This, ugh, this set of steps, these metal outdoor stair units are a rusting maintenance time-suck hell, I tell you.  And this type of stair is ubiquitous around Chicago too with a vast majority of homes or apartment buildings using them front, back, or both.
I suppose in the long run, there aren't many light-on-maintenance outdoor stairs.  Wood needs painting or staining and it rots.  Metal rusts, welds rust through, the treads are slippery.  You can't salt either material as that speeds deterioration.
Concrete, that's pretty good if you've got a short run from the walk to the door but over time, the surface can pit or form cracks.
Hm.  Everything's got pluses and minuses.
Well anyway, if you've got the metal type and they just will.not.stop.rusting, I hear you.  And we're going to attempt to solve that dilemma, or at least attempt to drag out the unceasing maintenance, today. Rust rust go away.  Don't come back another day.Every year since we've gotten here, I've done the same exact thing:  buy a can of oil-based Rustoleum in flat black and repaint the stair.  And we're well acquainted with that phrase, right, the definition of insanity"  Yeah.
And it never works.  Each spring after a ravaging winter, the treads are rusty yet again.  And the leftover paint dries out in the can.  Waste of time, money, and effort.
One year I tried Rustoleum's (oy it's a theme eh") Rust Reformer* then the Rustoleum p...