yea so ive seen all the average do it yourself threads that show you how to do it with wrinkle paint and bake it in the oven and all that shit but wrinkle paints really hard to find and if i did find it it was only in red or black. i want to do a crazy color like yellow or green or something different. so what kinda paint do you use and whats the technique you use?

 

i used the duplicolor anodized blue on mine......it came out awesome, looks like a candy paint. i dont know what the whole put it in an oven and bake is all about, i just primed the valve cover, then used the metalic stage of the duplicolor anodized paint, let it dry, then sprayed the blue on. you have to do it lightly, and VERY evenly, because the color is opaque(spelling). if done right, it turns out awesome. matches my unothodox pullies almost exactly.

 

oven method is rattle can. i think he wants a rattle can method not spray gun method (which is what i think youre talking about)

you can got to walmart or wherever and get any color in the rainbow. you just have to make sure its the high temperature variety.

 

advanced has a wrinkled primer that way you could find any color you want as long as its heat efficient it should do fine

 

hell no. my valve cover is rattle can. duplicolr man, auto zone, advanced, pep boys. ive used rustoleum out of a can, that works well and looks GREAT. i think youve guys got it backwards though. you bake on paint when you shoot it through a gun, or if you powder coat. really only HAVE to do it for powder coat. as for spray cans.....ive never baked it, and they always look great! if you want a sick look, use the duplicolr products, they have a shit ton of diffrent looks. if you want a nice, clean shiny look, get rustoleum. thats just my 2 cents worth, i dont know what everyone else does, but i know what works for me!

 

and ive heard the wrinkled look doesnt hold up over time, it just starts to flake off....dont know if its true or not.

 

thanks, and yea my b16 is flaking off a little around the honda symbol, thats what made me wanna paint it, and i kinda want to do something crazy aha

 

wow... good info +rep... thinking hard about doing my valve cover after seeing the DIY on the 8thcivicsi forum. i always thought the baking was done to sort of flash dry it (in a sense) and prevent the flaking spoken of below.

 

No need for high temp paint, it doesn't really get that hot. Some types of standard rattle can paint will fade over time at valve cover temps, but that depends on the type of paint and the color. Most slow drying paints (not Krylon, etc) will do a great job, and won't have any problem with the heat. Generally faster drying types of paint will have worse durability and adhesion, which is part of the compromise that comes with fast-drying convenience.

Paint flaking is usually caused by poor prep or incompatible paints. Wrinkle paints that are applied in a thin layer (spray can paints, etc) don't have much surface area to adhere to the metal or underlying primer, and tend to flake. It's the same with matte finish paints, they just have less mechanical adhesion than gloss paints.

As far as the baking goes, it's going to get plenty of heat cycles under the hood. Don't worry about it. Usually only 2 part (and some other types of catalyzed) paints need to be baked; there is a polymerization reaction that the baking speeds up, which is why baked paints are really hard and durable. It would take a really long time for the reaction to go to completion under normal temperature conditions, so in this case you absolutely need the baking. Sometime single part paints are baked too, but in that case you're helping the solvents to flash off quicker, so the paint just cures much faster. If you have a paint that must be baked, you can't rely on the engine temp to do it for you though; neither the heat or the cure time are controlled enough to ensure good results.

 

x2 what he said.

good prep is KEY though.....dont just sprey over whats already there. clean it completley, strip it if need be, sand it down, prime it. ive had the best results with rustoleum for solids, and duplicolor wheel paint works great. theres also duplicolor clear, for added paint durability. ill try to upload a pic tomorrow of the nx valve cover, i think the anodized look is kinda baller. they make green/purple/red/blue/yellow that i know of. its not cheap as spray paint goes, to do it right itll cost about 20 bucks in paintto do the anodized look. but its worth it.