POR15

Update: started working on removing the rust today.

question: do I need to take the pitted surface down flat to bare metal? Or what I have good enough to move on? See pictures. All scaling has been removed.
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I'm certainly no expert on the stuff, but doesn't it defeat the purpose if you remove all of the rust (i,e., Paint Over Rust)? At that point, why not just use a different product?

Not to be a smart ***, but what do the directions say?