Repainting floors

Repainting floors

Author
Discussion

Scaleybrat

Original Poster:

563 posts

213 months

Saturday 17th February
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The floors on my SV had a lot of bare areas, hidden by the rubber mats and seats, and I decided to give them a new lick of paint this month. After cleaning off all the flaking and chipped paint, I painted on a coat of red primer for aluminium surfaces. I’d already bought some Hammerite Satin Black for the top coat. Before doing that I decided to tidy up the seat runners using the Hammerite over the chipped and scraped areas. Now I’ve used it on the runners, I’m losing confidence about applying the Hammerite to the floors. Even in the unseasonal high temperatures we are currently experiencing, the paint is extremely gloopy and looks like it will be a pain to get a thin smooth coat using a brush and roller. Reading reviews, Hammerite seems to have changed its formulation over the years, the paint being far more viscous than in the past.
Has anybody painted the floors and what paint did you use? I’m now looking at Rustoleum and Coo-Var to see if their products might be a better solution but, of course, I’ll not know until I fork out money and buy a can.
Any advice welcome, I just want the job done! Then I’ll have the joy of refitting the seats.

agatebox

93 posts

142 months

Sunday 18th February
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Personally I’d just use some Holts Simoniz Tough Spray Paint in Satin Black for ease of application, haven’t used it for the floors (yet) but have used it to touch up chassis rails etc.,

Other favourite/recommendation frequently mentioned in the Caterham community is POR15.

BertBert

19,736 posts

219 months

Sunday 18th February
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The current hammerite is horrible. They made it water soluble or something daft like that. I wouldn't use it. POR15 works well on steel because of the chemical reaction. I'm not sure it does the same on aluminium.

Were your floors originally "painted" if not I'd leave them bare. I don't think I've seen painted floor panels before.

Otherwise I might use the spray paint referenced above.

Scaleybrat

Original Poster:

563 posts

213 months

Sunday 18th February
quotequote all
BertBert said:
The current hammerite is horrible. They made it water soluble or something daft like that. I wouldn't use it. POR15 works well on steel because of the chemical reaction. I'm not sure it does the same on aluminium.

Were your floors originally "painted" if not I'd leave them bare. I don't think I've seen painted floor panels before.

Otherwise I might use the spray paint referenced above.
It’s a factory built car and the lowered floor has a very thin coat of satin black paint. I’m guessing it’s original and not done at a later date. I’ve used POR15 before on the steering arms and it did a good job but, as you say, not sure if it would work on aluminium. Prefer to find something that I can brush on, especially in the footwell which might be a pain to rattle can.

BertBert

19,736 posts

219 months

Sunday 18th February
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Ah that makes sense. A lot of masking required for spray painting and not the easiest access in the footwells.

Scaleybrat

Original Poster:

563 posts

213 months

Sunday 18th February
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After lots of googling this morning, I think I’m going to try this and see how it goes. Seems to get favourable reviews and gives a flat Matt finish.

agatebox

93 posts

142 months

Sunday 18th February
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Have used that paint, covers/works well.
Be aware though the Matt Black will clash terribly with any adjacent Satin Black ;-)

Scaleybrat

Original Poster:

563 posts

213 months

Sunday 18th February
quotequote all
agatebox said:
Have used that paint, covers/works well.
Be aware though the Matt Black will clash terribly with any adjacent Satin Black ;-)
Thanks, I amended the order to Satin