Clear coat over polished aluminum

[matterri]

My question is how well will a clear coat over polished aluminum hold up. I know the engine covers are polished and clear coated originally. Mine were looking bad so I removed them blasted and repolished them. Now I'm wondering if a clear coat would stick to them to keep the polished look, so they won't need repolishing all the time. I know paint usually requires a somewhat rough surface to stick to, so I'm thinking the polished aluminum is too smooth for the new clear coat to stick to. If not, how did Suzuki do it originally.
Thanks.

 

[TONY.STEWART]

That's a good question... I tried some clear powder coating on a small piece that I polished and the finish came out awful. Instead of leaving a nice shiny coat, it rippled all up and made a mess. I was forced to remove the coating with a media blaster and start over. Don't know what would happen with paint. Also don't know if I should have found another way to prepare the surface (just cleaned it real well with soap and warm water, then obviously dried it thoroughly). Sorry I don't have an idea of what works... just what DIDN'T work for me. Any thoughts out there?

 

[Billy Ricks]

The trouble with clear coat on aluminum is that eventually oxidation creeps back under the clear. That's a bigger mess to get rid of than just leaving them uncoated and polishing again before they get to looking crappy. A little Simichrompoli does wonders if you do the cases once in awhile.

 

[ericox]

just a heads up, i learned that powdercoating over aluminum acutally causes a brownish tint (due to heat) in the aluminum. I had my sportster parts pc'ed and wanted to do the clearcoat and the guys said they will do it but showed me a part done that way, nasty. They generally refuse to do clear on aluminum for that reason.

 

[Road_Clam]

My question is how well will a clear coat over polished aluminum hold up. I know the engine covers are polished and clear coated originally. Mine were looking bad so I removed them blasted and repolished them. Now I'm wondering if a clear coat would stick to them to keep the polished look, so they won't need repolishing all the time. I know paint usually requires a somewhat rough surface to stick to, so I'm thinking the polished aluminum is too smooth for the new clear coat to stick to. If not, how did Suzuki do it originally.
Thanks.

On my restoration I used Duplicolor 500F clear coat that I got from my local Napa auto store. have severall polished aliminum, and bare steel parts clear coated on my bike, and the Duplicolor stuff worked awesome.

 

[GSBuilder]

Napa also carries a product intended EXACTLY for prolonging the polished look in their Wizard line of products... I can't remember the name, but my local NAPA (where I work) has a display with some stuff on it and it works pretty well.

 

[UncleMike]

What about a good coat of wax? The good paste stuff,...

 

[XJeRge]

Clearcoat from duplicolor/motip works great for me.

Started with a real thin first layer, than built up to a second and a third layer.
Lasted for months now and grime/dirt doesn't really seems to bother it.

 

[Guest]

how long has your clear been on? I know there is a big problem with adheasion and yellowing. The big custom shops around here haven't been too successful with clears.