Topic: Which paint - Painting rear leaf springs?

[V8_bloke_28]

Hi
Just wondering which paint would look closer to the original for leaf springs.
Eastwood phosphate or Eastwood spray gray.
Which would people use?
Also would you paint the u bolts and shocker plates same as leaf springs?
The car is a 67 gta fastback built in San Jose.
Cheers

[CharlesTurner]

Do you live in a humid/wet environment?  If not, probably easiest to just go back with the correct darkened steel natural appearance and treat with a rust inhibitor.

[67gta289]

If you use the search tool, you should find much discussion on this topic.  The "concours" approach generally speaking is to not apply paint to parts that were not painted from the factory.  There are various other methods, some depending on the part, that are used in an attempt to both provide a finish that looks original and also to limit rust.  Also keep in mind specifically for springs, that move, paint can be scratched off at the point if interference, and rust, then look worse than some of the other methods.  I personally have used the gun blue method on springs with good results.

[J_Speegle]

Also would you paint the u bolts and shocker plates same as leaf springs?
The car is a 67 gta fastback built in San Jose.
Cheers

What the others said   Yes you can paint but it's going to result in an up keep challenge (no saying natural is without them), scrapped paint and rust development. Threads spell out what I've used in the past

As for the other parts even if you choose to paint the springs are a very different tone/look from the clamps, U bolts and shock plates. Each is different since they have different finishes originally and  different production processes (heated, stamped, cast....)

Just another challenge when trying to paint stuff to look original - lots of different tones so allot of different formulas for each different "look"

PS - changed the title to better reflect the topic so that others can find it in the future

[ng8264723]

I would ove to find a paint that looks good.  In Ma or anywhere on the rust belt you need to paint things.  Alternatively you can use epoxy primer which looks good and doe not chip.

[J_Speegle]

I would ove to find a paint that looks good.  In Ma or anywhere on the rust belt you need to paint things.  Alternatively you can use epoxy primer which looks good and doe not chip.

So you've tried the natural finish with the oils and such so that you've compared the two?


We have plenty of member and restorers in that area happy with using natural finishes rather than paint. Challenge I found with paint is the consent upkeep (like the oiled parts) and the pain of repair (painted surfaces) when compared to natural. Even on rarely used cars.

Unfortunately adding a layer of primer - especially a thicker one like epoxy reduces the texture of the surface, so it doesn't look original and it looks painted. In addition where the metal surfaces touch the paint wears and chips off producing rust (oil surface is somewhat self healing) and allows the contrasting colors in the primer to show through and attach attention and not the good type