After the appaling attempt in the summer to try and find a decent paint to paint my suspension components with I decided I should ask the experts

The best stuff I have found so far is standard automotive spray cans as available from all motor factors. However I wasnt impressed with the quality of the finish to be honest.

I have tried a few other types of paint as well, some of which give a good finish, but remain soft which is highly annoying as it gets damaged so easily.

I have heard good things about Chassis Black paint but have yet to try it out. I assume that it can be thinned and sprayed OK? I see that frosts do both POR15 and their own type of chassis black. Anybody have any experience with either?

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8756
http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8202

Also for the Frosts stuff it says if applying to bare metal it should be suitably primed, but doesnt say what sort of primer...I assume that red oxide primer would suffice?

Now I have a compressor I hope that I can get the finish that I want, in a paint that dries hard and tough.

Advice gratefully received

Cheers,
David

do a search for witham oil and paint - they supply to industry - and have a depot in cambridge - have a huge range of stuff .

Several builders on here swear by POR15 - hav e used it myself and the results CAN be very good - just don't let the wife 'help'

Following on from Volvorsport.....
http://www.withamoil.co.uk

[Edited on 15/11/05 by rsk289locost]

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Originally posted by DaveFJ
Several builders on here swear by POR15 - hav e used it myself and the results CAN be very good - just don't let the wife 'help'

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Personaly, I have had good results with smooth hammerite.
I used this on suspension components from an MGB. Ifirst fully cleaned the parts, removing all rust. Then I heated the parts to make sure they were dry, then applied spray or brush smooth hammerite.
After a year on the road, the parts were still fine.

I've never managed to get the hammer finish hammerite to work right

Thanks for the replies guys .

Jon the problem with Hammerite is that (IIRC) it contains silicon which baically contaminates your spray gun, rendering it useless for all other paints. Not a major problem if everything is painted with hammerite though!

The main reason I asked for comments on Chassis Black/POR15 is that its stupidly expensive! £20 for a pint

Frosts own Chassis Black is less expensive (£13 for a litre), and doesnt require special thinners. Has anyone used it at all??

Cheers,
David

Chassis Black is ideal for spraying up space frame chassis & is less brittle than Hammerite. I can get it in 5L tins from my local motor paint factors. They sell it to the the bus depot by the gallon for re-painting the chassis on buses. Not much good to you, I'm afraid as they are up here in Scotland. I thin it with conventional thinners. Sprays well & lasts. I sprayed the chassis of one of my classics with it 2 years ago & there isn't a spot of rust showing.

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Originally posted by Mike R-F
I sprayed the chassis of one of my classics with it 2 years ago & there isn't a spot of rust showing.

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I sprayed onto red oxide but that was because the welder who repaired it for me had primed it first. In any event, I would have primed it myself first. I gave it 3 fairly heavy coats & it has stood up really well. The thing about chassis black is that it seems to allow for chassis flex whereas Hammerite can sometimes flake off. I don't pretend to know anything about the chemical properties but I do know that a lot of the people I speak to in the classic car fraternity swear (!) by chassis black.