Painting an Airstream?

[Airstreamer67]

At the risk of getting tarred and feathered for thinking unpure thoughts :-), I was wondering if it would be feasible to simply paint my airstream with silver paint (or whatever) as an alternative to possibly more work involved with compounding and polishing.

Has anyone tried it? Pros, cons, prep and painting pointers?

[53flyingcloud]

Not all that unreasonable

It's a matter that can be found on this website.
InLandRV
Andy can answer all of your concerns.

Seems like a decent paint job can last 20 yrs or more without any failure.

Sure beats the alternatives.

The one thing you have to remember is this. So I been told, is that once painted..it very costly to go back to where you're at now.
ciao

[femuse]

Sure beats the alternatives

Other alternative:

" At the risk of getting tarred and feathered for......." doing "unpure" acts....... we have not done anything to the finish of our 3 AS

It's like washing the car: it's going to get dirty again anyway

[Chas]

It just depends on your skills and what you expect when finished. I've done both, repainted an Argosy and am currently polishing an A/S. I would say for the average Joe who has an "AMPLE" amount of free time polishing would be the least expensive and produce the best results. Let's face it, it is impossible to duplicate the vintage polished mirror look with paint. if you want a so-so silver but more gray finish close to what the more current models have then paint would be a decent choice. To properly paint a original non-painted A/S the prep time alone would probably be close to the amount of time required to polish it. The other part which I have no experience with as of yet is the amount of maint. required to keep the polished, obviously more than a painted unit. Just some thoughts

Chas

[Tripp]

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!


Tripp

[InsideOut]

We were at a rally this weekend with a painted '76 Safari.

It looked nice from a distance, more obvious that it was painted up close. Of course, it's not nearly as shiny as a polished Airstream, but it wasn't as dull as an oxidized, un-clearcoated trailer either. The owner's of it love the result, especially as they are in their 70's and would rather not be bothered with the effort involved in maintaining a polished one.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures...I don't know if you could recognize the difference in a photo ,if I had.

BTW, we were compounding and cyclo-polishing two trailers in the vintage section of the rally.... Maxwell being one of them The comments ranged from "Whatcha doing that for?" to "Ya know, once you start that, you're committed to doing it for life!" and "Boy, that really shines!!! You're gonna blind people on the road" Needless to say, we were the "entertainment" for some of the folks at the rally

Shari

[solitaire]

I recently bought a 1970 sovereign land yacht with rear bath and twin center beds. The airstream was painted in camoflage. I spent a considerable amount of money using airplane paint remover to take the paint off.
What made it possible for me to purchase this trailer was the paint job, they had to sell it cheap.
I have removed all the camoflage now I have to polish it. I think a paint job would decrease the value of the trailer. good luck...

[CaddyGrn]

We originally considered painting... then decided we liked our vintage patina. However, I think if a trailer had significant hail damage, filling and painting would be one alternative to repair it.... I have seen some with a silvery shade of gray and looked nice. Not sure how much weight it would add to the trailer.... or if that would be a consideration. I know it is in aircraft.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do!

Mrs. NorCal Bambi (traveling in S Tardis ~ from the Great State of Jefferson)

[BigAl]

I own a 94 Excella that was painted when brand new(by the dealer) and it still looks like new.
No clearcoat failure etc.
I bought it third hand.
Al

[Alumatube]

There's a painted motor home on eBay right now, so you can see what it might look like...

Susan

[Bongopop]

Has anyone prepped and painted the Airstream interior in the last -say- 4 years? Most of the blogs tips are dated. I plan to do the entire interior white, including original vinyl and cabinets. Any current advice is greatly appreciated1 Cheers!!

[pmclemore]

Interior, no. But I saw a 31' Limited at the Balloon Fiesta back in 2007 that looked fantastic. Silver, looked like mine, but better.

Pat

[Dennis C]

There's an Airstream in the Denver area that is stored at the same facility as mine. It's wrapped black. It actually looks very cool.

[rkgnaz]

Originally Posted by CaddyGrn

We originally considered painting... then decided we liked our vintage patina. However, I think if a trailer had significant hail damage, filling and painting would be one alternative to repair it.... I have seen some with a silvery shade of gray and looked nice. Not sure how much weight it would add to the trailer.... or if that would be a consideration. I know it is in aircraft.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do!

Mrs. NorCal Bambi (traveling in S Tardis ~ from the Great State of Jefferson)

As an aircraft mechanic (and pilot) I can tell you with certainty that the weight of paint is NOT significant enough to make ANY difference.
I suspect that some folks think that the weight of the paint in a can equals the weight of the applied paint. Most of the weight of a can of paint is actually just the solvents, which evaporate after the paint is applied.

[10Smiles]

I am seriously considering having my 2005 Classic painted. I would like to paint it as close a silver to the original aluminum as possible, with several clearcoat layers. The issue I have is that there is quite a bit of filiform corrosion on the skin. From a distance the trailer looks very nice but up close, it obviously has issues. The corrosion is very heavy on the front panel where the two battery doors are, it is also (much lighter) in other areas, even in the middle of the big panels (not just around seams/holes). I love the trailer and it has been modified to be very personal for the way we use it so do not want to get another one (especially at the cost newer ones sell for now). At the Region 10 rally earlier this month, there was a painted airstream; it looked pretty good, but I did not like the color (it was a silver/grey). I've also considered having the clearcoat stripped, the aluminum sanded to get rid of the filiform and re-clearcoated. I have been told that this would not last, maybe because you cannot use a high quality epoxy primer under the clearcoat. Thoughts?

[richard5933]

I saw one with the bottom painted a really nice blue, and the upper portion between the beltline and the edge of the roof polished. Looked really nice and is something I'd consider.

[BigAl]

Mine was painted 27 years ago. About 4 years ago the clearcoat on the upper areas started to fail. The best part of it is that I have had absolutely no leaks. With about 7 coats of paint(primer, base coats and clear coats) all seams and rivets are well sealed.
Now I have to decide if I spend the money on repainting for another 27 years.

[10Smiles]

I found this thread too:

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f47...5-a-10522.html

Tons of information there. I sure do miss Andy!!

[10Smiles]

Obviously, all Argosy's were painted. So painting aluminum is not rocket science...