Self-crosslinking water-dilutable binders

A method of coating substrates comprising

• a) preparing an aqueous coating material from a water dilutable binder which is self-crosslinking at room temperature obtained by
• aa) reacting epoxy-amine adducts A together with formaldehyde F or formaldehyde donor compounds which split off formaldehyde under the reaction conditions, and formaldehyde resin formers B selected from the group consisting of phenols B1, substituted ureas and ureas B2, melamine B3, guanamines B4, and mixtures of said resin formers, to form a reaction product ABF,
• ab) neutralising the reaction product ABF to at least 5%,
• ac) diluting the neutralised reaction product ABF with deionised water,
• ad) processing the reaction product ABF and a pigment,
• b) applying the coating material of step a) to a substrate by brushing, roll coating or spraying, and
• c) drying the coating at room temperature by self-crosslinking,
• wherein step ad) is performed after step aa), after step ab) or after step ac).