Top photo, two days soaking in undiluted muriatic acid. Original on the bottom.

Do you think this enough etching prior to Bulldog, epoxy primer, and black top coat? A friend of mine suggest hydo-graphics. Know nothing about it, though.

I expected all the chrome to be gone, BTW.

Looks ok to me!

Must be tough stuff if undiluted muriatic acid didn't eat all the way through it

wonder if it would powdercoat

PS undiluted muratic acid,is a gas. The stuff you get for pools is 30% acid and 70% water.....

Okay, so a two week soak in muriatic acid finally dissolved all the chrome off, but I think there is still some sort of primer on the plastic. Wonder if that would be a suitable base for the Bulldog AP?

It looks like I'll be able to dissolve all the chrome off and properly paint these plastic badges without worrying about the paint peeling off.

I've got almost all the chrome off the plastic badges. I went to the local Sherwin-Williams auto paint store to see if they had that SparVar paint someone recommended. They thought I was asking for spar polyurethane and said I should try Home Depot.

They were no help. I couldn't really find a online retailer to buy one can from.

But, I had an idea. Why couldn't I spray Bulldog AP, then black epoxy, the clear coat the epoxy with my leftover urethane? Anyone ever spray clear over black epoxy? If so, what did it look like? Any pitfalls doing it this way?

Also, opinions on Duplicolor's wheel coating for painting the badges?

It's been raining for over a week here in NW Florida, and I'm about to go bat$#!t crazy! I need something to do!

I had never heard of SparVar, so I did a quick search and found it is a Krylon paint product:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/KRY1/S181.oap
Most auto parts stores carry this type of paint (or equivalent).
ValSpar is a very popular paint brand, so its a little confusing when I first heard it...

I'm not a big fan of regular lacquer or enamel spray cans. I'm lucky to get 1 - 2 years out of these products on pieces exposed to weather in my climate.

If you can shoot 2-part automotive clear over the parts, it can greatly increase the life of the paint. You have to shoot a test panel first and make sure your clear is compatible and won't lift the paint. Allow several hours for the (spray can) paint to dry before clearing over the top.

Clearing over epoxy is not a problem (given plenty of flash time, up to 24 hours is fine for most). It will increase the gloss, but will not make the epoxy look like base coat. It still has a little bit of a dull look to it. If you flatten the clear, you can get an industrial or hot rod flat type look.

I'm very surprised it took that long for the muriatic acid to work. It's a lot more harsh than typical acids and can damage steel if exposed for too long.

Ahh a week of rain, that's child's play. Try weeks (months?) on end of rain. It can drive a car guy nuts.

vwbobby wrote:I had never heard of SparVar, so I did a quick search and found it is a Krylon paint product:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/KRY1/S181.oap
Most auto parts stores carry this type of paint (or equivalent).
ValSpar is a very popular paint brand, so its a little confusing when I first heard it...

I'm not a big fan of regular lacquer or enamel spray cans. I'm lucky to get 1 - 2 years out of these products on pieces exposed to weather in my climate.

If you can shoot 2-part automotive clear over the parts, it can greatly increase the life of the paint. You have to shoot a test panel first and make sure your clear is compatible and won't lift the paint. Allow several hours for the (spray can) paint to dry before clearing over the top.

Clearing over epoxy is not a problem (given plenty of flash time, up to 24 hours is fine for most). It will increase the gloss, but will not make the epoxy look like base coat. It still has a little bit of a dull look to it. If you flatten the clear, you can get an industrial or hot rod flat type look.

I'm very surprised it took that long for the muriatic acid to work. It's a lot more harsh than typical acids and can damage steel if exposed for too long.

Ahh a week of rain, that's child's play. Try weeks (months?) on end of rain. It can drive a car guy nuts.

Yessir. The Pacific Northwest. North American rain forest. I was stationed at Whidbey Island for a year. Seemed to be a continual light rain for weeks on end. Our rain is drenching showers and torrential rains. We got approx. 24" of rain in a 24 hour period this time last year. My house flooded. The threat of it happening again is what was making me crazy!

But, this week should be sunny.

I found someone on a local fishing forum who was willing to donate a cup of black base coat. I used Bulldog AP, then sprayed two coats of black epoxy primer using an air brush, then two coats of base coat, then two coats of clear, all with the air brush.

It will be a nice finishing touch to my Tundra.