Well my k5s have in the last week have got some of that white powered oxerdisation on them. Can I spray them with any thing or should I paint them?
I don’t care what they look like I’m more concerned about the damage it might do.
If there is a magic spray I can spray on them to help/ fix the issue great. Not horribly keen to take horns out of car and repaint. But if need be ill prolly just take the horns off the manifold and just paint the horns as it will be a major mission to remove manifold.
I had a set do the same thing. Being as I liked the bare look I steel wooled them and sprayed them with clear coat. Worked for me.
the oxidation wont do any harm to them. they seem like they are pretty tough. if anything do like bel air said steel wool them i just usually hit mine with 0000 wool and some polish to give them a shine
I was going to start a thread about this i wanted to paint mine but thought it might harm the value of the horns knowing these are becoming more of a collectors item than for us who want loud a$$ horns in our pickups. So i wantbto know if there was something we can put on them to maintain the factory surface but maybe just clearing them is good
Mine are bare but have been dealing with salt spray constantly for 3 years now.
I am going to paint them in the spring and was curious how to prep the metal.
So I guess steel wool then wipe down with thinner before painting?
the last set i painted i sanded with 220 sand paper then etch primer then paint. i used dupont enamel paint and it held its shine
Does anyone agree with me about keeping the original ‘patina’ finish for value or should i not care and just paint/powder coat them a nice color
I took a set of K5LA’s I just bought to my powder coater and he would NOT do them because they were cast aluminum. He told me that they have air spots in the aluminum (like minor defects) and when they are heated up after the powder is applied, that they could pop and leave a hole in the bell. I have delt with this guy for many of my car projects and I trusted what he had to say. I stopped and picked up paint spray cans to do the job and I started talking with this dealer and he told me the same thing about powder coating cast aluminum. So, I guess I will be doing the shake shake shake thing. He also told me to use self etching primer paint to adhear to the aluminum better.
Hmmm. That makes sense but you see all those sets on ebay that have the beautiful powder coats like chrome and lime green you know its not a spray gun. I wonder if just baking at a lower temp would help.
The owner’s personal K5LA is powder coated with no problems. Apparently, from what I understand, Nathan offers a powder coating option for a chrome looking finish. As to what temperature, that I am not sure of.
Pleeeeeenty of powder coated Nathans out there. Find a different powder coater.
If you decide to paint, the self etching primer is good advice.
Yea brought them to a local powder coater to see and said no issues at all. My only problem now is picking a color. Either a bland silver to almost make it look like i didnt modify them or that new chrome powder coat or a crazy color like snake skin green pearl! Decisions decisons…
I took mine in and had them “dirty black” powder coated to match the under carriage of my truck so they blend in better. The guy I went to didn’t mention anything about not doing the aluminum. He did a beautiful job on the horns and they blend in perfectly to my truck.