Alloy Cleaning/Polishing

[Skylarking]

Yeah, cerakote is like some of those overpriced vehicle ceramic coating systems that require official training which is only given to people who intend to operate in specific regions. IMO, it’s a type of closed shop, pay to play scheme that helps to make it profitable for the operator and thus overpriced for any capable end customer who can and is happy to do it themselves

The cerakote manual can be downloaded from their website but is linked here for those interested. Seems easy enough to do, with lots of cleaning being an important part of the process with careful spraying being the simpler part and a heat cure for the H series coatings or air drying for the C series coating.

Really, it doesn’t seem complex enough to make it impossible for someone to DIY at home, especially the c series coatings, which is why I dislike such business models and why I haven’t bought any of their product needing an official applicator to do wha5 I’m sure we are all capable of doing at home

So I haven’t used cerakote H or C series coatings but they do make a cerakote headlight restorer that looks interesting and easy to use. With the headlight restorer, the interesting part is what the final coating is made of, is it just a UV clear coat of something closer to that used in the actual manufacturer of the headlights? I’ve not tried it myself but it does look easy and thus interesting

 

[harrop.senator]

Yeah , it's hard to replicate the system though. I don't like pyramid scheme spec products either.

But I've used 3-4 different hi temp exhaust paints and never had much luck.

But when they want $450 to blast and ceramic coat a 4 cylinder turbo header with $80 of product on it you do some research yourself lol.

 

[Forg]

But these alloy parts won't be copping exhaust temps will they?
You're not comparing paints on exhausts to paints elsewhere are you? For example, you can rattle-can a block & the paint stays put.

 

[harrop.senator]

No lol I'm not comparing painting clear aluminium to exhaust components.

I was saying cerakote at home or cheaper single item paid is the only thing I know definitely works on polished aluminium and has a long lasting effect.

The other is anodising.

Aluminium and all non ferrous metals require an etched surface for paint to stick with great success.

You can get lacquer in a clear that sticks to non ferrous , but I don't know about heat or UV resistance as is designed for ornamental brass and copper. Usually stored inside and not directly above a set of headers. Then trapped under a piece of steel with hot air rising past them.

Clear on alloy usually goes wrong in three ways.

It yellows off which is usually UV reaction or heat.

It gets corrosion between the layers due to it to not completely protecting it from the elements.

Or it flakes and lifts

The clear on the centre of my hbd wheels is lifting. They have black inserts you can't usually anodize and paint.

Xxr wheels have been seen to flake in as quickly as six months.

Dad had his ford racing Cleveland covers mirror polished , fins painted boss yellow and cleared. Against my reccomendation.

Not only does a standard clear not attach to aluminium or properly seal it due to not being etched. The fact that the polishing is so fine. 3000 grit wet by hand will still mark a polished aluminium face. 3000 with a da will polish it but a denim wheel , soft wheel , or hand polish will being the surface up and be even finer again so not people do.

Paint doesn't stick to overly smooth surfaces at all , it's one of the biggest reasons paints fail. And polishing is the definition of smoothing a surface to perfection.

The manifold on your car was freshly blasted which is one of the best adhesion surface finishes there is for a paint.

Most rough cast aluminium wheels usually even have a clear over them but once again not a polished surface so holds up longer.

Cerakote came up on exhausts because I'm willing to use it on those and there glacier chrome looks just as good as any aluminium I'd polished. So I'd use that before there clear if I was going to clear over a polished surface.

I just keep on top of my raw aluminium polishing. I've tried some clears in the past and the work to strip it , fix the corrosion underneath and re apply is more then regular maintenance in my opinion.

 

[Forg]

Now you mention it, though, it did yellow a bit. And you don't get much UV under there!

 

[panhead]

Dad had his ford racing Cleveland covers mirror polished , fins painted boss yellow and cleared.

The rocker covers were polished to a mirror finish and coated by the manufacturer when I bought them.

I used to clean them down regularly to keep the shiny chrome look.

When I covered the car and let is sit for about 18 months I didn't expect them to deteriorate the way they did, the factory coating offered no protection at all.

This is how they looked before the damage.

After a while I thought I'd gotten the look wrong and the other chrome bits you can see in the photos that I originally fitted like the radiator guard/shroud and shock tower brackets have since been replaced with matte black items and it's the reason I wanted to also remove the shine from the rocker covers.

I think of chromed up engine bays as being 1970/80's.

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[VS 5.0]

The rocker covers were polished to a mirror finish and coated by the manufacturer when I bought them.

I used to clean them down regularly to keep the shiny chrome look.

When I covered the car and let is sit for about 18 months I didn't expect them to deteriorate the way they did, the factory coating offered no protection at all.

This is how they looked before the damage.

After a while I thought I'd gotten the look wrong and the other chrome bits you can see in the photos that I originally fitted like the radiator guard/shroud and shock tower brackets have since been replaced with matte black items and it's the reason I wanted to also remove the shine from the rocker covers.

I think of chromed up engine bays as being 1970/80's.





View attachment 227128

View attachment 227129





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Is that belt on properly ?

 

[panhead]

Is that belt on properly ?

Yep.

It's perfectly lined up and you can hear the whine from two streets away.







.

 

[harrop.senator]

Yep.

It's perfectly lined up and you can hear the whine from two streets away.
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Might wanna loosen the belt before you cook the pump and alternator then lol. Or does it get driven that little that the noise is more important?

That belt does look like it's walking but , probably the funny photo angle.

 

[lmoengnr]

Might wanna loosen the belt before you cook the pump and alternator then lol. Or does it get driven that little that the noise is more important?

That belt does look like it's walking but , probably the funny photo angle.

Looks like the pulley is a lot wider than the belt.