Stainless Steel Painting?

[Chris Scott]

Evening all,

I’m stripping and rebuilding the radiator cowling at the front of my RH 3a.

I’ve googled but can’t get a clear answer, does anyone have any experience or advice of painting stainless steel? Do I just need to run it down and use a good etch primer? 
 

Don’t want to make it worse but am keen to tidy it up a bit! 
 

Thanks 

Edited October 10, 2020 by Chris Scott

[max]

have you thought about having it wrapped ?

[Chris Scott]

Oddly I did think about that and the panels are small and relatively flat so that might actually be the easiest and simplest option. 
 

Thanks  

[Snapperpaul]

I asked my cousin who is a very skilled panel beater and painter the very same question.

his advise was to key the surface or any paint would not adhere to shiny stainless. I would explore etch primer after keying the surface with wet & dry then use a high build filler.

Be aware that every panel edge on a Robin Hood is like a razor... ask me how I know!

[Chris Scott]

Yeah....it’s crazy how sharp everything is! 
 

At the moment I’m working from the front to the back as there is not one single bit of the car I trust. Currently I’ve rounded the edges off and gone over the panels with 600grit - looks nice. Obviously that won’t work for visible bits but it’s a big improvement. I am going to have a think/experiment with vinyl and see how it comes out 

[fry61]

Leave all s/steel panels as is & clean them with scotch bright when-ever. Florin's body work is all stainless except the mild steel mud guards, she has a few dings & scraps from 52K miles ( dings were in local Waitrose car park ) But she still looks good IMO.  Nothing worse than a paint/plastic (Fablon?) finish scraped through to the bare/undercoat.

Your arm will drop off before you polish through the stainless.