I have six or seven VERY hard to find Stars for my ‘56 Meteor Rideau project wheel covers. They are pot metal so I thought I might fill the pits with All MetalHi Temp filler and then file, sand them. From there I was hoping to powder coat them to get the proper gold look. Would I need to have the older plating stripped? Thoughts?
Probably don't need to strip the old plating, but I tried using Lab Metal to fix some weld issues, on steel, when I made some trim pieces for an OT car. I tried the chrome look powder coat, myself ( I have an Eastwood kit for doing small parts), and the Lab metal did not hold up under the 350* temps needed to do the powder. I eventually gave up and sent them to a good chrome plater to get done "right". He was easily able to fill the small imperfections and give me beautiful pieces back. So maybe try it with one piece, to see if it works for you, esp. since they are hard to find.
I own a powder coat shop, been coating for almost 20 years. I use JB Weld, the original stuff, not the 5 min stuff. Make sure it's mixed throughly. If you have a blast cabinet, lightly blast it to clean out any pitting. If you get edges that are flaked, blended em with sandpaper or rolac disc. Then apply the filler. I usually clean the part with brake cleaner or thinner before applying the fill to clean any pits, this helps with adhesion. Heat it up to out gas it before applying the fill. Lab Metal does work, they make 2 different types. Make sure it's the high temp stuff if you use it. What I like about Lab Metal is that it sands easier then JB Weld. Columbia Coatings makes a "High Build" out gas primer filler that works very well. If you have a lot of tiny pits, you may want to order a pound of it and apply rather then a filler like JB Weld. The High Build Primer sands like bondo and the adhesion is very good. Then just apply your color coat like usual
Thanks for the replies guys! I guess I’m on the right track and now I don’t have to worry about removing the original plating!
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