Just got my savvy gas tank and engine skid and I would love to leave at least the engine skid as aluminum. I've heard that after awhile untreated aluminum doesn't look good. What can I spray on it to protect it?
Clear coat spray for savvy aluminum skids
- Thread starter MaloStapalo
- Start date
Get some Mothers and buff it out to look like a mirror!
Think semi rims
(I just left mine to oxidize)
Think semi rims
(I just left mine to oxidize)
OP
Blind everyone when the sun hits it just right.
Looking for more of a plain clear coat type.
Krylon K01303A07 Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating Aerosol Spray, 6 Ounce https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001K65K26/?tag=wranglerorg-20
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Ol...vmjWwBhkRbzSNnVoPc1QTsAjDIsLZXtgaAi_AEALw_wcB
This clear coat has a hardener in it and provided exceptional clear coating. Expensive but worth it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0043B7UQY/?tag=wranglerorg-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0043B7UQY/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Use what the extra anal aluminum hull boat guys use.
http://www.sharkhide.com/sharkhide_metal_protectant.htm
http://www.sharkhide.com/sharkhide_metal_protectant.htm
I was going to send them to Indy to have them anodized black but they had a 3-4 week backlog. Just decided to mount them in the raw. And scratches would show in the anodize. They won't be driven in the salt here so they should "weather" with a natural protective layer of oxidation.
Write wheels like on my '03 GMC have some sort of clear plasticized coating on them them goes to hell after a few years in the salt. Guy have stripped the plastic of and polished the alum underneath with good results. But they need an annual polish.
Not sure how clear coat would adhere, usually it goes on top of paint which went on top of primer.
I still might take a buffer to the back of the fuel tank skid!
Write wheels like on my '03 GMC have some sort of clear plasticized coating on them them goes to hell after a few years in the salt. Guy have stripped the plastic of and polished the alum underneath with good results. But they need an annual polish.
Not sure how clear coat would adhere, usually it goes on top of paint which went on top of primer.
I still might take a buffer to the back of the fuel tank skid!
I've left mine bare. This was last year (two years installed). The yellow tint is yellow sweet clover I was parked in front of.
The Sharkhide stuff is supposed to be really good!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZQKPL4/?tag=wranglerorg-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZQKPL4/?tag=wranglerorg-20
OP
In SoCal my bare aluminum Savvy gas tank skid plate, corner guards, and rocker guard base plate did fine.
Bare aluminum aircraft fuselages do fine too.
Bare aluminum aircraft fuselages do fine too.
They are absolutely beautiful, but they also take thousands of hours of polishing to keep the looking that way...Carnuba wax helps...
4speedhandler
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you could get it done with clear powdercoating but thats gonna be like $100 minimum more realistically $150+
Few aluminum aircraft are polished like those, but most look fine unpolished same as my Savvy aluminum parts. Maybe not for long where the roads are salted but mine looked fine in SoCal the 3-4 years before that Jeep's theft.
They painted a 51 at my local airport at the paint shop, it was not polished, they painted it silver to make it easier to maintain the finish than sticking with the polished finish. With a few airports using urea to deice runways, it is hard on the finish of aluminum. They are gorgeous though...pure sexy...
OP
Thank you for your input, I'm thinking it's going to be all good and fine and no different than what my savvy aluminum arms look like after a year.
Bead blast and clear powdercoat.
it cost me $80 to get my skid p/c.
It's 6061 aluminum which holds up well and doesn't get the surface oxidation like 5052.
Any of the heat treatable aluminums do really well uncoated.
I got every piece of my Savvy UA powder coated except the main skid. Doesn't make sense to me to power coat aluminum that is intentionally going to be beat up against rocks. My Savvy GTS also looks fine after a bunch of rock hits and multiple winters. I expect the UA to do the same. I personally wouldn't bother adding any extra coatings Savvy aluminum armor.
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It is, here is my boat after two years of use. Sharkhide is awesome! But, beware if you actually use your skids, it will come right off.
Raw aluminum only looks like it does from the mill once. No amount of polish, clear, buffing will ever make it look the same again.
4speedhandler
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