painting a faber 12.2L (again)

about to paint my faber cylinder for the 4th time. not a major paint job this time though.
Last time i re-surfaced the cylinder i did the following:

• used some gel type of paint removers. worked very well.
• some light sanding to remove all rust. most of the rust was in the boot area.
• first coat with a rust proofing spray (killrust heavy duty primer)
  
• outer coat was a white glossy epoxy spray. two layers. (killrust white epoxy spray)
  
• cut the rubber boot on one side so that it easy to remove and secured it back on the cylinder with an extra camband

The epoxy looks nice and shinny but it's not tough enough. the cambands do scratch the paint and so does the boot. There are already some signs of rust at the bottom.

Not sure if it is ok to use rust converting chemicals such as killrust rust-eater. might try that next round. I am planning to brush paint it next time (not spray) to save my balcony a little bit. the epoxy spray paint was good with all the cylinder markings. When i hand painted the cylinder the paint coat was too thick and almost covered the markings. My faber is now 10 years old. Maybe it's time to replace it and get it over with. The last batch of paints primers thinners brushes and rust converters cost me about $50. I estimate i have spend about $100 painting my cylinder and lots of hours of work.

Aluminium is gooood.