June 23, 2023

A primer is a great addition to any coatings system wherever time and budgets allow. When it comes to painting metal, Cortec VpCI primers are designed for coating adhesion and corrosion protection.

One of the main purposes of a primer is to get good adhesion so the final topcoat sticks firmly to the surface below. While most Cortec Coatings can be applied direct-to-metal, applying one or two coats of primer first makes the system even stronger. VpCI-375 is a fast-drying thixotropic coating that can be used as a base layer on carbon steel and copper. Other metals such as aluminum, stainless steel, and galvanized steel are more difficult for coatings to adhere to and should be primed with VpCI-373 wash primer to help subsequent primer/topcoat layers stick to the metal.

Another important reason for using VpCI primers is corrosion protection. While other metal primers could theoretically be used with a VpCI topcoat, it would not allow the VpCI corrosion inhibitors to have direct access to the metal surface. Using a VpCI primer gets Cortec corrosion inhibitors as close to the metal surface as possible and is therefore an ideal foundation to a Cortec Coatings system.

Cortec Coatings offer the flexibility of choosing the convenience of a one-coat water-based system or the enhanced protection of a multi-coat VpCI primer/topcoat system.