig

I got a front subframe from a scrappy last weekend for my Punto Mk2
Intend to buy and fit 2 new control arms and renew all the antirollbar bushes on it. Cost me £40. The one on my car is rusted through and will fail the MOT.

It was off an "Italy registered" 2002 Punto and the subframe was really good condition hardly any rust on it, whereas the ones (in the scrap yards) on the UK registered Puntos were terrible with rust. I assume because the climate is much better in Italy than here.

I intend to clean all the dirt and grease off it first, so I will be left with a clean black-painted subframe.

I would like to paint it before I put it on. but don't want to take off the paint that is already there (too much hard work).
Is it worth painting on top of the black paint that is already there?
If it is worth painting... What paint would you use?

Oxidising red primer?
& Hammerite black to finish smooth or hammered?

straighttalker

Couple of cheap tins of Hammerite can't go amiss. I'd go black, smooth.

bigjl

Another vote for giving it a good clean, rustbeater of whichever brand takes your fancy on areas that had rust after rubbing down and removing any lose bits.

To be fair you can't really go wrong with Hammerite, though I would use Hammered finish as it helps hide any slight unevenness in the item being painted.

force_ten

hammerite stonechip is what i would use on it

www.hammerite.co.uk/products/stonechip_shield.

Wig

force_ten wrote: »

hammerite stonechip is what i would use on it

www.hammerite.co.uk/products/stonechip_shield.

Thanks for this suggestion.

reeac

Back in 1981-3 I restored a 1958 MGA and painted the chassis, suspension bits, petrol tank etc with Dulux gloss black and then smeared them all with Waxoyl. Still working fine 33 years later.

AdrianC

bigjl wrote: »

To be fair you can't really go wrong with Hammerite

Yes, you can. Hammer!!!!! is abysmal stuff, utterly useless. There are FAR better products out there. It's difficult to make specific suggestions, because almost anything is better.

TBH, I'm not sure I'd bother doing anything - the subframe is likely to outlast the rest of the car by a large margin, and any paint that you put on is only going to be as well-bonded as the factory paint it's going on top of. Just a spray of decent rust-proofing wax (no, not waxoyl)... Something like http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221268304662

cajef

AdrianC wrote: »

Yes, you can. Hammer!!!!! is abysmal stuff, utterly useless. There are FAR better products out there. It's difficult to make specific suggestions, because almost anything is better.

I used to do a lot of towing and on all my company cars with the companies permission I had towbars fitted, before fitting I painted every one with two coats of Hammerite, when the cars where changed after four years I had to remove the towbars and they all came off like new without a spot of rust on them.

oldhand

May have picked you up wrong but is the Italy reg car it came off left hand drive?Just wondering would there be any problems with the fitting regarding holes drilled in wrong place,will steering column fit etc???........