Tweet
I started this conversation under another Thread (Sportster Front Drum Finish) but it took another direction and it seems more on-point to complete it here.
I am restoring my early XL aluminum rims to their original finish and, because I own several Harley restoration projects, I wanted to save the periodic chore of hand-polishing the bare rims. Therefore, after having my plater 'over-polish' them, I looked for a coating that would preserve the polished finish and ratchet-down the luster a bit. To that end, I tried POR-15's Glisten product.
Unfortunately, my experience with Glisten has been a disappointing one at best. After taking great pains to properly prepare the sub-strait material, I performed the mild acid etching as instructed and brush-applied the material. The first coat brushed on well and did exhibit the self-leveling quality that the Manufacturer claimed. However, soon thereafter the applied coats started trapping the escaping solvents (off-gassing) and small pinhole bubbles started appearing and the resulting surface looked like it was covered in dust. This usually happens under very humid conditions, but this material was applied on a carefully cleaned and neutralized material and under controlled conditions. Furthermore, the instructions suggest that 'medium' coats be applied. In doing so, the material sagged as it was setting up and left a generally lumpy and bumpy surface finish. It looked terrible.
I emailed the POR-15 technical Department and they responded expeditiously. Having worked in the coatings industry for several years, their method for fixing the surface and over-coating was as I expected, but they did offer a couple of additional hints. Four days after applying the material, I hand-sanded the hardened coating to a smooth surface finish using a red Scotch bright pad (a total of 5 hours of very careful sanding), re-prepped the sanded surface, cut the Glisten with Xylene as instructed and reapplied VERY carefully. The off-gassing was gone, but the surface finish was terrible. It looked like the rims were covered in a lumpy cellophane and most of the preciously-applied surface inconsistencies were clearly viable.
As a result, I am now manually removing all of the Glisten down to bare metal, will return the rims to the plater for re-polishing, and will most likely have them clear powder-coated. In other words, I give up!
I am not bashing POR-15 and was impressed by how their technical Department tried to help. But I've now spoken to other professionals who have tried Glisten and all have had similar experiences. None have offered a recommendation for its use. I think that this is probably a good product when used for different applications. But it came up short and cost me a lot of time and money in the application for which I used it. Therefore I offer the above to others who are contemplating its similar use.
I am restoring my early XL aluminum rims to their original finish and, because I own several Harley restoration projects, I wanted to save the periodic chore of hand-polishing the bare rims. Therefore, after having my plater 'over-polish' them, I looked for a coating that would preserve the polished finish and ratchet-down the luster a bit. To that end, I tried POR-15's Glisten product.
Unfortunately, my experience with Glisten has been a disappointing one at best. After taking great pains to properly prepare the sub-strait material, I performed the mild acid etching as instructed and brush-applied the material. The first coat brushed on well and did exhibit the self-leveling quality that the Manufacturer claimed. However, soon thereafter the applied coats started trapping the escaping solvents (off-gassing) and small pinhole bubbles started appearing and the resulting surface looked like it was covered in dust. This usually happens under very humid conditions, but this material was applied on a carefully cleaned and neutralized material and under controlled conditions. Furthermore, the instructions suggest that 'medium' coats be applied. In doing so, the material sagged as it was setting up and left a generally lumpy and bumpy surface finish. It looked terrible.
I emailed the POR-15 technical Department and they responded expeditiously. Having worked in the coatings industry for several years, their method for fixing the surface and over-coating was as I expected, but they did offer a couple of additional hints. Four days after applying the material, I hand-sanded the hardened coating to a smooth surface finish using a red Scotch bright pad (a total of 5 hours of very careful sanding), re-prepped the sanded surface, cut the Glisten with Xylene as instructed and reapplied VERY carefully. The off-gassing was gone, but the surface finish was terrible. It looked like the rims were covered in a lumpy cellophane and most of the preciously-applied surface inconsistencies were clearly viable.
As a result, I am now manually removing all of the Glisten down to bare metal, will return the rims to the plater for re-polishing, and will most likely have them clear powder-coated. In other words, I give up!
I am not bashing POR-15 and was impressed by how their technical Department tried to help. But I've now spoken to other professionals who have tried Glisten and all have had similar experiences. None have offered a recommendation for its use. I think that this is probably a good product when used for different applications. But it came up short and cost me a lot of time and money in the application for which I used it. Therefore I offer the above to others who are contemplating its similar use.