Paint help (ot)

mar601 · Post by **mar601** » 12 Aug 2021, 08:50

This is sort of off topic but I frequent this group for my 98 S70 and thought some of you may be able to help me. I need an education on clear coats and I'll tell you why --
I don't want to mess with powder coat for a product I make so I do have a nice compressor and I get those HF guns which do a good job and just buy a new one after a few uses. I have done some painting before (small scale) with a few industrial finishes.

Right now I have a prototype that I actually painted with a wonderful rustoleum color -- beautiful finish. (in a can !).

I really know nothing about clear coats (rustoleums is garbage, tried it). But is there a clear coat product that I can use over this rustoleum spray, (after letting the part dry for a few weeks), that will give me a durable, scratchproof finish? Give the rustoleum an industrial look without using an industrial paint ?

I may just have to go with an industrial paint but there's a lot of hassle with that (cleanup, min qty, toxicity etc).
Thanks.

Post by **MoVolvos** » 12 Aug 2021, 11:14

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Without seeing what your paint looks like it's really difficult to provide any input. When we painted the 08 C30 mirror caps to provide the chrome look of the later factory R-Design mirror caps the clear coat would bead up like water on a good wax coat.

Discovered the chrome paint was so smooth, besides the properties perhaps, there was no way to spray a clear coat without sanding it. That would eliminate the chrome so defeating our original desired results. Had to wipe off the clear coat and sand the chrome paint and reapply. The chrome paint was shiny enough so we just left it alone.

That being said I found this guy provides excellent info on car painting.

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mar601 · Post by **mar601** » 12 Aug 2021, 11:27

this is actually not for a car. it's a small aluminum chassis painted with an (excellent) rustoleum finish that I'm hoping to possibly protect. I'm just looking for protection and maybe a semi gloss finish (or gloss if need be).

Post by **MoVolvos** » 12 Aug 2021, 11:50

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Regardless of what you paint there are some basics. Here is a more professional canned clear coat in this video.

Since you have a compressor here is info on using a cheap HB gun. You may not like the can paint above as it looks like one time use when combined.

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