Stainless steel question
 

I just had new dash panels custom made out of 1/8th stainless and I want to clear coat them so they stay looking shiny.

Does anyone know of a product for this. Car clear coat won't work because the metal is bare. I don't know of any clear primer either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

James

I think I would just put a coat of wax on it. Remember props are stainless. Mine have been hanging exposed to the weather for a couple years and they are still like mirrors.

Stainless Steel
 

Nice part with Stainless is it is easy to maintain. If you put a clear on it you create work for yourself down the road. If you leave it bare and it possibly dulls on you. You can spend 5 minutes with a piece of scotch brite and have it brand new again.

Good luck
Cougarman

I'd leave it alone! If it is a good grade, you're better off without any coating! Clearcoats, no matter how good will not permanently adhere to stainless without roughing up the surface--not what you want to do I'm sure! Secondly, the coatings will dull, and fade over time!

how about a stainless steel prop,i made the mistake of taking a brillo pad to the prop to remove algee,and now the prop is rusted.i must have remove the finish.can antthing be done to re-finish the prop?

Listen to BD, leave it alone, I have alot of stainless on my boat also and it looks good.:cool:

Mark, OUCH!
Ya, that's the last thing you want to do! There really shouldn't be any finish on the prop. It is homogenous stainless steel.

What happened was that the brillo pad is made from high-tensile, high-carbon stell which doesn't have any corrosion inhibiting properties and the hardness is much greater than stainless--that's why it was able to cut the prop material. It is not your prop that is rusting it is the reminents and ground-in particles of the brillo pad that is now chemically bonded to the base metal. The only solution is to abrasively remove it. Not something to be taken lightly. If it's not perfect, you're preformance will suffer! :( :(

Mothers metal polish will keep stainless looking brand new. Coating will yellow and probably not stick

MARK LINGER - What kinda prop do you have, good quality stainless should never rust

Baja Daze is right. It isn't the SST in the prop, it is the remnants of the brillo pad. Get rid of that first.

Also, stainless is really stain-less, not stain-proof steel. It will oxidize under the right circumstances. I used to know what those were, but I forgot. (I have a degree in Metallurgy - but don't actively engineer anything, still have the books though)

Stainless steele by nature is stainless because....
 

Its able to breathe..... if you clear coat it, you are creating a head-ache for yourself.. There are many good stainless polishing compounds readily available,,,, especially made for stainless steele sinks.

Baja-Daze, is correct about the rusting issue, although there are " SOME " stainless steele's that are magnetic and contain IRON,, which rusts, your prop is NOT one of them...

All sTainless steele WEEPS and when its not exposed to air will RUST...

Bottom line is leave it alone..