I'm wondering if anyone has hydro dipped? I'm wanting to dip all of my blasted front suspension components in rustoleum enamel (not spray paint) .What little I've read is that the paint sinks when being poured into the water?
Hydro dipping?
- Thread starter ppsi
- Start date
-
I have. But only firearms. Held up pretty well but I'm not sure I'd do it on suspension components. I don't think its tough enough.
If I use rustoleum enamel I would think it should work the same is if I dipped it in the paint straight no?
no idea, never tried it. I would be curious to see your results if you try it.
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
Eastwood's chassis paint would hold up to the constant blasting of road debris.
Once cured it is pretty tough stuff.
Eastwood Original Chassis Black Satin Underbody Paint
Darticon
Well-Known Member
You don't want the paint to sink when poured in... It has to be thinned or already thin enough that when you pour it in it spreads on the surface of the water creating a thin film. When you dip the part it is only going through this thin film of paint which wraps around the part. This is how you get all the funky swirls and stuff when using multiple colors.
Depend upon what you are going for. Durability or pretty swirl patterns. If you are looking to do the patterned dip I would still prep all your parts with a good rust encapsulator. Otherwise there are much better ways to get a strong coating on your parts than hydro dipping. Chassis Saver, Por-15, Eastwood chassis and even Rustoleums farm implement paint brushed on will be stronger.
I really like getting stuff powder coated. Found that our local drive-line shop would give me a discount if I had the parts prepped and had wire hangers on all of them. So all they had to do was hang up all the parts and coat them when they were doing a big batch. Did the full differential this way. Suppose it only really works for parts that don't have rubber bushings and stuff that can't survive the oven though.
Video of a guy dipping a guitar but will give you a good idea of what's going on:
DIY Swirling a Guitar body with Testors Enamels - AMAZINGLY SIMPLE! - YouTube
Depend upon what you are going for. Durability or pretty swirl patterns. If you are looking to do the patterned dip I would still prep all your parts with a good rust encapsulator. Otherwise there are much better ways to get a strong coating on your parts than hydro dipping. Chassis Saver, Por-15, Eastwood chassis and even Rustoleums farm implement paint brushed on will be stronger.
I really like getting stuff powder coated. Found that our local drive-line shop would give me a discount if I had the parts prepped and had wire hangers on all of them. So all they had to do was hang up all the parts and coat them when they were doing a big batch. Did the full differential this way. Suppose it only really works for parts that don't have rubber bushings and stuff that can't survive the oven though.
Video of a guy dipping a guitar but will give you a good idea of what's going on:
DIY Swirling a Guitar body with Testors Enamels - AMAZINGLY SIMPLE! - YouTube
My thought is that hydro dipping is a way to dip parts without needing a whole lot of paint. I think that a 1/2 - 3/4" of paint sitting on top of a few gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket is basically the same as having just paint in the bucket. Chrysler dipped a lot of parts in paint. IMO dipping will provide a thick coating and will easily get into the detailed metal work of a lower control arm for example.
What I may try is putting a piece of saran wrap on top of the water before pouring unthinned paint on top. Then just remove the saran wrap or put something in that will sink it to the bottom. Hopefully the saran wrap will prevent the paint from sinking.
Fwiw I like the fact that dipping is fast and easy. Spraying is fine but dipping is quick and leaves a thick layer of paint without the cleanup and waste that comes with spraying.
What I may try is putting a piece of saran wrap on top of the water before pouring unthinned paint on top. Then just remove the saran wrap or put something in that will sink it to the bottom. Hopefully the saran wrap will prevent the paint from sinking.
Fwiw I like the fact that dipping is fast and easy. Spraying is fine but dipping is quick and leaves a thick layer of paint without the cleanup and waste that comes with spraying.
66jim
Well-Known Member
Thicker layers of paint tend to chip easier then thin ones. It has been my experience to thin the rustoleum and spray it. This seems to soak into the pores of the metal much better than a thick dipped part. Spray cans are not thinned enough, use a gun an mix it very watery.
66 Valiant wagon
Well-Known Member
I used Rustoleums rusty metal primer and followed up with that Seymores stainless steel paint and it looks great! As far as how its gonna hold up? who knows. The Rustoleum primer was very thin in the quart can and I brushed it on. I seemed to go on very nicely.
-
