What could I use to help out my faded metalflake? I know you can wet sand gel but I don't know about my paint? An old schooler told me about baby oil bringing back the shine
New gel isn't in the cards right now even though I know that's the right answer
that sucks. I have heard of some people wet sanding it and then respraying clear coat over it. Not sure how well it works though, I think that once the color is gone with the metal flake, its time to redo. Maybe if you were careful you could scrape the metal flake off and expose some gel. A razor blade is great for scraping off old paint, but Id try it in an inconspicuous place first.
With Flake in the Paint you would have to be very careful not to cut into it by wet sanding.
If it's just a solid color...micro fine (wet) paper followed up with polish and a Wool buffer would do the trick. That worked great for my dull surface.
I would be very careful with the flake...but try it with a small area.
That's what I was thinking. Thanks anyway.
4speed,
Star Brite makes a product called Glass Cote that's a deep bonding acrylic/urethane clear coat. I just bought a qt of it for one of my boats but haven't tried it myself yet.
I did see a boat today that was done last year and it looked great. The owner told me that the clear gel over the original metalflake was to the point that you could get the metalflake on your hand if you touched it. The finish was a high gloss and very smooth but you could see where the metalflake was a bit thinner in the worst areas.
Apparently the key to it is getting all the dirt and old wax completely off.
As I said, I haven't tried it myself but I'm looking forward to giving it a try. BTW, it costs about $24.00 a qt, not cheap but by far less money than new gel.
Fryjet did his metal flake and it turned out awesome. He tried buffing it out first and it fell out and got cloudy fast. After clearing it it stayed. I know others who have wet sanded and cleared their gel and I haven't seen any horror stories yet. Good luck.
Cy
Originally posted by Cas
4speed,
Star Brite makes a product called Glass Cote that's a deep bonding acrylic/urethane clear coat. I just bought a qt of it for one of my boats but haven't tried it myself yet.
I did see a boat today that was done last year and it looked great. The owner told me that the clear gel over the original metalflake was to the point that you could get the metalflake on your hand if you touched it. The finish was a high gloss and very smooth but you could see where the metalflake was a bit thinner in the worst areas.
Apparently the key to it is getting all the dirt and old wax completely off.
As I said, I haven't tried it myself but I'm looking forward to giving it a try. BTW, it costs about $24.00 a qt, not cheap but by far less money than new gel.
Hmmmm. Got me thinking(uh-oh)
How much is needed to cover the topside of the boat? The flake is still good, just lost it's shine
All it says is to apply the Glass Cote in 2 or 3 very thin coats waiting 5 to 15 minutes between each coat. Based on that, I bought the qt to do the bow of a 21' mini day cruiser.
I went thru this on mine, bought a fancy high speed buffer and some good compound and polish (3M perfect-it), wet sanded from 1000 grit to 1500, then buffed, made it shine again, but there were still small pits I couldn't get under. Next, I bought a can of clear Krylon and shot some on a freshly sanded (1000 grit) area of deck, it looked much richer and uniform, this gave me an idea of what a clear coat would do. I would just use an automotive clear, simple, fast and cheap (I still plan to shoot mine before summer).
Finally something I can help out with. I tried the colorsanding, buffing and waxing deal just to have it fall out over one weekend. I decided to go ahead and clear the brown metalflake and it was the best thing I did for it. I used Martin-Senor Urathane clear, applied it fairly heavy and wetsanded and buffed the crap out of it. Alot of people get skechy about sanding metalflake but I can tell you it takes alot to go through it and even if you do happen to do it the clear will hide alot of it. Hit it with 600 grit, mask it, hit it with wax and grease remover, shoot it, wet sand it, buff it, wax it and your done. I did it in 2 full days. Hope it helps.
F.J.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/...954upeF181.jpg
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/...954upeF2E3.jpg
Oh ya, resist the urge to buy cheap clear, it wont last and isnt very tough. The UV protection is what really helps and you will pay for it. I used about half a quart, but when it was all said and done with reducer and all it was around 150.00, well worth it to me. I had to do the initial cut on mine with 600 just to get the orange peel out (my first time with a gravity feed gun) so that tells you how tough this stuff is.
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