Looking for feedback on Krylon Fusion paint....

[SteveL]

I would like to change the color of a few plastic items and have been looking at the Krylon Fusion and the Rust-O-Leum plastic paints. Has anyone used either of these products and can you share your impressions of how well it sticks and any special tips to make it work better?????

 

[Luckydevil]

It all depends on how nice you want the work to come out. If no one is going to be looking closely at it, then just wipe down, spray, and then forget about it.

For a flaw free finish more work is neccassary. I believe both of those say that no prep is required, but I highly recommend it anyways. You also might want to lay down their primer first before the paint. Also get some wax/grease remover and tack rags made for painting, and of course do the usual sanding prep.

 

[SteveL]

In regards to the sanding suggestion, one of the items is a wall hung shop vac canister that has a textured surface, so sanding is not an option. I will be using a good cleaning solvent first so do you think the primer is still a prefered way to go?? I'm not concerned about the inside finish, just the outside and especially where the motor top snaps in place. I'm concerned that the paint will eventually wear off at those two points.

I will give it a shot on another item first and based on the results, try the textured one later. Thanks for the input!!!!!!!!!

 

[rjspitz]

I used the Krylon Fusion on plastic motorcycle body-work. I didn't use primer, because that would've prevented the paint from "fusing" to the plastic. The point of this stuff is to melt a thin layer of plastic and fuse to it, so avoid the primer.
Just wipe down the plastic with some mild paint thinner, then spray.
As with all paints, several light coats are better than 1 heavy coat.
It wears great too. Even after dropping the bike in a sand gravel trap, the scrathes didn't go all the way through the paint. Then again, I don't expect your parts to go sliding through a gravel trap at 70 MPH.
Hint, don't use a halogen light to bake the paint. It caused it to dull while drying. Just let it dry in the air.

 

[Major Ramifications]

The guys on another website I frequent said good things about the Fusion paint, but you DEFINITELY don't want to puy any primer between the plastic and the paint. That would defeat the whole purpose of using plastic paint. I would further caution against using paint thinner on plastic, and just use PPG DX330 Acryliclean, or an equivelant wax and grease remover.

 

[evildky]

fusion paint rocks on everything I have used it on, the one thing I havn't sprayed....plastic

 

[Luckydevil]

When I painted a radiator shroud for a friend using the rustoleum plastic paint, I kept getting lots of fish eyes. I ended up sanding and prepping the shroud again, then I used the primer they make specifically for plastic parts. Once the primer was down the fish eyes went away and the finish coat looked great.

From what the other guys said it sounds like primer may not be needed most of the time, but I ended up using it and it came out great.

I'll have to try the krylon fusion paint next time and see how it does.

 

[Major Ramifications]

Luckydevil,
I didn't know they made a primer for plastics. When you stop and think about it, it seems like all they need to make is the primer for plastics, and then any of their regular paints will stick to that primer.

 

[MadMax]

I used it to paint the plastics on my bike, and it works amazing. Still have it 2 years and many crashes later, only redoing it once about a year and a half ago.

-Max

 

[Rickster]

Yup, used it to stencil kids high school name on the plastic coolers for the band and it worked great. Paint was fused right to the plastic, no peeling or rubbing off. Very satisfied, I would use again no problem.