Chassis/Suspension Paint

The other post on engine paint prompted me to post this. I'm looking for chassis paint for my race car. Much of the suspension, undercarriage, cage, and interior of the car will be painted with the same stuff. Looking for that light gray color you often see on race cars.

What stuff are people using? Obviously looking for something durable that will handle sun exposure (I've heard POR-15 fails here).

This is relevant to my interests. Also spray or brush? Brush seems like it would be cleaner, easier and give better coverage, but I don't want my Midlana to have an ugly chassis!

My battleship gray of choice is an oil based enamel paint from Tractor Supply. I paint it on with a brush over POR15 when it's on the bottom side and straight on the metal (sometimes I spray a primer) for roll cages, firewalls, etc. $30 a gallon.

Majic® Town & Country Tractor, Truck & Implement, 1 gal., Light Ford Gray $29

I use gray rustoleum.

bgkast wrote: This is relevant to my interests. Also spray or brush? Brush seems like it would be cleaner, easier and give better coverage, but I don't want my Midlana to have an ugly chassis!

If you thin oil based paint a little (10% or so) it goes on smooth and it dries for a looong time during which the strokes smooth out. I am never painting show cars - but the inside of my race car looks pretty damn well at the beginning of a season before I E36 M3 it up with dirt and scratches.

I have used Rustoleum Hammer finish paint on my floor, roll cage, and various other parts and am very happy with it. You can touch it up without it really showing, it is a paint that seems hard to scratch/chip. You can spray it but I find that the hammer finish looks best when you brush it on. It does come in spray cans or 1 qt cans. When you spray you have to put on heavy coats, to the point of getting runs. Anything less and you don't get the best hammer finish.

I never really thought about the oil based stuff. What sort of prep do you need? I'd prefer to brush on as it's just easier for me.

Edit - I just read the entire post and it can go right on bare metal.

The hellafunctional answer is black rustoleum/hammerite. Easy single stage paint, fairly tough, repairs blend like nothing ever happened.

My comments are very generic and not about the type of paint.

I greatly prefer a light color like white or grey over black. With black, it's much harder to see flaws, oil leaks, or parts you dropped. If it's on the top side, it's much hotter when the sun is shining. I also like a light color because it looks bad when it's dirty, which helps me be disciplined in keeping things clean.

I also want the thinnest amount of paint on anything that is stressed so that I can see flaws, stress risers, cracks, etc. as the part is used and ages. Less paint also means less cleanup or grinding prep if a weld repair becomes necessary. I cringe when I see powdercoated suspension parts. They look nice, but they might be hiding something and are harder to prep for repairs.

--Carl

Rustoleum. The Rustoleum Appliance paint is incredible. I mean, Jegs sells the stuff. Why do you think that is? The AK builders are using it as a gun finish. Use the spray can or buy it in the quart cans and thin with some mineral spirits (not "slow") and shoot with a HF HVLP gun.

^You can brush it on too...it won't look anywhere near as good as spraying it on, but it will work just as good.

Tractor supply quart and small can of hardener and a brush. Nice and durable and drys over night vs weeks with out the hardner. Cheap too.

I bought the Eastwood two part caliper paint (silver). I had so much leftover after doing the calipers I used it on all my suspension pieces too.

I did notice quite a few rock chips in my lower control arms recently though. Pretty sure there isn't much paint that could handle that anyway.

In reply to Dr. Hess: They say it is for interior use only. Any concerns about it breaking down in sunlight?

Dr. Hess wrote: Rustoleum. The Rustoleum Appliance paint is incredible. I mean, Jegs sells the stuff. Why do you think that is? The AK builders are using it as a gun finish. Use the spray can or buy it in the quart cans and thin with some mineral spirits (not "slow") and shoot with a HF HVLP gun.

I had no clue Jegs sells it. That's awesome.

The Rustoleum Appliance epoxy is absolutely awesome. I use the black spray can stuff for various steering and suspension parts on my dirt oval car, and it beats the crap out of anything that comes in a rattle can. And I've tried every rattle can known to man. The stuff dries just as glossy as it looks when you are spraying it, and after a week or so, it's tough as nails. It doesn't peel, chip, or scuff and stays looking nice for a long time.

If I were you I would get some of the white Appliance paint in the quart can, mix a little bit of rustoleum black in it (shouldn't take much to make industrial gray), and spray away.

We used Rustoleum spray on our offroad buggy. Pretty tough and easy touch up. It wore well whether we ran in mud,dust,or grasses, depending on the course. Easy to touch up the front bumper after every race so the car always looked nice. ;)

My go to for metal trailers is the quart size rustoleum sprayed straight through an electric sprayer or thinned slightly through a pneumatic sprayer. More consistent color than rattle cans and goes on in a thinner, harder layer than a brush. Dries a lot faster than a brush too.