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Posted By Discussion Topic: Stainless hupcap -- painting     nelsb01 04-05-2016 @ 4:42 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 983 Joined: Oct 2009 Just got my 1936 hubcap stainless covers back from the stainless repair guy. They look great, and as with any polishing, the grooves that the paint is suppose to go in are just as polished as the rest. As us wide 5 hubcap guys know, the indents on the 1936 stainless are painted – body color or the wonderful standard black. So, the question is – how do you go about ‘roughing’ up the grooves so that paint will stick? And while on that subject, anyone had success with just using masking tape to tape off the edges? Or I once heard (years ago-so it maybe a rumor) that coating the edge with grease (Vaseline) also works and keeps the paint from sticking where you don’t want it, but you have to be very careful not to get it into the grooves. I asked the stainless repair guy about ideas on pressing the stainless back onto the steel hubcap. He suggested using thick pink styrofoam, cutting a concave circle to match the stainless curve, and then using a 2x4 and a hydraulic press. Put some foam on the press tray, then the steel hubcap, and then fit the stainless over the hubcap. Put the Styrofoam over the stainless and then the 2x4. Slowly crank down the press and the stainless should snap on. I will be trying this with a non-polished stainless first. Appreciate any responses if you have either had success painting and also re-installing the stainless on the cap. Drbrown 04-05-2016 @ 10:59 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 570 Joined: Nov 2013 My opinions/thoughts re painting, (1) consult your local paint store about spray can primers for polished metal surfaces - there are a variety. (2) assuming you are using a custom-mix body color and doing a small paint job, the paint would likely be applied by brush. Grease or Vaseline will not work as a masking agent in this case and regardless would give you an uneven paint edge and may contaminate the paint edge itself. If masking tape is too much work to apply and trim, especially on four hub caps, try using an old-fashioned school pencil compass (Dollar store?) to duplicate the various circles on brown wrapping paper or a coated paper, and cutting them out to make re-useable patterns. Apply them to the hub caps using a light spray of adhesive (spray cans available at Office Supply stores) on the back of the paper pattern and pressing them in-place. That spray adhesive mounting glue is basically a rubber cement product which can be pealed away. Using a minimal amount of spray adhesive should allow you to reuse the paper circle patterns on more than one hub cap. Any adhesive residue can be removed with either paint thinner, alcohol etc after the paint is dry. If any lettering, you'll need to use masking tape. This message was edited by Drbrown on 4-5-16 @ 11:26 PM nelsb01 04-06-2016 @ 6:22 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 983 Joined: Oct 2009 Great idea. I really appreciate you sharing your idea. That's what makes this Forum great! Thanks. len47merc 04-06-2016 @ 12:24 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1165 Joined: Oct 2013 Use 3M pin striping tape - very easy to create accurate curved and straight edges and adjust/re-adjust as you go. Peel the tape off just prior to the paint becoming so tacky that it may leave a jagged edge from the paint lifting with the tape - this will take some initial trial-and-error tests/work. To answer your specific question, I wrapped emery cloth over the end of a Popsicle stick and with precision very slightly roughed-up the surface to be painted, then patient application of the 3M pin striping tape, then used the correct color of '1 Shot Sign Painters'' paint along with their reducer and hardener and two different pin striping brushes (needed input from the EFV8 tech adviser for my year to ensure the right color selection). Put the paint in a plastic bathroom Dixie cup and then using a pipette mixed in 3-5 drops of reducer and a couple of drops of hardener. The amount of reducer and hardener you use can and will affect viscosity and dry time - use it judiciously(!) and test in advance the amount that works best for you. I painted the first of my 4 hubcaps 5 times before getting the process 'right', stripping it each time with paint thinner and then re-taping. With the 5th one I got the timing and number of drops of reducer and hardener just right and the edges were crisp and clean. It also takes some practice to figure out just how thick you should apply the paint (as well as the optimum number of drops of reducer and hardener) so that it will flow out smooth and not leave any signs of brush strokes. I also painted and let dry limited areas of the convex areas of the caps to ensure they flowed as level and smooth as possible while minimizing any edge 'ponding'. Going on 3 years now (20-30 degrees winter temps, 95 degrees summers) with no chips, cracks or lifting, so the emery cloth 'roughing' in addition to the paint must be doing the job (thermal expansion/contraction, basic adhesion, etc.). Patience-patience-patience. Each hubcap, even after refining the process with the initial 5-peat effort, took 4-5 hours+ (prep, paint, section dry/tape lift, paint, section dry/tape lift, etc.) to make it look first-class. TIPS - place Saran/plastic wrap then aluminum foil both on top of the Dixie cup with the paint/reducer/hardener in it to prevent curing of the paint/paint loss when not painting. The 1-Shot goes a very, very long way - I used an eye-dropper style pipette to remove the paint from the can as well (versus pouring or dipping). Of the smallest sized 1-Shot can, over 50% remains even with all the initial testing I did. A 1/4-1/3 full Dixie cup of 1-Shot will most likely and easily address one cap, of course depending upon the cap year/style and amount of area to be painted. Start out with a 1/4 full Dixie plastic bathroom cup and adjust upward as you practice on your first cap. Steve This message was edited by len47merc on 4-6-16 @ 2:39 PM

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