Painting window trim

[olivemartini]

Has anyone painted the metal on their windows? I’d really like to do mine black but wondering if it will just scrape off every time I open them.

I know there was a thread about this a while ago but I can’t find it.

[fo4imtippin]

I have never had much luck painting aluminum. If you do, very important to use an epoxy primer to bond the paint to something. On my bus, the silver windows don't fit the look as much as black frames would, but i'm afraid i would end up with silver speckled black windows, so i'm going to leave them.

[musigenesis]

I built three bare aluminum bus escape windows into the bulkhead wall behind my driver's seat and I wanted them to be black to match the regular windows in my bus. I used SEM self-etching primer and then Rust-Oleum black enamel (both in rattle cans) and it worked great, no flaking or peeling and you can't scratch the paint off easily. The biggest hassle was masking off the white plastic latches (I think there's a way to take them off first but I was too impatient to try and figure that out).

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/r...tml#post388693

[olivemartini]

Update: DeMac recommended this: Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black Metal Finish (thank you, DeMac!)

It worked well, but given that my windows were already installed and wasn’t going to remove them again, it didn’t work for me. It took several coats and some soaking and I went through a whole bottle on a couple windows. DEF recommend it for smaller projects, though.

I used rust oleum in matte black. I can tell that some of the windows are sticking a bit, but I think that will get better with time. So far, so good!

Thanks F04 and musigenisis for your suggestions!