One for the painters; satin lacquer
Turbo Mini Forums

Ok, i've got a 1960 traveller which needs a bit of work but it is pretty sound all things considered. It has been painted in the past so isn't original however i'm considering keeping the existing finish as is. My reasoning being that when i eventually get round to showing the car, it is likely to be sitting next to similar highly coveted and over restored examples and i quite like the idea of it looking a little tired and worn.

The current paint is quite heavily pockmarked with small rust spots due to storage conditions before i got it. My thoughts are to simply clean it up and hit it with a clear lacquer to retain its current patina and prevent further deterioration of the shell. My thoughts are regarding continued deterioration below the paint. I do want to preserve the car so if i need to strip and paint then fine, i just want to try and avoid the restored look

Any thoughts on the idea?

Have a look on the ratrod forums and stuff, they might be able to give you some ideas.

Been doing a little research and people tend to rave about this stuff http://www.roadsters.com/gibbs/

I've been doing a bit of research but there is more interest on those forums to make the rust than manage it!

is the original colour satin? as the title is so a matting agent can be used but not a clear lacquer

Edited by wng691s clubby on 9th Jun, 2014.

Done now needs redoing lol

I was thinking satin as i didn't want it shiny but a matting agent on a clearcoat would probably be better.

I suppose i'm more interested in the rust spots and the principle over the final finish for now

You can actually get matte and satin lacquer, the smart repair guys use it all the time at work for alloy wheels. There is also an opaque wax you can buy too from swissvax.

You can get prity much what you want rob, you can get specific matt lacquer or like you say just add matting agent for the desired shine / or not !!

like carl says maybe a good couple of coats of wax or even wipe with some wd40 to preserve the rust etc

to be honest, I like the idea of the 'rust' preserved below a sealed surface so its easier to keep clean; the car is going to be out in all weathers too so still needs to be practical

what I am trying to avoid is further deterioration. the car is worth something and I don't want to loose the current fairly original condition. As it stands, it has had no welding although it needs a front end due to early accident damage

if rust cant be adequately managed, I'd probably go down the route of a bare metal and re-paint

I think you'll find the rust problem mostly comes from the inside out !! So looking after the outside is the easy part. .

Yeah it'll still rust, but probably at a reduced rate as opposed to being open to the elements

The rust is surface spots due to storage. worst side is the driver side. The car has been dry stored since around 1982 and genuinly is pretty solid. I might try a small sample on the bonnet before i get further into it

My paintworks satin, previous owner painted. But its not lacquered at all.

It seem's like its going to be a right pain to keep clean so will probably end up getting it resprayed at some point.

998 t2 ongoing project.

Opaque wax