Is high gloss from rattle can possible?
 

Am dealing with crossmember in engine bay---where decals sit. Taking some dents out that PO put in obviously to leverage engine in place. Tested Rustoleum: primer, metallic silver, and clear high gloss. All good except for the high gloss... result is no where near high gloss.

Goal is to get as close as possible to gloss that's on car's body and do this work myself.

Am looking for advice on how to approach this---what to use?

Take a look at Spraymax 2k Clear coat. It comes in a can but its a 2 part system so the clear comes out looking much more like a conventional spray job as far as gloss. I havent personally tried it myself, but I have a pair of bumpers that Ill be trying soon. The videos and pictures I have seen online look promising though.

Karl, in my experience, yes something like Duplicolor enamel can be made to shine by applying a goodly number of coats then progressive compound & polishes, but the problem is just how soft that paint will be and will always be. Clear will make it deeper, but when neither is catalyzed, they'll always be weak. The second problem is that the required polishing steps will be beyond tedious on that particular panel with all its pressed indentations ... you'll be forever sanding or polishing thru on the edges.

I've forgotten what color your car is?

Maybe 15 years ago I did the bumpers on my Alfa GTV6 - big flat aluminium blades, like our cars but not body color, in Duplicolor metallic grey then clear. Polished as noted above ... Came out really well. But the panel you describe on your car is also well-buggered-up on my SC - I touched mine up with a brush (the horror!). In reality needs at least 10-15 hours of my attention to strip to metal, work out dings and stretched metal, do bodywork and proper paint (and new decals).

Single component enamel (lacquer is even worse) with no hardener/catalyst is so wimpy ... will chip with minimal provocation. But single stage urethane is incredibly tough ... I did my lug nuts and they are holding up better than anodized ... amazes me. You could shoot that chez Boca Del Vista condo garage using Preval fillable aerosols ... you'd get the paint mixed and the required reducer and activator at a local jobber then measure and mix it super-carefully, wearing gloves and a good respirator. It's a thousand times tougher than any non-catalyzed paint ... what I'd do given your constraints. That said, thinking about it, while the Preval would allow you to kix your own paint ingredients, it's still an aerosol using the same head/nozzle as a can of Rust Oleum, so you'd be at risk of spitting and a sub-optimal spray pattern.

BTW the single stage urethane I have is Nason brand, formerly known as Dupont, now sold as a "cost effective refinish solution", i.e., cheap, but likely still better than mail order paint from, say, Summit, and can be mixed to code or sample. I wouldn't paint a nice car with it, but I'd think it fine for that panel. If you have a metallic car, you could do base/clear urethane using a Preval, too. As always, the application of the paint (and clear, if necessary) is the last 5% of time of the job. Everything else is prep work.

Wish we lived closer so we could do this in my garage with my chilled and dried compressed air!, although you'd likely want to use something better than my HF gun.

Not sure I've added much value here.

John

Cason... thanks for Spraymax recommend. Am heading to YouTube after posting this to look into it.


Thanks for heads-up email John :)

Yeah... sanding-coating-sanding-etc'ing that area is indeed guaranteed failure.

Car's metallic silver. Priority = durability. If I'm off on the silver metallic slightly, not loosing sleep.

Painted lugs? Never---in my wild dreams---would I think a paint coating would hold up on lugs. Impressive.

Very Bro of you to "wish we lived closer." Were we within a stones throw, is possible we'd be ensemble project junkies!

Not sure if it matters but am not going to have 120v power (only car's 12v.) Plan is to set up in local marina parking lot (where much mechanical work gets accomplished... literally under a shade tree. This is to keep from chronically working on the car in condo's garage.) And so the rattle can approach. Will tent around panel to keep as sterile as possible. Coating has to dry within at least a few hours so I can close lid and go home.

Am looking into: Preval. And Nason. Thanks for input John.

Having used different brand layers before with bad results, am sticking with compatibles for primer, base and top/clear.

Am uretahne focused... thank you John. And will go with SprayMax primer filler and glamor clear cloat... thank you Cas. Color coat is R&E Galaxy Silver Metallic---this product recommends using the SprayMax primer and glam clear noted.

Preval I see is application system---nice one John. Thanks. Am keeping that in back pocket.

Might accomplish this next weekend. Let you know how it goes.

Refs:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1598800371.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1598800371.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1598800371.jpg

Side tracked on this. CHT sensor failed. Will attend that before paint.