I masked off the chrome very well. I bead blasted then cleaned with acetone. Then I washed with soap and water and hot air dried (I don't have any hair, but I do have a hair dryer). Then I sprayed on a light coat of epoxy appliance enamel. (I've had great results with this stuff before, in the black. I heat the can a touch, apply a number of lightish coats, bake it at 70C for 30 to 45 minutes, cure it in warmish air for a week, then cover it with either gloss or matte clear laquer. (I know laquer generally does cover enamel, but it works great with this stuff - especially on plastic. It's really good and strong when I do that - as in my glossy black rack will take high stretch metal bungee cord hooks and not mark and on the plastic you can't hardly sandblast if off when it's cured and dried properly.)
So I thought I would use the "Stainless Steel" appliance epoxy and do the same as above (with the black), and see how it worked. It's time intensive (drying wise anyway) but it's economical and has been technically pretty good so far. And where I live I sure have lots of time becasue the weather's not good for riding currently.
So enough with the defensive stuff - I used the "Steel" paint the same way as I use the black. It was really weird. It kinda curdlled or separated or something - it was like the pigment separated. After a second of spray it fuzzed up on the metal and had these little black flecks going on (kinda neat, but not for this project unfortunately).
So I emailed Rustoleum. They had a guy call within two hours. He left me a lengthy voicemail (I was out, sandblasting this first, botched attempt off) and said a few things i found interesting. He said they get occassional bad cans out there, which sort of surprised me and then he talked about the obvious - that it was the prep with sandblasting was the problem. He left his name and number and I'll call him Monday. (I did try spraying some other steel too, and it wasn't as bad, but as the paint built up it started the same oddball contortion.
So I tried again, and got a better result, but still not at all like their other epoxy at all. So I'm regrouping, and trying to imagine a "better way". In that direction - I like the rear, plastic mudguard thingy on my bike. I wonder if it would be possible to cover the inside of the metal mudguard(s) with something similar? (If you did that though, you'd still have to protect the metal between the steel and the plastic from rusting, somehow.)
I wouldn't be spending so much time on this right now if I could actually ride outside these days. But I like my little machine so much I'd really like to preserve it as best I can. I also read where the little rear, metal mudguard on these little 400fours is difficult to replace - and expensive.
I was thinking of trying some clear stuff I put on my (bare concrete) floor - it really seems to wear and protect extremely well.
So I'm leaning towards a clear, thick protective finish of some sort (and I don't care if I have to brush it on, since you can see very little of it) or towards making an inner shell of some sort out of something really durable and easy to clean. And a third possibilty is one of those gun coatings I mentioned in an earlier post. They look sort of neat. By the way, I emailed Brownell's and asked if their coatings were resistant to corrosive type brake fluids. I didn't expect an answer but they not only got back to me, they told me that the employees at Brownells who have motorcycles (quite a few, I guess) use that stuff on their bikes a lot. And it is resistant to corrosive types of brake fluids. I wish I could get a can as easily as United States people can get it - I'd try it for sure.
So I've come clean - just sort of embarrassed I guess. Thanks for asking though. I can sometimes do stuff the hard way, for sure. (It's a bit of a perfectionist streak too I guess.) Simply brushing off the metal and and then sealing it sounds reasonably sound too....
