Ok so today i fianlly got to paint the engine bay, i had already primered it, but today i finally got to use some of the pint of urethane Paint i got. Engine bay looks awesome, i painted it body color, after a long long degreasing/cleaning, sanding effort.

My question is. My engine bay was painted with a urethan based paint, as per the paint shop, and a guy that works for a local custom paint shop. My only question is, i wanted to clear coat over it also, the piant shop guy disadvised it, but the pianted said just 1 or 2 coats, no more.

So right now the car is sitting with approx 3 coats of basecoat on the primer. I want this paint to last, becuase the stock paint obiously didn't, after the degreaser sat for an hour, it had taken off a 1/4in worth of grease and grime, and the grease was covering the k-member which appeared unpainted, but some areas still had paint. My guess is the grease eventually broke down the paint. What can i do now to prevent this from happening, besides having a leakproof engine(i can try, but never perfect).

What cleaners/chemicals are dangerous to urethane paints? I know that each paint base has its set of weaknesses while others have their strong points, what are urethane's weaknesses?


So the questions are,

-Will a clear coat help?
-What can be done to prevent paint breakdown?
-Is there a polish/wax that will last long enough in this environment?
-What substances are harmful to urethane paints?

 

bump.....

 

I painted this with enamel in 91 and this is what it looks like currently and my under hood temps are fairly high.....just keep it clean and it will do fine.

 

In a situation like that, you would probably be better off using a single stage paint as they tend to be more durable than dual stage (base/clear coat) paint. If you already have the dual stage though, just clear it with a couple coats and like flrtn said, keep it clean and itll be fine. In an engine bay, it shouldnt be under that harsh of an environment aside from heat to worry about it. Single stages are better for the outside just because they dont chip and flake as easily...not that a good dual stage wont hold up fairly well...just not as well. Long story short, itll be fine.