need to paint new galvanized rocker panel ?
 

Hi, is it OK to leave a new galvanized rocker panel unpainted, or will it start to rust if unpainted? (I'd like to keep this car another 5 yrs at least). (Background - my 99 Dodge Caravan was rusting out on the passenger rocker panel, so I had a local body shop cut out the panel and replace with a new galvanized piece, looks good. But the shop was really busy that day and didn't have time to paint it. I don't really care much about the color, but I want to try to prevent rust from recurring there. Is it OK to leave the panel as-is, unpainted?) Thanks.

need to paint new galvanized rocker panel ?
 

On 2014-06-06, > wrote:
> Hi, is it OK to leave a new galvanized rocker panel unpainted, or
> will it start to rust if unpainted? (I'd like to keep this car
> another 5 yrs at least). (Background - my 99 Dodge Caravan wa
>rusting out on the passenger rocker panel, so I had a local body shop
> cut out the panel and replace with a new galvanized piece, looks good.
> But the shop was really busy that day and didn't have time to paint
> it. I don't really care much about the color, but I want to try to
> prevent rust from recurring there. Is it OK to leave the panel as-is,
> unpainted?) Thanks.

If both sides are coated well it will probably be fine except for the
welds. The welds will develop a surface rust, but it probably won't
progress far. However, the plating thickness mave have been decided
based on the part being painted. It may not be up to the task of being
unpainted. In which case it may rust after awhile. Especially with the
stone peppering and such a rocker panel is exposed to.

If you really don't care about the cosmetics, just prime and paint
(ideally with the right color from dupicolor or similiar) or use a one
step rust preventive paint with spray cans or even with a brush.

need to paint new galvanized rocker panel ?
 

On Fri, 6 Jun 2014 09:01:57 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

>Hi, is it OK to leave a new galvanized rocker panel unpainted, or will it start to rust if unpainted? (I'd like to keep this car another 5 yrs at least). (Background - my 99 Dodge Caravan was rusting out on the passenger rocker panel, so I had a local body shop cut out the panel and replace with a new galvanized piece, looks good. But the shop was really busy that day and didn't have time to paint it. I don't really care much about the color, but I want to try to prevent rust from recurring there. Is it OK to leave the panel as-is, unpainted?) Thanks.

I'd put a coat of primer and finish enamel on it. Cost you about 10
bucks for the paint and ten minutes of your time.