Can you use Hammerite on aluminium?
Hammerite is a versatile metal paint and probably the most popular metal paint in the UK, don’t quote me on that guys I’m just guessing! You are obviously wondering if you can use Hammerite paint on aluminium, so let us find out. I had an old aluminium light fitting lying around as well as some Hammerite paint, so I got to testing.
Can You Use Hammerite on Aluminium
Yes, you can. I tested this with an Aluminium light fitting. The Hammerite adhered well and also held up fine when left out in the elements. From this testing, I can confidently say that you can use Hammerite on Aluminium.
My Testing
So what was the testing I did to come to this conclusion? Well, I painted an old aluminium lampshade I happened to have lying around. I painted half with some red Hammerite paint and then the other half with Zinsser AllCoat. The AllCoat was there to act as a reference, something for me to test the Hammerite against.
The paint went on easily and has adhered well. I tested adhesion by trying to scratch off the paint after it had time to fully cure.
To do this test I simply used a piece of rough sawn timber and rubbed it against the surface. The Hammerite passed with flying colours so it has definitely adhered well, at least for now.
I then applied some Zinsser AllCoat to the other side of the shade to act as a reference paint for my testing.
Direct to Galvanised
Hammerite also sells a special type of paint that is designed for using direct to galvanised surfaces. It is not available in a huge range of colours, however.
Special Metals Primer
You can also get a special metals primer from Hammerite which again is for galvanised metals such as Aluminium. From my testing so far though this has not been needed and the regular direct to rust Hammerite has worked just fine.
This might not be the case forever though and maybe in 6 months to a year the paint will fail and it will turn out I should have used the p[roper primer. For this reason, I will keep checking back on the test to see how it lasts, so check back in a little while for updated results.
