Gravitex - wow, what great stuff.

[marlinspike]

Still a lot of welding to do on our old Saab 900, but sometimes you need to do something to cheer you up and make you feel like you are getting there.

We have finished one side of the car so decided to apply underbody coating to the wheel arches. I bought Gravitex on the basis of the recommendations on this forum and wow what a great product it is.

We have a small 24l Aldi compressor but it coped with no problem. I used a Fast Mover underbody gun. I didn't thin it but even so it went on beautifully; really smoothly and evenly. When I had finished the spraying, I removed the masking tape and then sprayed a little into an empty plastic bottle and used a brush to stiple it right up to the edge of the wheel arch.

I am thinking I perhaps put it on a little too thickly as I used a whole bottle just on two wheel arches. It was very warm today though so no problem with it drying fairly quickly. It looks great and I am really pleased with the slightly textured finish. The car is black so I was going to topcoat it with black Aldi metal paint, but I think I'll leave it.

I looked at other brands, some a bit cheaper like Tetrosyl. Wurth seems highly recommended but hard to find and 3M looks good but is more expensive. Glad I went with the Gravitex though. I thought it would be a tricky job but it was really, really easy and the finish is great. Highly recommended.

 

[the snooper]

if you put it on really thick don't be surprised if it cracks when drying, it may not but if it does you'll know why

 

[Swift&Bold]

How did the stipple brush effect look? I am going to Gravitex the underside of my 9-5 Aero soon but won't be able to spray it so it's either brush or roller.

 

[marlinspike]

I was a bit worried about that but it seems OK so far. Only a few hours though. Trouble is, my eyesight is so bad these days that even with my specs on I can't see what I'm doing in a dark wheel arch.

The first coat was OK cos you can see where you have sprayed, but the second coat I couldn't really tell where I'd already done.

Sip free - it looked OK, but it was literally a band of about 5 mm along the wheel arch lip where I'd folded the masking tape down. I don't think it would look anywhere near as nice as spraying when done on a large area though it won't really matter as it's underneath. I think it would takes ages though.

One thing that did surprise me was how controllable and accurate the spray was. I thought it would be going all over the place but it was easy to spray very accurately and precisely.

 

[steveo3002]

are you going to gloss it ? worth doing imo as it then washes clean , even if you have to brush on some gloss

 

[123hotchef]

not seen this stuff before i need something like this for my arches on my 4x4 is it designed to go over primer or straight onto bare metal?

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Over primer, but next time I may try raptor which also looks good.

 

[123hotchef]

raptor is great twice the price though! it is a 2K system also
just been reading the UPOL GRAVITEX instructions it can go on bare metal too

 

[langy]

Over primer, but next time I may try raptor which also looks good.

Raptor is even better but can take a while to dry if thickly applied

 

[marlinspike]

I was originally thinking of top coating it with black Aldi metal paint (aerosol), but quite like the finish as it is. However, the Gravitex is a textured matt finish and I can see how it would trap dirt and be hard to clean. Still a lot of welding to do on the car so I might see how many of the Aldi cans I have left when I finish the car - it's been hard to find in Aldi of late so don't want to use my stash up. A gloss finish would be far easier to clean.

I have read lots of good reviews of Raptor but it was out of my price range.

 

[steveo3002]

just brush it with aldi stuff if need be , left with no top coat it will look a state after being used on the road

this is aldi paint brushed on my golf...good enough unless its a show car and washes up lke new

 

[marlinspike]

Looks good Steveo. I have a tin of the Aldi metal paint as well as a stash of the aerosols. I must say though I didn't find the the tinned paint as good as the aerosols. I started painting the drive gates with the tinned paint but found it too thin and almost translucent. I switched to the aerosol version and it went on much thicker and was far easier. I thought I had stirred the can thoroughly, but it could be it wasn't enough as plenty of folk on here seem to get good results with the tinned version.

 

[steveo3002]

does need 2 coats to fully cover in all honesty , ive not tried the rattle can version

for what it costs i think its great