Need a sealer for external metal stair treads

[EvilBetty]

anybody ever done something like this? I have an old fixer upper I constantly work on. the exterior stair rail is steel with 1/8" diamond plate treads. clearly haven't been resealed in 40+ years. I pressure washed the entire thing, and 95% of the primer remained intact and probably 50% of the paint. The treads at some point has some sort of rubberized coating that pealed off with the pressure washer.

These things were built poorly and are in kind of rough shape to to how it was constructed. I will have to go over a small amount of rust and existing paint/primer/rubberized coating (still remains in nooks.

Thoughts? heavy duty exterior paint?
truck bed liner?

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Get a good quality epoxy. Sherwin Williams has stuff called DTM - Direct to metal. They also have this pre catalyzed stuff that works too.

 

[lewis0111]

For metal stair treads, a heavy-duty exterior rust-inhibiting primer followed by a durable topcoat like truck bed liner or industrial-grade paint works well. Truck bed liner adds grip and toughness, making it a great option for worn stair surfaces.

 

[EvilBetty]

Get a good quality epoxy. Sherwin Williams has stuff called DTM - Direct to metal. They also have this pre catalyzed stuff that works too.

I know nothing about direct to metal, but the bulk of the surface has primer and paint. there is very little metal it will actually bond with. wonder if this would still be good for this application?

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

I know nothing about direct to metal, but the bulk of the surface has primer and paint. there is very little metal it will actually bond with. wonder if this would still be good for this application?

Don't use the DTM in that case. Depending on preference the bed liner might be the best option so that it's grippy. I've used the DTM on door jambs that are primed and it works fine but they're not going to take the beating a stair tread would. I'm pretty sure the DTM is no primer necessary.

 

[cs6804]

whatever you do just make sure you get down to bare metal. if you don't, it doesn't matter what you do on top