It's sometimes considered a sacrilege to paint SS, after all it
simply doesn't need any more of a protective coating than what
the metal it self offers.
But, as you observed, the SS on the dash panels are painted and
seem to hold up pretty well over the half century plus that
these trucks have been around.
There is a lot of differing opinions on the subject by the
experts in the finishing field. The military has done a lot
of testing because SS items often need to be camouflaged. The
conclusion to the reports that I've read are that they are
inconclusive. How's that for government speak.
Other ISO certified tests stated that passivation will
improve the surface condition in preparation for
other finishes such as priming or painting.
Cold finished SS is one of those metals that is almost
always pickled and passivized. If it's processed in
the hot rolled condition it may not form a protective
layer due to the mill scale which I would think could
inhibit the adhesion of a paint coating.
DG
Last edited by Denny Graham; 02/28/2014 4:00 AM.
