Galvanized painting question

[elkriverfab]

I was talking to a few guys the other day on a tractor forum and we were talking about painting galvanized metal.

My question is........Does vinegar work as a prep wash for galvanized metal?

I am needing to paint some galvanized metal and I was reading the instructions on the paint and it says to use a special primer on galvanized metal.

I few of the guys were telling me that washing the metal in vinegar will prep it for regular oil base primer.

Has anyone done this before?

I am thinking it will still need the correct primer even after washing.

I am going to use a cold galvanized paint and the instructions say to use the special primer if applying it to factory galvanized material.

The project I am working in has both a new factory galvanized coating and unpainted mild steel.

So if I can use one primer on everything that would be good but if not, that's fine too....Just wondering.

Thanks in advance

[ronsii]

I also have heard of using vinegar(acetic acid) as a prep to paint galv. haven't tried it yet myself because I had a bunch of the jasco metal etch(mainly phosphoric acid) laying around and it works great I would assume they would both work similar because of the reactions to the zinc although regular vinegar may be slower because of the acid strength unless you can get some pickling vinegar it is about three times as strong.
The directions for using the jasco stuff is just cut it three to one with water then brush it on(personally I scrub it some) then rinse it off let it dry then paint, should be the same for vinegar maybe let it stand a little longer after applying/scrubbing then rinse then dry and paint.

[boodog710]

I have used vinegar on galvanized metal a number of times. Don't really like the smell but it works. I buy the white vinegar used in cooking. After cleaning, just apply your primer and paint. Never had any work returned for paint peeling or any other paint problems.
Jack

[ornametals]

worked in the sheet metal industry for many years. yes it works