Etching primers are something you will get differing opinions of but here are the basics. Each coat of paint must be bonded to the substrate be it bare metal, old paint or paint you applied earlier in the day. Chemically bonded layers are the strongest and that is why several of us here recommend staying with one manf of product and going by their data sheets for recoat times. Wait too long and you don’t get the chemical bond and you risk having peeling problems in the future. Now for the first coat of paint over any old finish or bare metal you cannot achieve a chemical bond so you have to go for second best, a mechanical bond that is accomplished by etching the surface. Etching is simply scratching the surface so the coating can "tooth in" and adhere to the surface. Any surface that has been sanded with paper 400 or coarser, sandblasted or wire wheeled is etched. Chemical etching is done with an acid, either as a separate operation or combined in a primer product. Knowing this you should realize that any old surface that has been sanded is already etched. If you have new sheet metal then you have a choice to make. My preference for etching is to sand or etch with an etching only product because I want to have an epoxy primer on the bottom of my paint jobs, not on top of a later of lesser quality etching primer. The self-etching primers were invented to save a step for body shops were time is dollars. In any case they are better than spraying over an unprepared surface. Some consider them a "can't hurt but might help" type of deal and reccomend them on everything. For reasons stated above, I use them on nothing other than I keep a few rattle cans around the shop to coat new sheet metal parts that are not going to be installed or prepped for some time just a rust protection measure.

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