The body side trim on my 65 polara is aluminum that I believe was anodized when new. The body guy has painstakingly taken nearly all of the parking lot dings out of it so far and is starting to bring it to a high polish. It looks dang near like chrome. I was just going to leave it polished and deal with masking off the car every year or so and repolishing it. Then a supplier came to his shop dropping of some stuff and said that he powdercoats evenings and weekends. He said he can successfully use a clear powdercoat to keep the finish shiny. I had never heard of this. Any of you? Rather than test on my trim, the shop is going to take a piece of trim off of a similar vintage mopar, polish it, and test it out. I am not looking forward to sending 8 ft chunks of trim to some anodizer a thousand miles away.
Thoughts on clear powder coat over polished aluminum?
- Thread starter Catfish
- Start date
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
bluefury361
Old Man with a Hat
bluefury361
Old Man with a Hat
QUOTE=Catfish;95052]I am trying to avoid shipping those eight foot spears. I have visions of FedEx guys sword fighting with them in the warehouse.QUOTE]
If you do ship..... Use heavy PVC tubes..... So far even the UPS and Fedex guys haven't figured out how to destroy them.
If you do ship..... Use heavy PVC tubes..... So far even the UPS and Fedex guys haven't figured out how to destroy them.
Will do. Thankfully the guy wanting to do the coating can pick them up at the body shop and drop them off there as well. Then the painter can put them on the car. If I don't like his work and end up shipping them, I will take your advice for sure.
bluefury361
Old Man with a Hat
Catfish. I've had my aluminum cross rams sanded, wheeled, and buffed and then clear coat powder coated. Same thing with the Snowflakes the Beast rides on. My little Scamp pickup has had all the aluminum window and door moldings dipped to remove the anodizing, then highly polished, and then clear coat powder coated too. The reason being that I'm basiclly ah lazy SOB. Don't get me wrong I love the Batwagon and I like a little bit of bling too, so the Beast getz ah bath quite regularly but and I'd rather drink beer then polish aluminum every other week. Yeah, I'm definatly sold on Clear Coat Powder Coating, Jer
Thank you commando1!!!
< hug >Catfish, before you let that "supplier" guy who powder coats on the side take off with your trim, ask to see some of his work samples first, or at least talk directly with people who he's done work for. Anybody can tell you how good they are ... but when OTHER people tell you it's got a lot more force and effect.
70bigblockdodge
Old Man with a Hat
While we are picking your brain would that work on big truck wheels or do they just get to hot ? Just asking because it will be a while before I buy another set but I'm like Jer drinking beer is better than polishing aluminum.
Ohhh, pretty much anything is better than polishing aluminum ...
70bbd, I really don't coat a lot of wheels for a few reasons (below) so I encourage you to get other professional opinions about those before making a decision. Are they Alcoas?
I personally avoid most alloy wheels because you never really know what they're made out of, and whether it should be heated up or not ... used wheels whether steel or aluminum have most always been subjected over their lifetime to silicone based treatment -- Armor All, Tire Wet, chrome polishes, etc. -- which basically soaks into the metal (for lack of a better term) and no amount of advance outgassing or prep is going to help. Most especially with used aluminum, powder coating results will be streaky, uneven and totally unacceptable. [And if I wouldn't put the work on my own car, I'd never ask you to put it on yours.] Lastly, I'm short and about 115 pounds ... and blingin' twenny-eights like the local boys want coated nowadays are a bit much for me to heft around comfortably without touching anything.
Theoretically, I suppose your truck wheels coat be successfully clear coated but I'd only do it with confidence on new ones that were never subjected to any chemicals. Again though, please seek the opinions of other coaters who specialize in wheels. Alloys are touchy, and your wheels -- and your family -- need to be in good hands.
...70bbd, I really don't coat a lot of wheels for a few reasons (below) so I encourage you to get other professional opinions about those before making a decision. Are they Alcoas?
I personally avoid most alloy wheels because you never really know what they're made out of, and whether it should be heated up or not ... used wheels whether steel or aluminum have most always been subjected over their lifetime to silicone based treatment -- Armor All, Tire Wet, chrome polishes, etc. -- which basically soaks into the metal (for lack of a better term) and no amount of advance outgassing or prep is going to help. Most especially with used aluminum, powder coating results will be streaky, uneven and totally unacceptable. [And if I wouldn't put the work on my own car, I'd never ask you to put it on yours.] Lastly, I'm short and about 115 pounds ... and blingin' twenny-eights like the local boys want coated nowadays are a bit much for me to heft around comfortably without touching anything.
Theoretically, I suppose your truck wheels coat be successfully clear coated but I'd only do it with confidence on new ones that were never subjected to any chemicals. Again though, please seek the opinions of other coaters who specialize in wheels. Alloys are touchy, and your wheels -- and your family -- need to be in good hands.
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