by burdar » 20 Oct 2010 13:55
The caliper bracket was left bare from the factory. I've been experimenting with different paint finishes to get a factory look. I don't have any pics but can post a link to a thread that was very informative if you like.
Here's what I've done for cast parts that were left bare from the factory. First I blasted them to clean them up. Then I sprayed them with a primer, followed by Rustoleum gloss black. Once the black was on, I misted the part with Eastwoods Spray Gray.(I get "spray gray" and "detail gray" confused...you want to use the darker color) Make sure you just mist it on. You want a little of the black showing through. This gives the part a more realistic look than just spraying the whole thing with the cast color. I took the extra step of very lightly spraying the parts with Krylon Battery Protectant Spray. The battery protectant dried completely just like a paint. I can't really explain what it does to the look but it does add to it. It adds kind of a "flash rust" tint to it kind of. Finally, I spray the parts with matte clear to take away the shine. From a few feet away, it really does look like bare metal.
One more thing about the Battery Protectant Spray. The more coats you put on, the darker it gets. With one light coat, you can see right through it. If you painted your LCA's to look bare metal(Eastwoods detail gray replicates stamped steel) the protectant spray can be used to replicate the cosmoline finish.