# Aluminum doors not holding paint



## dubinpainting (Feb 16, 2010)

I just did a bid the homeowner informed me she had aluminum garage doors that have been painted five or six times within the past four years. 

I guess the paints not holding up. She seems to think its because they painted them a dark color and the sun is directly attracted to the doors. 

I honestly have no idea why there peeling but here is what I plan to do to fix it....... California Paint makes a Grip Coat Bonding agent or primer that's supposed to bond to any surface including metal, vinyl, glass, aluminum and copper. We will use this as a base coat of course after properly prepping the garage doors which includes scraping all the loose, chipping or peeling paint and sanding scuffing up the doors. This is an acrylic paint and can withstand up to 160 degrees of heat. I highly doubt that the sun will bring the temperature even remotely that high so that shouldn't be a problem. We are also going to do an adhesion test before painting the doors. to make sure it will adhere properly. We will then apply two coats of Fresh Coat exterior latex paint over the grip coat as a finish coat. The latex paint will be able to expand and contract with the temperature changes. 

Any help or suggestions on cause of the problem and solution would be great! I'm using California paint because a rep approached me the other day and is giving me fair pricing so I am trying for awhile.


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## NCPaint1 (Aug 6, 2009)

Tough one. Check it first for chalk. That would be my guess on the failure. Having the paint fail 5 times isn't strange if it wasn't prepped properly. It'll just keep on failing.

Sent from my Android, which is still better than the iPhone 6


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## Steveqpp (Apr 25, 2012)

Had a problem a while back with all the service doors peeling in a housing project. This was about 15 years ago. Turns out the door company used a CHEAP primer that peeled, the more you tried to fix it the more it peeled. Had to strip the doors to bare metal and start over. Check the back of the chips and see if it is powdery.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

Steveqpp said:


> Had a problem a while back with all the service doors peeling in a housing project. This was about 15 years ago. Turns out the door company used a CHEAP primer that peeled, the more you tried to fix it the more it peeled. Had to strip the doors to bare metal and start over. Check the back of the chips and see if it is powdery.


Given the history, my inclination would be to strip it to bare metal so you can start fresh.

We just did a garage door with BM's DTM Semi-gloss for the first time and I was impressed with how it handled. We'll see how it holds up.

I also don't think 160F would be an unreasonable temperature for a dark metal door to reach if it's exposed to full sun. I know dark roofs can reach temps between 160-190F.


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## Rbriggs82 (Jul 9, 2012)

This is way I always add EB when painting over aluminum whether its chalky or not. I've never had aluminum peel on me and I've done a ton of it. 

As stated above your best option moving forward is to strip it to bare metal. It may cost more to do but in the long run striping it will be cheaper than getting it repainted every year.


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## Greenworks Painting (May 6, 2012)

I agree with 'Gough'. If the paint keeps peeling then there is absolutely no point using the bonding primer. Only correct way to resolve this problem is to strip all existing paint and do it right from scratch. It may cost more...but at least your customer will save time and money by not having to paint it every year.
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## spotco2 (Sep 18, 2012)

Sounds like bad prep from long ago.

It's been my experience with aluminum the best way to go is stripping to bare metal and applying a self etching primer. This chemically bonds with the raw aluminum and gives your next coat of primer something to bond with.

Most regular primers will NOT bond properly with raw aluminum until it has been etched.

Stripping sounds like a lot of extra work, but might be as simple is just using a pressure washer to blow the old stuff off the doors. A cupped wire brush on an angle grinder will also make quick work of what is left over and them a quick sand with 180 on a DA or palm sander will finish it off. Wash with dish washing soap to get rid of any grease or oil contaminates, followed by a tack cloth and you're ready to etch.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

spotco2 said:


> Sounds like bad prep from long ago.
> 
> It's been my experience with aluminum the best way to go is stripping to bare metal and applying a self etching primer. This chemically bonds with the raw aluminum and gives your next coat of primer something to bond with.
> 
> ...


Nearly all of the garage doors in this area have a "wood grain" pattern stamped into them, so I'm not sure how well the sander would work. If they have that texture, I would recommend a chemical stripper.

We've painted a lot of mill-finish triple-track storm windows over the years, and our standard prep (from PPG) was to degrease with Varnish Makers' and Painters', prime with zinc-chromate primer, and finish with exterior alkyd semi-gloss. Some of these were painted 20+ years ago and still look good.


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## spotco2 (Sep 18, 2012)

Gough said:


> We've painted a lot of mill-finish triple-track storm windows over the years, and our standard prep (from PPG) was to degrease with Varnish Makers' and Painters', prime with zinc-chromate primer, and finish with exterior alkyd semi-gloss. Some of these were painted 20+ years ago and still look good.


Zinc-Chromate primer is also excellent for raw aluminum and steel.


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## TyMandac (Oct 10, 2012)

Return doors to bare metal if possible. Prep is key. Then DTM. Direct to Metal paint.


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## TyMandac (Oct 10, 2012)

Ben Moore also make an Aluminm paint specifically for painting aluminum surfaces


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