Tips and Tricks for laying down a smooth rattle can finish on fuchs

[JonT]

'Bout ready to lay down a few coats on my freshly bead blasted Fuchs. Any tips and tricks to produce the best smooth finish? Room temp? wheel horizontal or vertical? Sand between coats? Number of coats? Light coat/ heavy coat? Probably overthinking things..... Thanks for tips.

[cmcfaul]

I think you are supposed to fill the spokes with paint than drain it for a perfect line.

Chris

[john walker's workshop]

Wurth Matt Black. Clean 'em good for no fisheyes.

[Showdown]

I just got through refinishing mine after glass bead blasting. It’s imperative that you remove the layer of oxidation on the aluminum before painting if you want a strong bond. You can use any number of solvents like acetone or you can get an aluminum oxide remover commonly used for aircraft and welding prep. That will yield the best results.

As for the rattle can, just approach it like you would any other rattle can project, it’s not too difficult. Sanding between coats isn’t necessary unless you get debris or orange peel and you can usually just steel wool it if needed. I did three coats and that’s plenty.

Electric tape for masking the curves and painters table for covering the rest. I first polished the lips, then masked them off and painted the whole wheel silver and finally masked off the petals and ramp and sprayed the black.

Be sure to let the paint dry for a few days before masking as you don’t want to peel any up.

I used krylon k01403 for the aluminum and VHT SP183 for the black. It says gloss but it’s more of a satin.

Hard to capture the mirror on the polished lip but it’s really crisp.

[Coastr]

My experience with rattle-canning wheels is dust control and even coverage. Wheels are tricky as you need to work 360 degrees, so being able to either rotate the wheels or have enough space to walk around while painting. Heed the other advice for prep.

[Bill Douglas]

What are you using as a primer? Aluminium/magnesium is tricky stuff to get paint to sick to - long term. I think you need an etch primer and check that it works with non ferrous metals.

[Showdown]

The oxidation remover was an etching agent as well… I can’t recall the brand right now…. The bead blasting provides an amazingly receptive surface for paint bonding. The company that did the blasting said that hey rarely etch the aluminum after blasting before painting.

[Showdown]

This is the oxidation remover/etcher I used.

[gtc]

I used spay cans of Rustoleum Satin black (7777) and their primer about 10 years ago. It's been surprisingly durable.
Some earlier fuchs are pretty rough between the petals, but mine ('84) were decently smooth, so i didn't feel the need to wet sand the primer.
Can't comment on the self etching primer issue - I chemically stripped my wheels, so I probably didn't get through the anodizing down to bare aluminum.
I laid the wheels horizontally, and gave them a few light coats, finishing up with a coat just heavy enough to wet out the surface and get the paint to lay down smoothly.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Showdown

This is the oxidation remover/etcher I used.

Excellent. that certainly makes the project easier.

I spend time on autobody101 dot com and had been reading up on painting aluminium as I'm painting a replacement bumper for the SC. It said to do a quick scotchbrite just before primering as it oxidizes almost immediately. Then I used a primer that contains an acid (phosphoric - maybe) that bites into the alloy.

[Harpo]

I preferred the Eastwood 2k paint. Easy to use and very durable

[targa72e]

+1, two part epoxy spray can paint is the way to go. The paint is two parts, there is a system that keeps the hardener separate from the paint. When its time to paint there is a system to mix the two inside the can. You then have 12-24 hour to use the product. The advantage is that like standard car paint it is not solvent based so it will hold up better. Regular spray can paint is solvent based so any solvent will dissolve the paint.

john

[JonT]

Thanks guys. I'm trying to match the rattle can paint to the stripe color I'm adding-is this possible with the 2 part epoxy paint? If not can the matching be done another way with a traditional solvent based paint?

[Showdown]

Way back when I was a miscreant youth and liked to spray paint things I learned how to mix cans by spraying the paint from one into a half full can of another with the nozzles removed. It took a while to master but eventually I learned how to mix them pretty well. Not sure if it would be precise enough at all.

If you have an HVLP system then you’re good to go as long as you know how to mix color (color theory). You might be able to have an auto paint shop match the stripe and mix you up a batch for spray at home. There are aerosol kits for spraying paint that allow you to use your own paint- that might be an option if you don’t have an HVLP setup.

[Harpo]

Eastwood satin black 2k IMHO is what you want

[grant lyon]

Another tip I learned somewhere (PP thread?) was to initially only apply a very sparse amount of paint for first & second paint applications. Basically painting small paint mist droplets fairly spread out leaving a mostly unpainted surface. Allow the small droplets to dry thoroughly before a second pass. By the third pass the surface will start to be mostly covered with no runs and very good adhesion. ++ on clean surface prep is key. Rustoleum Satin Black. IIRC used acetone to clean. ~10 years later results still look very good.

[JonT]

Did you guys use the same Rustoleum or whichever product for the outside and inside of the barrel?