Hey all!!

Man... this post is going to make me look like the biggest pu$$y of all time. But I'd like to ask anyways, just to be safe.

I don't know if any of you have had any experience refinishing BRUSHED ALUMINUM, but I had the gumption the other day to make my fender strut covers which are brushed aluminum and black em out with some John Deer Blitz Black. So I yanked em off, and of course the first step was to clean em up, and degrease em. Did all that, all fine and good. So then I took my Scotch Brite Red pad, and began to scuff em up, as I assumed if I wanted the self etching primer to really bond I should at least rough up the surface a wee bit. So i start ripping into it with the Scotch Brite. And that's when I notice little teeny weeny fine shiny particles floating through the air (clearly from the metal), and my nose itched ever so slightly. Being the slight hypochondriac that I am, I stopped immediately and began googling the carcinogenic properties of aluminum. hah! Apparently there aren't any, but still, I DON'T think that it's the best idea to breathe in fine particles of ANY metal.

My question - how should I proceed here? Has anyone attempted this? Or attempted this with chrome (I'm doing some chrome pieces next)? Should I get one of those breather masks, and just do the cleanup afterwards?

Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.

 

Pro metal finishers and painters always wear gloves and breathing protection of some type.

I don't, but I'm a dumbass like that.

I media blast almost everything I intend to paint. Chrome can be a bitch to cut with sheet abrasives. Doable, but takes time and patience.

 

I stripped the paint off of my tins in the last month or so. There was black metallic dust flying everywhere. I didn't wear anything for the most part, I did have sun glasses on. I did eventually put some gloves on because the axel grinder caught my finger a time or two.

I had black paint in my nose for a week.

 

Oh yeah! Those hard black boogers are the BEST!

 

Yeah.... you guys are WAY less pu$$ies than I for SURE! haha! Squishy, what did you use to strip that paint? I'm having some problems with paint bubbling and chipping due to underlying corrosion on some edges, and my FXD is only a 2009. I'd like to tackle the tins at some point as well and sand and refinish.

So did you use like one of those handheld rotary or angle sanders? Something like that may also be a quick way to scuff up these aluminum and chrome pieces I'm doing...

BTW, i went out and bought a respirator and some goggles just to further induct me into the Hall of Pu$$y. hahah!!

 

Nothing wrong with being safe.

 

Ok! So we have success!

Here's what I used:
- Duplicolor Wax and Grease Remover (and some paper towel).
- Scotch Brite Maroon sanding pads.
- Tack Cloth.
- Dish Soap haha!
- John Deere BLITZ BLACK Rattle Can. $8.
- Rustoleum Self - Etching Primer
- surgical gloves

Steps I used for this process:

1) Clean clean clean the parts! I used a brass wire brush, some mild scrubbing pad, and elbow grease. Got off any and all dirt, rust, road grime, etc. Washed parts thoroughly with dish soap and water after that. Got some Duplicolor Wax and Grease remover. Man this stuff stinks, but thoroughly cleans and degreases the metal. wiped down with that thoroughly. I did this step with some surgical gloves on, to keep my fingerprints off of the parts (so they wouldn't get rubbed in on the next step). This was probably the most time-consuming step.

2) I then got some SCOTCH BRITE (maroon) scouring pads. Bought a 5 pack on amazon. Couldn't find it anywhere else for some reason. With the gloves still on, I laced into it and sanded the parts with this, back and forth, up and down, and circular motions. Basically did this until it had a stainless steel look to it. I used a shop vac with no hose on it very close to me - this kept all those metal particles that were flying around in check. And saved me a cleaning process step.

3) With the gloves STILL on, redid the parts with the wax and grease remover again, this time even MORE thoroughly. I then got some tack cloth, and gave the parts a quick once over to get any leftover particles off.

4) Hung up the parts on a coat hanger. Then I grabbed my Rustoleum Self-Etching Primer, acquired at the local hardware store. did about 3 coats with this, about 15 minutes apart. That stuff is a weird green in color, just an FYI. Waited about 3-4 hours for complete cure.

5) The next step was easy. Paint! I wanted the flat "denim" black look, so I used JOHN DEERE BLITZ BLACK, purchased at my nearest John Deere dealer. This stuff is quite excellent, and it's almost a dead-on match to the Harley Denim paint that all these bikes are coming in nowadays. Did 4 coats with this, not too heavy. Again, about 15 mins apart. First coat covered about 50%. Next coat covered about 70-90%. Next two coats covered completely. Let cure for about 48 hours.


And below is the result! I'm super happy with them!

I should add a note here - I also repeated the same process with my rear belt guard. I wanted a wrinkle black finish for this piece, so I VERY MISTAKENLY purchased the Harley Black Powder Winkle paint, about f%@#in' $28 a can at your local stealership. I was hoping to get the whole wrinkle engine paint look, but man, I didn't get it. Instead it came out this flat black kind of look. And that was following the directions on the can to the letter. Not to mention, it kinna feels like I can scratch it just by looking at it. Not happy at all. NOT TO MENTION- the valve on the rattle can is f%ckin JUNK! It clogged and quit on me SEVERAL times and I had to redo several coats because the jet was so inconsistent. This did not occur ONCE with the JD Blitz Black rattle can. The valve was the upmost quality, did not jam up, and was perfectly consistent the whole time.

Not to mention only about $8 a rattle can. F^CK Harley Davidson.

I should add ANOTHER note here: there was quite a few dings and deep scratches on these parts BEFORE I cleaned em up and painted them, that'll be why you can see little imperfections on them. If they were new parts, this would have been flawless.

 

Yeah, I used one of those 4 1/2 round paint stripper disk on my angle grinder. It will take the paint off quickly. It also will markup the metal as well. If you consistently have a right to left pattern it makes nice grinding marks.

Oh I wasn't that brave. My stock paint was useless due to an accident that put a good chunk in my clear coat.

 

Wrinkle paint is a finicky bitch. Use of gentle heat and very careful application is the key. Inadequate film thickness will result in little or no wrinkling. Spotty thickness from heavy application where the paint gathers at edges or runs results in inconsistent wrinkling. Heat will affect the tightness of the wrinkles. Low heat from a hair dryer works pretty good. A heat gun can turn it into a very fine wrinkle quickly.

The Harley wrinkle has a satiny gloss to it
The VHT wrinkle is more flat.

The Harley texture black is really nice. I prefer the VHT wrinkle, tho. It seems easier to get right.

 

Nice! What are those "paint stripper" discs made out of? Are they just sandpaper? Stone? I think i might look into that as I will be needing something similar for a future unrelated project involving paint removal.