For a DIY guy, sure. But not for me as a business - I need product support and I need to make sure "next months order" does not come from a different manufacture and all of a sudden I have problems.
OK, so here are some color shots - I'll try to take better photos tomorrow. The Ferrari plug cover is VHT - it's the lightest of them all. The other 2 spray outs are the product we sourced - the one on the right is supposed to match the Ferrari color but it seems too dark - but that's also the first one I sprayed and I think I was a bit dry. I've got more to try again. I'll match these to OEM parts too. I like the one on the left and the pictures don't really do it justice but it looks way better than VHT. I'll also take some photos thru a microscope - the product we sourced has a very nice wrinkle. I will also try a heaver coat. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
That looks really nice, but the color hue is a bit off, isn't it? Not that I am judging because my car would never see a concours.
Thats funny because mine were original and I think your spot on. Took about 2 y ars and some miles and niw it looks. That dull color. Personally I liked it better when it was just done. Maybe because the cam covers are below and you dont see them as good. I wonder if the vht would look too bright on a 360 or cars after because they do not see the heat.
Even me who services fuel injectors at every service, monitors leak down, and walnut shells intakes, even if you had the perfect red I would not send out valve covers to get painted. It would be way too much trouble unless I was trying to win a concourse. If you are thinking about that for a business model I would at least take a poll before make that investment in time, energy, and infrastructure.
To my eye VHT is too orange. Do you have some OEM covers to compare? Take them outside about 10am North light. There are Home Depot sylvania I think, 6500 degree kelvin color corrected daylight florescent tubes that are very good to match colors under. Textures look good.
The cam covers on my 1995 F355 Challenge were never refinished. They're red... . Image Unavailable, Please Login
That's a good find John if it is the ferrari oem color. The problem I see is storage and paint stability. I have had perfect rosso corsa matched to my 348. I did a nose respray and it was perfect. I let the remains in a reduced size pint can sit on the shelf for 2 years. I opened it to paint a door ding and the color had changed a lot! At my next 5 year service I might just be better off with VHT. I never noticed if my VHT got more proper with heat cycling. I thought I was just getting used to it.
Well, we already have the infrastructure, Carl I don't expect this to be a large volume of business. Most guys will just use VHT. But, some shops may send them out as they want to focus on mechanics not paint. The research and development can be deployed on my personal cars so it's no bother to me. Yes, I posted prior that I can compare, and will to OEM. And yes, VHT is too orange - good eye
Not sure what you are talking about. 348 has single stage paint. Once mixed, if stored you should have a red hockey puck after about 24 hrs. Even base coat (no hardener is added to base coat, just reducer) has a shelf life of 48 hrs, at least for Glasurit. You can't store these paints after the reducer is added. But unreduced they can be stored indefinitely if sealed. Well, a long time from my experience, certainly more than several years. Though your car may have faded.
I had good results with HB Body Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Looks good. Never heard of them. Just looked them up - they won't ship outside of the UK (per website)
Thanks very much for info on VHT paint. It was news to me. I'm going to use it on my mismatched engine bay protection panels. Speaking of which - does anyone have an economical solution to remove/replace the 'Attenzione Alta Tensione' sticker on the passenger side panel? I saw a new one once for $485 - yikes!
I had those powder coated - much better option. This is textured powdercoat, not wrinkled. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
So I had a chance to go see my friend Jay with a 360 spider with OEM wrinkle finish plenums. Here are the results. Note, colors get altered by the camera and the upload to FCHAT so at some point we will get these photos on our site. This is VHT against OEM. The VHT is much lighter and more orange for sure. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is the coating we sourced and are testing. Much better color match and wrinkle Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dave, is your paint a 2 part (with a hardener) or just a "rattle can"? Color looks great, but I was hoping it could actually be stronger Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Thanks, guys Kenny - the coating is 1K - no hardener or activator. It's comes ready to spray but it's not a rattle can, I sprayed these panels thru the same HVLP guns we use for our interior coatings. My plug cover that I painted with VHT a couple years ago is as hard as a rock. I don't think hardness is the issue - adhesion is. I don't really want to use primer - OEM Ferrari parts are not primed and the 360 plenums I compared to look new aside from a little dust. As another data point, my 98 F1 GTS with original OEM paint is flawless - not a single chip although the color has faded a bit...
My rattle can vht has done well with nothing more than degreasing of the covers and on rare occasion sand blasting off peeling old covers. Its been about 35 years for me using vht. Since the covers get a respray every 5 yr. major does adhesion or hardness really matter? I mean the lowest hanging fruit is the vht cr@pcan and the only thing wrong with it is too orange. IMO the most critical thing is "wrinkle" and "color" looking at a 5 year expiration date.
A good, properly applied coating should not need to be redone every 5 years. I don't repaint my cars every 5 years
