The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop NEED HELP PAINTING BED STRIPS

I need advice painting the bed strips on my '54. Bought new angles and bed strips, cleaned, scuffed, primed, base coat, clear coat, install, and they bubble and crack around the stainless bed bolts. I have tried this twice, making sure I am not over-tightening, with the same effect. What may I be doing wrong. Is it caused by the paint build-up in the squares when the bolt seats? Need any and all recommendations.
Thanks a ton,
Joe

Could it be that Your strips are stainless if they are they would need a differant primer also they could be flexing downward when You snug up the bolts paint for the most part does not flex well and the more You have on the worse it will get .I painted Mine and used lite coats and no clear , I thought it would be easyer to repaint later .

Pete

Thanks for the reply Pete,
The strips are not stainless, just standard metal, the bolts are polished stainless. Would it be a bad idea to put a small circle of tape over the square hole area after priming so it will not receive any paint? Just small enough to cover hole without exceeding the size of the finished head? How snug should these be? I beleive I am only letting the washer touch bottom and then maybe a half to 3/4 turn.
Thanks,
Joe

Galvanic corrosion? You have two dissimilar metals, so I'm sure a galvanic cell is being created. Your bubbling is only at the location where the bolt touches the strip? It might be those darn electrons moving.

If it were me, I'd do thorough research on the Mar-K site. I'm sure they've come across this before. Next I'd consider changing the bolt material to match the strip material. This should eliminate any concern about the galvanic effect.

$0.02

Bill

Try not using the clear and keeping the paint thin that is what I would do frist, if in the future the strips get screwed up from putting stuff in the back it will be easyer to touch up with out the clear You could just mask off the strips and give them a coat of color .Did You sand the strips first down to bare metal ?

Pete

I installed new bed stips along with a stainless bolt kit I sanded the strips to bare metal before priming and painting.I did'nt use a clear coat.This was done 2 years ago and they still look perfect.Your problem could be too much paint.

Would be difficult process in this case but if you could tighten the bolts down on wet paint it would prevent cracking as on a dry paint. Another suggestion is to install old carriage bolts for paint process leaving a round bare spot you could apply paint to when installing the bed strips permanently.

I stongly suggest have the stris power coated will prevent rust, and will not flake off, will not galvenize. should cost less than $50., choice of colors, and glossy, simi, or flat. do it right once and forget it forever. had mine done on my old pickup in 91, still no rust or chips.

THANKS FOR ALL OF THE ADVICE, WILL TAKE A CRACK AT LEAVING THE CLEAR COAT OFF AT LEAST UNTIL AFTER INSTALLATION, OR POWDER COATING.
THANKS AGAIN,
JOE