To illustrate the improvement, here's the same area (pictured from March 17th) with a couple of coats of POR15. The stuff works and, although quite pricey, is worth it in the end to protect metal that's exposed to the elements. I never have POR15 chip off, just the old powder coat surrounding it.

As mentioned before, I am still tempted to add a coat of the load liner paint to give it even more protection.