Projects clear coating bare metal car ??

Clears are not made to go directly to metal. Many guys clear directly on old, faded, surface rusted finishes with cool looking results but might have durability issues. But who knows? Is your rod gonna sit outside 24-7/365? Doubt it..if you're gonna clear bare metal use PPG's DAU75. It's an old enamel clear with a poly hardener, PPG still makes it for aluminum wheels. It works great. One of my collision centers made sheet metal counter tops that were grinded with 36 for a etched look and they rolled DAU75 right over it. It still looks great after 5 years, albeit its indoors. Just my two cents. Do what makes you happy!


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Just for the record. This is the car that is now bare metal, that you are trying to preserve?

 

Or polish it out.

 

From what I understand, it flat doesn't work, primers job is to seal it, where as clear covers it. Every instance I've heard about, you wind up covering all the moisture in the middle and creating a perfect environment for rust...


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yah..rough crowd..
Not that it will sway me from doing what I'm doing.
Thanks for the advice . I appreciate it.
Just ordered some Gibbs , I couldn't find it at any stores.
Gibbs being an oil lubricant do you have any issues with it coming off on anything ? Like If you would lean against the car would it get on your cloths , or does it soak I pretty good ?
Thanks

 

For god's sake, whatever you do, don't listen to anyone on this forum (particularly from the guys that were actually around then) ...
Paint is traditional on pre-'65 vehicles. This is a forum dedicated to traditional hot rods and customs. It's just that simple ... If you don't like the answers that you're getting, maybe there's a reason.

 

What did you use to Polish to get metal to come out looking like that ???

 

Elbow grease...........................

 

Sorry not mine. I think that was a car floating around the Detroit area.....everyone thought it was chromed.

 

LOL... Maybe this is the "traditional " excuse for this RR stuff:
http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/stainless-steel-fords.cfm

 

Those are stainless steel, champ ... let us know when you get yourself a stainless car, and then you can laugh all you want ... and we'll laugh along with you ...

 

No kidding! That wasn't a slam at you , but rather at the O/P... Did you ride the short bus too?

 

No automotive finishes manufacturer make a direct to metal clearcoat. You will experience de-lamination. The more it's outside the quicker it will happen.


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If you can't afford paint it is way cheaper to get your car wrapped. If it's done right no one would be able to tell.


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^ that depends

 

Oh OK, don't tell Hetfield that he might think his 36 is one. Hetfield wanted to showcase the talent of the builder so he had it clear coated. But to answer the posters question, get ahold of a Scott at Blue Collar Customs in Sacramento. They did the work on Hetfields 36. He goes by blue collar guy here on the HAMB.

 

1st you need to scrub the "lines" you'll accept with a Scotch-Brite pad. If you could find a way to get 2 stuck together and long enough an air file would make short work of it. I have a straight line sander that'll hold a standard pad but it was pretty costly back in 86 when I bought it. Must be huge $$$ now
Ok, so we have it all nice and pretty and like the finish, now what? Here comes the nasty, you have to etch the metal. Yeah, like in acid etch. Work fast, lots of hot water if you can, lots of air to dry. Once done you'll be stuck with that awesome gold n blue look of "pickled" steel, but I'm guessin you don't want that, right? More nasty, you need a conversion coating. It's essetially a mild phosphate liquid that remove traces of flash rust and the steel goes right back to "white metal" with just a fine rub down. Some need a rinse, some don't. Find the "don't" variety. Sorry, no recommendation there. The bitch of the bunch in all this is the commitment, you need to be ready to spray the clear the day you do the conversion coating or phosphate treatment. Temp, solvent selection, dry time, all critical. The slower you can get it to cure the better it will mechanically bond to the metal. You'll have little to no chemical bond, even using the conversion coating. The DAU 75 recommendation is probably a pretty good one. I'd probably go with PPG Shop-Line Polyurethane clear. Easy to spray, about $120/package clear and hardener, works like any 4:1 clear although it's a little lighter in viscosity. Yeah, that means go easy or it'll run like horses at Churchill Downs. Trust it too, it flows out really nice. The price won't kill you if it only lasts a couple years, it's easy to touch up, and while the $$$$ won't be spent on paint you'll spend plenty of hours doing a decent and respectable job. I'm not huge fan of it but if it's what you want that's about as good as it'll get. Good luck...

 

And they were aluminum alloy. Which is why they could run without paint.

 

How do you wash a clear coated bare metal barn find? Thought I'd post the question here instead of starting a new thread.

 

Heres what you want, i dont judge.
http://www.eastwood.com/ew-diamond-...e=&network=s&gclid=CNvVr_-yi9QCFZeCswodyxoAIw

 

A year old thread ,,, at least make sense.

 

Put down the beer.

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I don't understand the purpose of leaving a car in bare metal. The only thing I can think of is showing off the lack of bondo. Bare metal will only last for so long before starting to rust. I believe to each their own and it would be a lot of work to keep a bare metal car from showing rust. I would rather be waxing a lacquer paint job than applying WD40 over a bare metal finish. I can remember painting a whole cars with cans of "Hot Rod primer".

 

To Showcase expert metal finishing skills.
Trust me if I could get it perfect I wouldn't paint over it. Lord knows I've tried to get it that way and spent 3x as long as bondo and paint would have taken just to see if I could.

 

Paint your car Rooster Dink Pink if that's what you want . But if you are set on a clear coat ,talk to the paint manufacturer to see if its feasible, not the counter people at the paint store . If the job goes off the rails you get to re prep your car all over again. Good Luck whatever way you go

 

Don't mock clear over primer. There was a red led '57 Chevy that ran around the Washington Valley for about forever. The guy decided he liked the color gave it a scuff and a fresh coat of red led and cleared it. I liked the idea, it came out kind of muckle-be-dung colored. The guy who built the car gawd knows when ( he was in his mid 20s when was in high school) was as proud as a bitch coon hound with puppies.

 

I see some of the work guys like @Flop do, and if I could do that I wouldn't want to cover it either!

 

I'm assuming this isn't an aluminum bodied car.