Interior aluminum clear coating

[Devain]

Does anyone know a good clear coating for the aluminum panels that will stand up to repeated cleaning? Just stripped the vinyl from the shower panel.
Thanks for any help.

[Belegedhel]

Against my better judgement, I am installing entirely new raw aluminum skins in my trailer. Having reskinned my door, I have already learned how quickly the raw aluminum corrodes when one brushes a sweaty shoulder against it and doesn't immediately spritz with distilled water and wipe with lint from a baby's belly button.

I started a thread looking for the precoated "factory" aluminum, and when I found out where I could get it, and how much it cost, I gave that up right away. The trajectory of that thread changed to clear-coats for raw aluminum. One of the participants was going to try rolling on a clear coat called something like "diamond brite," but apparently he ran into trouble and never reported back what the solution was.

So anyway, I am right there with you, looking for some means of keeping the new interior from becoming a major maintenance headache. might look into spraying the Diamond stuff around.

[Belegedhel]

Here is the thread I started:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f46/...um-112718.html

[Mixter]

Originally Posted by Belegedhel

Here is the thread I started:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f46/...um-112718.html

Hey soooo.... are you going to use that Diamond Finish??

Seems like a Harbor Freight hvlp sprayer would take care of this pretty nicely.

As of now, I plan to clean up the vinyl coated panels, "IF" they clean up to be a simple, usable white. If they dont clean up I will have to rethink the plan. Painting them sounds easier than stripping or replacing.

Regardless of how that goes, I'm going to have to do my segmented endcaps with aluminum... out of necessity more than desire since mine are junk.. I think it will be cool, and I'm sure I'll be glad I did it after the extent of this renovation, but would rather have good endcaps to just pop back in to save time.

That said.... I hadnt considered protecting the aluminum, so glad I saw this thread. This will be added to the list!

[Melody Ranch]

I am the guilty one. I bought and used the Diamond bright coating. I followed their directions to the letter. The application was a failure and now I am stuck with it. I can't afford all new aluminum skins again and stripping is out of the question. The problem was the prep. I used MEF and washed it afterward. That MEK leaves a residue which reacted with the coating and caused a rough finish. In the places I had less residue the coating was good. It looks and acts like a clear POR. Very durable. The tech support was good, but all the help I got was "oops!" I would use it again but be very wary of the prep.

[Belegedhel]

So what is the proper prep? As I recall, you applied it with a roller--did that work well? In retrospect, would you use a sprayer?

Thanks!

[Melody Ranch]

I used a roller per the tech rep. The material flowed real nice and result was nice. USE THEIR WASH after the panel cleaning. I think I am going to try the product again this week on a new project....a rebuilt and skinned entry door. It will need protection and take a lot of wear.....This will be a real test for them. I will use the roller again...a small 4 inch one.

[Harperbear]

Can someone update how this turned out? I stripped some of my panels yesterday before i read this thread. Looking back maybe i should have just repainted. Oh well.