Salt Spray Resistant Water Based Paint: Smart Fix for Springs

Summary for salt spray resistant water based paint Discussion

Salt spray resistant water based paint is the goal, but the thread suggests the real issue is pretreatment rather than the coating itself. Chris Ballew asked for a water-based dip paint for mild steel springs that leave production at about 550 °F and must survive a 36-hour ASTM B117 salt spray test; the paints tried so far failed after about 5 hours. In response, the answerer said the problem is not the paint but the lack of a pretreatment system, and that simply switching to another water-based paint is unlikely to solve it. The recommended approach was a basic iron phosphating step, followed by a rinse and then painting, which the answerer believed would probably work fine. The discussion is brief and does not present competing viewpoints, but it clearly points toward surface preparation as the key to improving corrosion resistance.