first time painting - should I grind off the thin surface rust or just apply rust converter?

[Sberry]

I am not sure why you would WANT to paint over something that could be scuffed off so easy? There is nothing wwrong with that product and in some cases it could be a big labor saver. I can see wiping it in cracks and corners, auto work mostly which it was born of I believe. Contrary to some popular belief its not new.
On steel its not all rust but mill scale. The early suggestions about wire wheels are ok too, you can actually remove scale if its done hard enough.
If I want it to look good I sand it, if I want it super I sand, sandblast to remove any grinding marks, can go to white blast if you want but then sane or pad scuff, blow off and paint.

 

[Sberry]

Want smooth sand, prime, sand prime and paint. The sand or scuff flattens the tops off any peaks managed to poke thru it. Gives another chance to level the surface.

 

[fried1765]

I've never even seen or heard of that stuff - I'll look for it now

Egon explains it well!
It is not just the rust you can see that is the problem!

 

[scaredychicken]

Egon explains it well!
It is not just the rust you can see that is the problem!

correct

 

[Sberry]

Where did he explain anything? Clucking on a link about some exotic alloy is different than explaining something..
Secondly just how is this "the problem"?

 

[Sberry]

I bet we put him under oath we find out he didnt even read it, was the first thing come up on Google.

 

[ArlyA]

It work I've been using this Por 15 stuff, costly but does seems to work. I do wire brush everything in advance and no primer. Anyone else using it?

 

[Egon]

Paint a lot like welding, dont need to know everything about it to do a good job, most of it is simple work, the difference between those take a couple minutes and those with fugg it attitude. Its really not that complicated and shouldnt be.

If your welding at a location that takes pictures you’ll need certification.

 

[Sberry]

Where do you come up with them?

 

[Sberry]

Show us somewhere this is written?