Anybody know if auto paint sticks to stainless steel?

[dre1919]

I was thinking of spraying my minimag body with auto paint and then sealing it with a clear coat. From what I've read online, nail polish sticks to stainless steel so I thought perhaps automotive paint would. Plus, I know I've been to a car show before where someone had painted a DeLorean red (why I have no idea).

Thanks,
Andrew

[cyberave68]

You can get it to stick no prob. The prob is getting it to stay. You need to prep the surface for painting. Sand it with a very fine grit paper to give the paint something to stick to. You also may want to put a nice primer on it first. Take some pics along the way and post them up so we can all see your hard work....

[marked74]

Yup - give it a good sanding (800 grit maybe?) to scuff up the surface enough for paint to stick. Paint likes microsized ridges like that, and doesn't like super smooth. Primer it, maybe 2 coats. Let that dry, sand that a bit with a higher grit (maybe 1200) and then hit with 2-3 coats of paint. You can sand in between coats if you want to get rid of surface imperfections. Just don't sand the top layer before the clearcoat A few coats of clear is good too - again you can wet sand (few drops of water on really high grit sandpaper - 1500-2000) in between coats to smooth the surface out.

More coats of clear = more durability, but I don't know if painting would affect tolerances and therefore cause any behavioral changes in the gun performance. My experience is with painting stainless and aluminum alloy things other than gun bodies...

Supposedly you can cure the finish better by baking it. If you do this, get a throwaway toaster oven that you will never again use for cooking food, and do it in a well ventilated area - the fumes are toxic. About 100-150 degrees for an hour is awesome.

[punkncat]

A fellow I (used to) know has a Delorean and painted it. It was coated with some special bonding agent prior to painting.

If you just spray paint the body it is going to chip off rather quickly.

Oh and uh...you guys do realize that sanding a SS body with very fine paper is just going to polish it, right?

[marked74]

Oh and uh...you guys do realize that sanding a SS body with very fine paper is just going to polish it, right?

Yeah just don't go too fine. I suggested 800 grit as a starting point, 400 is pretty rough stuff. The higher grits I mentioend were for the layers of paint, not the body itself.

[SR_matt]

to really polish it your going to need to get above 2000 in paper then start looking at polishing compounds.

an easy way and a little more even way would be to sand blast, all you need is a big bucket, a large funnel, a bag of blasting sand and all you do it hold the part in the bucket and hold the funnel over the piece with a bunch of sand in it and instant sand blaster. prevents getting a lot of deep/long scratches and gives a good prep

-matt

[JKR]

I tried painting a Classic body. It turned out well but didn't hold up - the paint is chipping. Granted, I didn't use a good quality auto paint, just some spray primer, black enamel, and clear coat - all from a spray can.

Best of luck to you - hope yours holds up beter that mine did!

[paint magnet]

You might also try Dura Coat, which is designed for firearms. It's supposed to be very durable and comes in just about every color auto paint does.

Forgot the website at the moment, but google should bring it up.

[MoeMag]

You might also try Dura Coat, which is designed for firearms. It's supposed to be very durable and comes in just about every color auto paint does.

Forgot the website at the moment, but google should bring it up.

Yeah I second that. FEP did some really slick ACU desert camo Dura coat jobs on some quest's a while back. It turned out REALLY well.