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Cladding Paint Fusion vs. Dupli.color bumper coating

Well, i think i am going to do it.  I just need the weather here to warm up a little.  What is a safe temp to do this without having to worry about it drying well?
 
I did it in my garage (which made a mess, but I'd rather clean that up than do it outside and get all the pollen and crap in the wind on the paint job) and it was somewhere in the 70's I believe. It wasn't that warm but not cool either. Plus I was inside away from the sun and wind to dry it faster. But I'd say 70's and up your safe with.
 
I did have wax on my cladding for the longest time. I even nailed it with the power washer with no results. So I used the the Fusion and it worked great so far. 

I will post picks of my cladding after this winner...it still looks great even after all the salt Nebraska road dept puts on the roads during the winter.

Before this last winter I sanded down my frame, primed it and, undercoated it and the fusion on the is doing better with less work.

karr68
 
Nah I didn't clear coat the fusion. I think you can but I didn't. It looks shiny on the texture and brand new anyways.
 
what about sanding and prep? im doing the fusion on all the cladding and any chrome on my avy? tips and pointers appreciated
 
Only prep work needed is rubbing down all cladding with rubbing alcohol. No need to sand or anything. I would wash your truck before rubbing it down with alcohol also so you can get it as clean as possible.
 
Guys,
I've been thinking about painting my cladding also but just never had the time or the nerve to try it. I recently heard about using a heat gun to restore the faded cladding and below are the results. It's much much easier and supposedly will last a long time, at least up to 6 months. I've yet to see that though, only time will tell. What do you think?

 

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Looks good branruss, let us know how it holds up.
 
that looks awesome with the heat gun work. Probably a better way to do it actually cause you won't have to worry about any paint scratches or flaking off like you do with a paint job. How difficult is it though to do that with a heat gun?
 
it's very easy to do. once get a flow going at the right speed it's a piece of cake. you might have go back over a couple of places but it all comes out good in the end.
 
branruss said:
Guys,
I've been thinking about painting my cladding also but just never had the time or the nerve to try it. I recently heard about using a heat gun to restore the faded cladding and below are the results. It's much much easier and supposedly will last a long time, at least up to 6 months. I've yet to see that though, only time will tell. What do you think?

It has been mentioned before using a propane torch, but I have never tried it.
http://chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php/topic,127273.msg1908274.html#msg1908274
 
Just finished up with the heat gun. There's no scrubbing involved. Of course yqou want to have it clean and dry but that's about it. I just ran over the cladding with the heat gun almost like it was a blow dryer, except moving slower. It's very easy. I recommend starting off on the roof or in the bed if you're uncomfortable with it. But you'll soon see how easy and effective it is.
 
branruss said:
Just finished up with the heat gun. There's no scrubbing involved. Of course yqou want to have it clean and dry but that's about it. I just ran over the cladding with the heat gun almost like it was a blow dryer, except moving slower. It's very easy. I recommend starting off on the roof or in the bed if you're uncomfortable with it. But you'll soon see how easy and effective it is.


That sounds like a really efficient way of doing it without worrying about paint chipping off like mine... did it come out black or just dark grey??
I did my paint job last April or so (not even a year ago) with krylon fusion and it looked great but I've got quite a few paint chips on my front bumper and scuffs on running boards, etc. Wonder if I could use a heat gun over the painted cladding still when I redo it and get the same effect?
 
Wow, so many options...

I had an EXT before my Avalanche and I was about to use SEM trim paint as described in this thread:   
http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/cadillac-escalade-ext-esv-forum-1999/174021-ext-owners-bed-cover-step-pad.html

"to paint the plastic just scuff is with grey scuff pads and some SEM "scuff and clean" and a spray bottle of water .... then dry it and clean it with some simple green ..."


It sounds like this may be a bit more work than the alcohol then paint method with Fusion or the other stuff listed.  The guy that did it has had success with the SEM paint over the long term.

The torch or heat gun seems like the cheapest method, but has the biggest potential to screw up. 


Ideally, I want to paint the rear cladding burnt orange, but I can't find any wrecked EXTs locally and I know I don't have the patiences to sand the cladding smooth.  The matte black paint looks like the best bang for the buck
 
Honestly, I don't agree with the heat gun being the option that is most likely to screw up. It's by far the easiest. There's no taping off, no removal of the cladding and you can go over it as many times as you feel necessary. It doesn't damage the paint or even the lights. Obviously you don't want to hold the heat gun on the paint or headlights for an extended amount of time but you really don't need to. Granted, I only did this about a month ago but it still looks brand new. Just food for thought. I was on the verge of painting but that just seemed too scary for me to do. Please post any pics that you guys have with any method youve used.
 
I did the paint and taping off and it was a hell of a job. The heat gun by far seems the easiest and best option if it holds up. The prep work taping up my truck and covering from overspray and then cleaning all the residue out of my garage was an extreme hassle. I'm really interested in the heat gun method and will probably try that when spring rolls around because my paint is already chipping like on the front of my bumper for example.
 
We'll, using the propane torch has the largest potential to screw something up. :beating: 

I'm going to borrow my brothers heat gun and try it on the panels.  If all goes well, he'll be doing it on his 03 cladded avy. 

How long would you say it took to do each of the bed panels?

 
I ended up using the heat gun. It took about 15-30 min per piece of cladding.  It took about 2 hours to do my tail section.  Mine weren't that faded, but I'd say its worth the time it took (grab a few beers while your doing it)

My brother did his 02.  The tail section took him long enough, he'll probably go with the fusion paint for the lower cladding.


I was at the hardware store today and saw that they have an orange fusion paint.

226-98-56.gif

http://www.krylon.com/products/fusion_for_plastic/

I demoed it on a piece of paper.  It was in the ball park.  I didn't have anything inconspicuous to test.

Anyone ever use the orange fusion with a burnt orange av?  I know a gloss black would look good with the black and orange theme I'm going with, but I'd prefer orange
 
We'll, it's been 4 months and it the sails look like crap.  They we're deep black for a month or two but now it's grey with a bunch of grey streaks  :E:  The other pieces I did don't have this problem.  Does anyone know why this would happen?

 
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