I have an Aluminum Weatherguard toolbox on my work truck. It is faded and every bit 15 yrs old. I want to paint it black! A litle gloss too. What paint should i use? primer? prep?
I painted some aluminum panels in an engine bay in my last car. I wiped everything clean with a degreaser and used some scotchbrite pads (just to give the paint something to bite on). Used an etching primer (from a spray can), then used a rustoleum spraypaint. I did use flat black spray, so not sure how much harder it would be to get a nice glossy finish...but the paint did stick and didn't chip off after some good miles on them. The price was right too. Not sure how fancy you want to go on your toolbox.
If the paint is just faded scuff it with 320 and shoot it. Automotive enamel or polyureathane whatever you like. Poly prime always works for me if you need primer. Thin the polyprime 10% with acetone.
Aluminum can be touchy with paint adhesion. Clean and sand it VERY well! Use a good adhesion primer, like epoxy, or one made for aluminum...Corlar, by Dupont, was an older one. Paint with any good quality paint.
Good advice here. Another primer that will work is zinc iron phosphate. One advantage of the ZIP primers for small jobs like this is that they're not catalyzed paints, so the gun cleanup is easier and cost is less. Still though, if you want the absolute best durability, prime it with 2 part epoxy. You can beadblast bare aluminum and shoot it immediately with enamel or any other similar paint, and once it dries you can peel it off like a candy wrapper. The right primer is everything when painting aluminum.
Having been employed in the paint industry I sold a product called X.I.M. primer,,for ferrous and non-ferrous metals,iron,steel,stainless steel,aluminum ,,and on and on, It is a bonding primer that is available in clear and white,,the demonstration tool was 2 pieces of aluminum pipe coated with the xim clear and then painted with white epoxy,,banged them together for years only thing that happened was a few chips in the white but it didn't release from the aluminum. I also coated a chrome bumper back in the early 80's when monochrome look was in,,it healed up as long as I owned the car. HRP
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