highliner82

any advice on what paint is best?

ownedevo10

Any high heat paint will work...I just painted my valve cover with VHT black wrinkle paint it looks sick... If your going to use the wrinkle paint pm me and ill tell you how to get the best results...

TwoFaced

Yeah I went with vht red wrinkle and it's amazing...especially if it's your first time using paint...it is really forgiving as far as mistakes go and whatnot. Just listen to instructions from ^ him about laying even thick coats to get the best results...and if it isn't done right it wont evenly wrinkle.

Also, if you use a blowdryer about 1 and 1/2 hours after you lay the final coat it will give you tighter wrinkles.

highliner82

wow does look nice!!

highliner82

ok coo thanks i just pm'd ya

ownedevo10

First I stripped the paint off the cover.. After that I heated it up with a heat gun and then layed the first coat down.. Between coats make sure you use a heat gun to heat it up so it wrinkles.. If you dont hit it with a heat gun it will not wrinkle...

FTNW

OP did you use a heat gun ? and did you just sand the letters ?

i heard you can put chap stick on the letters and then wipe off after painting.. any one do this before ?

ownedevo10

Yes you need to use a heat gun... And def sand the letters before them it will come out so much nicer... Chap stick im not sure about.. Just take some time and use masking take and an exacto knife to cut off the excess...

rpg020390

looks very good for out of can paint.. I usually just use black grill paints haha..

TwoFaced

Ahh! Masking the letters would take way too much time.

All the letters are pretty level...I just painted over them...then after I baked the cover to cure it...I put tape in a square pattern around the letters...got a sanding block and sanded with 320 grit dry...then wetsanded all the way down to 800. If you're smart with the block it just sands the paint off the top of the letters and just don't get crazy...smooth and deliberate sanding will do the trick.

You can see how I blasted straight over mine in the pics and then how clean it came out after block sanding. I don't see chapstick having clean results though.

Not trying to contradict anyone but I didn't use a heatgun at all...I used a blowdryer after all three thick coats were laid and no blowdryer in between....that was an hour or so after the last coat...and then I let it dry a night in the air...and baked in an oven to the directions on the can...and for good measure I let it dry another night before block sanding the lettering. Granted this was a spare vc I picked up so if you don't have a spare and can't afford that much downtime I imagine it would be ok to lay the three coats...let it dry an hour...hit it with heatgun or blowdryer...dry another few and then bake...let it set an hour and then put on the car.

hondamark35

high temp isn't necessary for the VC. but it does seem to hold it's color better than regular spray paint.

I used regular spray paint on my Accord. after a few hundred miles it had discolored some, but still looks great to me. i used "engine enamel" on the Civic and it looks about the same 100k miles later. i've also used auto body touch up paint on my brother's Civic and Integra with no discoloration after several thousand miles.

the real key is in the prep work. get it nice a clean and what not. also for the letters, i've always had luck scraping them with a razor before the paint drys then finishing with a sanding block. same effect as Vaseline or chap-stick.

BlueIntegraBoy

iTrader: (5)

This will be my project in 2 weeks. I have 4 cans of VHT lined up to do 4 valve covers.

ownedevo10

You don't need to use a heat gun but I used it to get it done quicker.. I did not bake mine at all just used the heat gun...Hair dryer will work to just not as hot as a heat gun. I had one so..

TwoFaced

Can you possibly post a close up pic? I'd like to see how the wrinkle worked out using a heat gun between layers.

ownedevo10

Looks very similar to yours... Not knocking your method I just thought it was easier to do during the process.. Its hard to tell the wrinkle on mine with a close up pic bc mine is black not red... Ill email you the pics but I dont know how to post them up on here..

TwoFaced

For posting pics I always use photobucket...and always use the IMG code at the very button when you hold the mouse over the pic in your photobucket album. Good way to store project photos and it makes them easy to share on forums.

Deetz

I've done a couple with wrinkle VHT too. As far as the heat gun goes, it helps when you apply a thick coat, then help it dry with the gun, it brings the wrinkles out better

Here are the couple i did

a 1990 Accord winter beater, lol



a 90 Civic Si

faztec1

VHT the way to go. You can get it at any auto parts store.

TwoFaced

I saw recently somebody wanted wrinkle style but a custom color. He bought black...painted the VC...and then painted touchup paint over it for a very nice looking blue wrinkle paint.

Just an idea...