The 'E' Type Forum

In view of the, er, suboptimal durability of 21st century Hammerite that I (and apparently many others) have experienced, I was wondering about alternatives for the air cleaner, header tank, oil filter canister etc that gives a reasonable match for the original "hammered" finish and resists chipping a bit more.

I stumbled upon Lechler LS186 (29186) "Nitron Hammer". I understand Lechler paints are well-regarded by experts. Does anyone have any experience of this one? I guess it won't be as tough as their 2k paints but might it be worth trying? (Lechler system has 15,000 colours so I can probably find a match...)

From the data sheet:

DESCRIPTION
Industrial nitro-combi enamel suggested for hammer effect finishes.

USE
Nitro enamel suitable for machineries, shelves, tools and ferrous substrates in general.

CHARACTERISTICS
Special appearance (hammer effect) 
Fast drying 
Can hide small substrate?s defects 
Very good direct adhesion on steel (the product does not contain any anticorrosive pigments; steel protection due to barrier-effect)

SUBSTRATE PREPARATION
It can be applied to the following through-dried primers: 
SYNTOPRIMER 
SYNTOPRIMER ZINC 
Directly on derusted steel sheet and suitably degreased with 00695 SILICONE REMOVER SLOW.

APPLICATION
By spray.
Mixing ratio: weight and volume
LS186 NITRON HAMMER (derived from binder 29186) 1000 parts
00825 LECHSYS UNIVERSAL STANDARD THINNER 0-50 parts
It is also possible to apply the product by brush, but with a lower quality aesthetical result.
Spray viscosity at 20 ?C: 40-45? DIN 4 ?
Air cap: 1,8-1.9 mm
Air pressure: 4,5 Atm
N? of coats: 1 mist-coat (5 min. flash-off) + 1 wet coat
Suggested film thickness: 30-40 ?
Theoretical coverage: 1 l of mixture = 6,8 m2 at 30 ?
1 kg of mixture = 5 m2 at 30 ?
V.O.C. (on average) of the product ready for use : ~ 625 g/l

Trouble with hammerite is that although it is very UV resistant, so great for metal fences, it reacts badly to oil and petrol, so not so good under the bonnet.
By comparison, POR 15 reacts badly to UV but is highly resistant to oil and petrol; it also sets like steel! I used it on parts of the chassis andf uyou can hit it with a hammer. Great stuff for cars. You can only get it in limited colours, but check it on Amazon

Rustoleum makes a hammered spray paint in silver. I used it three years ago during my engine rebuild and it's held up well (still looks new) in spite of oil spray from a leaking crankcase breather which has just now been fixed.

malcolm wrote:Trouble with hammerite is that..... it reacts badly to oil and petrol...

Huh? I came across it in 1968 when I painted my first-ever motorised vehicle (an abandoned Vespa). Unless they've changed the formulation it has always been very oil and petrol resistant. You certainly can't wash the brush in petrol.

Hi Peter...youve been away far to long....Hammerite aint what it used to be....probably all the EU regs taki g the nasties out.......there black gloss definatly wont take petrol, i also painted 40 stair rails with the hammered black......after a few days i started to fit them and the paint came off if you scratched it with your finger nail.....the answer from there tech team....your supposed to use it on rusty metal

I got through to Lechler's tech dept today and they said their Nitron Hammer isn't likely to survive very long in an engine bay (it's not that hard and solvent resistance not that good). So I can forget that one. Sounds like Rustoleum is worth trying.

The formulation changed a few years back when the old solvent got banned. The new stuff ain't so good and, unlike the old, takes several days to a week to really harden. Once it is genuinely cured it seems OK but it does take much longer than it used to.

Ye gods, is nothing sacred? What's a (cough!) bit of (cough, cough!) xylene between (cough, hack!) friends? Saves dying of old age and you can buy it by the quart over here.