Painting Aluminum (1 Viewer)

[RickD]

Have replaced tub on my '82 FJ40 with Aluminum tub. Ready to paint now. Spoke with local body shop - they aren't real familar with painting aluminum. I 've spoken to the NAPA paint expert. He said:

1. Sand entire body with 180/220 grit
2. Wipe down with prep solution
3. Prime with self etching primer
4. Finish paint like any other vehicle

Does this sound correct? I'm thinking of doing the priming myself then turning it over to the body shop for the finish job.

Thanks for your help!

 

[fsusteve]

Yes

 

[Jukelemon]

What are you calling Prep Solution?

 

[Archengine]

That's exactly what NAPA told me to do, and it worked out nicely, except for a few spots where the tape pulled up a chip of paint. That was due to some oil or something that I must have missed in the 2 rubdowns of cleaner. Just a heads up, after I painted the etching primer, which dries very fast, I went to paint, and to my surprise and horror, the overspray of primer that landed on the plastic sheet I was using to mask off my truck, took flight, and rained down on my first paint layer. That really had me cursing, and took two whole beers to calm down. But I cleaned it off as best I could, and now after 4 coats, you can't even tell. Best of luck to you, take your time, and it will be fun. By the way, how many hours of sanding out the weld marks and splattter did you need for your tub, I spent around 20, although I could have spent far more. I love the aluminum tub, gotta love it when the body gets scratched, and I don't have to worry about the rust setting in.

 

[REZARF]

PICS!

Come on! New paint and primer and no pics!? Whats the world coming to?

Drew <><

 

[LCruzombre]

All good advice here. I got a tub and didn't sand the aluminum first and just used etching primer and then regular paint. Oh, the prep solution is a good idea too. One caution is to get an etching primer than is sandable rather than the non-sand type. This allows you to get a better paint surface. You can sand the non-sand type but it does not sand as well as the sandable type.

 

[Jukelemon]

Hey Arch:

20 hours? What areas did you do? My AL tub does not look that bad at all on the exterior. I am going to be laying down a sound proofing layer, carpet and then rubber mats on my interior so I am not too concerned about the interior.

Did you use 200 for the sanding?

 

[REZARF]

Wow... it's purple.

Looks like a smooth paint job though. and you dont have that "cool" primer-camo look I am getting on mine.

Drew <><

 

[joex3]

Try this for primer
dupont variprime self etching primer 615s
dupont converter 616s
joe

 

[Archengine]

Juke, I sanded all of the welds, as they were all uneven and rough, though the quality was great. Also, there was a lot of splatter on the panels, so that took a few hours aswell. And one area I spent time on was where the rear fenders were selded to the quarter panels, the aluminum distorted enough to see the lines, aswell as where the firewall is welded to the front body panels, where the kick vents are. If you don't sand them down, they will be very obvious with shiny paint. I sanded mine down a fair amount, and you can easily see where the welding was done, if you look closely. I also took 200 grit and roughed out the entire body, in and out, and below, for the paints, the undercoating, and the bed liner to adhere to.

 

[sbd40]

trained recently by alcoa finishers, they say 280 to 320 grit sand paper as a final sand. dont use any tools that have contacted steel. dont let aluminum get hot to touch by sanding for smooth finish.

 

[Jukelemon]

Hey sbd, what do you mean by final sand? What type of prep does alcoa use for the all i.e. first step? I would really be interested in hearing about all of the steps involved. I have compared boat painter's tips to auto painter's tips and there are some significant differences when it comes to Al. Just wondering about the AL indusry and if thee are even more differences.

 

[T Bob]

Did you check at the airport? Aircraft strippers/painters know all the tricks.
Just a thought.